Pingora
A Rust framework for building fast, reliable, and programmable networked systems and HTTP proxies.
What is Pingora?
Pingora is a Rust framework for building fast, reliable, and programmable networked systems, particularly HTTP proxies. It solves the need for high-performance, memory-safe network services that can handle millions of requests per second while offering extensive customization. Originally developed and battle-tested at Cloudflare, it provides a secure alternative to C/C++-based solutions.
Developers and engineers building performance-sensitive networked systems, HTTP proxies, load balancers, or custom network services where security, reliability, and customization are critical.
Developers choose Pingora for its proven scalability, memory safety, and high performance, combined with flexible APIs for extensive customization. It offers a modern, Rust-based alternative to traditional C/C++ frameworks, with built-in support for HTTP/2, TLS, gRPC, WebSockets, and advanced load balancing.
Overview
A library for building fast, reliable and evolvable network services.
Use Cases
Best For
- Building high-performance HTTP/HTTPS proxies
- Creating custom load balancers with failover strategies
- Developing memory-safe network services as an alternative to C/C++
- Implementing gRPC or WebSocket proxying
- Building programmable network systems with graceful reload capabilities
- Deploying observability-integrated network infrastructure
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring robust, production-ready Windows deployment
- Teams needing stable, out-of-the-box caching solutions for HTTP proxies
- Developers seeking a low-configuration, plug-and-play proxy server without custom coding
- Organizations without in-house Rust expertise for development and maintenance
Pros & Cons
Pros
Proven to handle over 40 million requests per second at Cloudflare, ensuring reliability and performance under extreme load, as highlighted in the README.
Built in Rust, providing a secure alternative to C/C++ for networked systems, reducing memory-related vulnerabilities and prioritizing security.
Offers extensive customization for building custom HTTP proxies, load balancers, and network logic, with detailed guides in the user documentation.
Supports HTTP/1, HTTP/2, gRPC, WebSockets, and multiple TLS backends like OpenSSL and BoringSSL, enabling handling of diverse network traffic.
Cons
Caching integration is marked as experimental with volatile APIs in the README, making it unsuitable for production use without risk of breaking changes.
Linux is the primary focus; Unix-like environments have missing features, and Windows support is only preliminary and community-driven, as stated in system requirements.
Requires additional tools like Clang and Perl for building crates such as boringssl and openssl, adding setup complexity and potential installation hurdles.
Frequently Asked Questions
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