Squid Alternatives for Linux

There are many alternatives to Squid for Linux if you are looking for a replacement. The best Linux alternative is Privoxy, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to Squid and 16 are available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Linux alternatives to Squid are TinyProxy, Polipo, Varnish and hBlock.

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Squid alternatives are mainly Ad Blockers but may also be Proxy Services or Firewalls. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Squid.

Squid

Proxy Service
Free • Open Source

Squid is a caching proxy for the Web supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. It reduces bandwidth and improves response times by caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages. Squid has extensive access controls and...

More about Squid

Squid alternatives page was last updated Sep 14, 2024

Privoxy
Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, controlling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk.
58 Privoxy alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Ad Blocker
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Privoxy VS Squid
Is Privoxy a good alternative to Squid?
Comments about Privoxy as an Alternative to Squid

Guest
It accomplishes the same thing except for one feature: the caching aspect.
Top positive comment •Aug 7, 2015
3
Guest
No caching function. Primary usage of squid.
Top negative comment •Nov 23, 2016
1
Guest
There is no similarity between the two applications. Squid is a caching proxy. Privoxy is not.
Negative comment •Jul 2, 2020
0
Guest
Squid is a caching proxy. Privoxy is a non-caching software. There is no overlap in the use-cases for those types of software.
Negative comment •Apr 17, 2017
0
Guest
Privoxy doesn't cache web content.
Negative comment •Apr 4, 2017
-1
Show more comments
5 of 6 comments
- Some users think Privoxy is a great Squid alternative, some don't.
- Privoxy is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Squid.
- Privoxy is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Squid.
- Privoxy is Free and Open SourceSquid is also Free and Open Source

TinyProxy
Tinyproxy is a light-weight HTTP/HTTPS proxy daemon for POSIX operating systems. It is free software, and supports transparent and reverse proxying.
29 TinyProxy alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Linux
TinyProxy Features
Cascade proxy
HTTP Proxy
Show all NaN TinyProxy features ▾
TinyProxy VS Squid
Is TinyProxy a good alternative to Squid?

Polipo
A small and fast caching web proxy (a web cache, an HTTP proxy, a proxy server). Polipo can be used in place of ad-filtering, privacy-enhancing proxies such as Junkbuster, Privoxy or WWWOFFLE. As Polipo has much more refined HTTP support, it doesnt impose the speed tax usually...
19 Polipo alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
- Ad Blocker
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Windows
- Linux
Discontinued
From the official website, "Polipo is obsolete. When it was first written, Polipo was probably the best HTTP proxy available. Since then, the web protocols have changed, and Polipo hasn't kept up — it has no support for HTTP/2.0 or the WebSocket protocol. Polipo will no longer be maintained."

Polipo VS Squid
Is Polipo a good alternative to Squid?

Varnish
Varnish Cache is an open source, state of the art HTTP application accelerator.
18 Varnish alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Linux
Varnish Features
Load balancing
Show all NaN Varnish features ▾
Varnish VS Squid
Is Varnish a good alternative to Squid?
Comments about Varnish as an Alternative to Squid

Guest
It is an alternative for the server-side use of squid. It is not suitable for the client-side functionality
Negative comment •Aug 20, 2018
8
- Some users think Varnish is a great Squid alternative, some don't.
- Varnish is Free and Open SourceSquid is also Free and Open Source

hBlock
hBlock is a POSIX-compliant shell script, designed for Unix-like systems, that gets a list of domains that serve ads, tracking scripts and malware from multiple sources and creates a hosts file (alternative formats are also supported) that prevents your system from connecting to...
32 hBlock alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Ad Blocker
Platforms
- Mac
- Linux
- BSD
- Homebrew
hBlock Features
Block Trackers
Ad-free
Lightweight
Show all NaN hBlock features ▾
hBlock VS Squid
Is hBlock a good alternative to Squid?

Artica Proxy
ARTICA Proxy is an enterprise grade security appliance : web filtering (w/o SSL decryption), DNS Filtering, bandwith optimisation, easy ACL management, users authentication on LDAP or Active Directory (NTLM/Kerberos), deployment tools (such as proxy.
9 Artica Proxy alternatives
License model
- Free Personal • Open Source
Application type
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Linux
Artica Proxy Features
HTTP Proxy
Web filter
DNS Proxy
Show all NaN Artica Proxy features ▾
+1
Artica Proxy VS Squid
Is Artica Proxy a good alternative to Squid?

3proxy
3Proxy tiny free proxy server is really tiny cross-platform (Win32/Win64&Unix) freeware proxy servers set. It includes HTTP proxy with HTTPS and FTP support, SOCKSv4/SOCKSv4.5/SOCKSv5 proxy (socks/socks.exe), POP3 proxy, SMTP proxy, AIM/ICQ proxy (icqpr/icqpr.
8 3proxy alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Warning
This site has a poor reputation on WOT. You can see the comments on http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/3proxy.ru#page-3

3proxy VS Squid
Is 3proxy a good alternative to Squid?

Privaxy
Privaxy is the next generation tracker and advertisement blocker. It blocks ads and trackers by MITMing HTTP(s) traffic.
37 Privaxy alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
- Ad Blocker
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
Privaxy Features
HTTP Proxy
Show all NaN Privaxy features ▾
+3
Privaxy VS Squid
Is Privaxy a good alternative to Squid?
- Privaxy is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to Squid.
- Privaxy is Free and Open SourceSquid is also Free and Open Source

Apache Traffic Server
Formerly a commercial product, Yahoo! donated it to the Apache Foundation, and it is now an Apache TLP.
18 Apache Traffic Server alternatives
License model
- Free • Open Source
Platforms
- Mac
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
- FreeBSD
Apache Traffic Server Features
Load balancing
HTTPS Support
Show all NaN Apache Traffic Server features ▾
Apache Traffic Server VS Squid
Is this a good alternative to Squid?
Comments about Apache Traffic Server as an Alternative to Squid

Guest
ATS has an event driven architecture where as Squid runs single-threaded. ATS scales much better than Squid.
Positive comment •Apr 17, 2017
-2
- Apache Traffic Server is Free and Open SourceSquid is also Free and Open Source

Zscaler
Zscaler consolidates your stacks of gateway security appliances into integrated, cloud-based security services. Since it’s security as a service, there’s no physical or virtual hardware to deploy or manage, so getting started is simple.
9 Zscaler alternatives
+4
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- iPhone
- iPad
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Zscaler VS Squid
Is Zscaler a good alternative to Squid?
- Zscaler is the most popular iPhone, iPad & SaaS alternative to Squid.
- Zscaler is the most popular commercial alternative to Squid.
- Zscaler is Paid and ProprietarySquid is Free and Open Source

ExaProxy
ExaProxy is a a high-performance non-caching proxy. It is able to filter HTTP traffic using third party scripts in your favorite programming language.
8 ExaProxy alternatives
License model
- Free • Proprietary
Application type
- Proxy Service
Platforms
- Mac
- Linux
- BSD
ExaProxy Features
HTTP Proxy
Show all NaN ExaProxy features ▾
ExaProxy VS Squid
Is ExaProxy a good alternative to Squid?

discrimiNAT
A proxy-less solution to being unable to specify hostnames in Google Cloud Firewall Rules and AWS Security Groups. It works by monitoring and blocking traffic transparently as a high-availability NAT instance on the egress of your VPC network.
1 discrimiNAT alternatives
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Platforms
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
- Amazon Web Services
- Google Cloud Platform
discrimiNAT Features
Google Cloud
Dns
Show all NaN discrimiNAT features ▾
+4
discrimiNAT VS Squid
Is discrimiNAT a good alternative to Squid?