Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

Nchan is a pub/sub server built as an Nginx module that enables real-time message publishing and subscription capabilities. It allows developers to add publish-subscribe functionality directly within Nginx, making it… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Nchan – a pub/sub server as an Nginx module launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1NA
   Noms – A new decentralized database based on ideas from Git▲508

   2016 · medium.com · its alternatives →

2. 2
   NoCode Tube▲293

   Learn to unlock NoCode superpowers, minus the research hours

   2023 · nocode.tube · its alternatives →

3. 3NE
   Neh – Execute any script or program from Nginx location directives▲27

   2020 · bram.dingelstad.xyz · its alternatives →

4. 4NW
   Nostr Web – decentralized website hosting on Nostr▲101

   We built Nostr Web, a new way to publish and host websites that live entirely on the Nostr network instead of centralized servers. Each website is a collection of signed, verifiable Nostr events distributed across relays—so it can’t be taken down, censored, or lost. It includes: • DNS TXT records for domain-based discovery (_nweb.domain.com) • CLI publisher tool for versioned deployments (nw-publisher) • Browser extension (nw-extension) for native browsing experience • Relay v1.3.5 support for Nostr Web event kinds Try the live demo: https://nweb.shugur.com Repos:…

   Oct 2025 · nweb.shugur.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Deepstream.io – open-source real-time server with pub/sub and data sync▲301

   A realtime server for the modern web

   2016 · deepstream.io · its alternatives →

6. 6
   An extensible pub/sub messaging server for edge applications▲44

   hi there! i’ve been working on a project called Narwhal, and I wanted to share it with the community to get some valuable feedback. what is it? Narwhal is a lightweight Pub/Sub server and protocol designed specifically for edge applications. while there are great tools out there like NATS or MQTT, i wanted to build something that prioritizes customization and extensibility. my goal was to create a system where developers can easily adapt the routing logic or message handling pipeline to fit specific edge use cases, without fighting the server's defaults. why Rust? i chose Rust because i…

   Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Nginx Sysguard – throttle requests by load, average request time, etc.▲161

   Nginx sysguard module. Contribute to vozlt/nginx-module-sysguard development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

8. 8PP
   patchbay.pub – Poor man's ngrok/IFTTT/serverless▲362

   2019 · patchbay.pub · its alternatives →

9. 9
   SocketCluster.io – flexible open-source real-time server with pub/sub▲217

   Scalable open source pub/sub SDK with support for RPC, JWT authentication and Kubernetes — optimized for async/await

   2016 · socketcluster.io · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Freenet, a peer-to-peer platform for decentralized apps▲390

    For the past 5 years or so I've been working on a ground-up redesign of Freenet, my peer-to-peer project from the early 2000s (now renamed Hyphanet). The new Freenet has been up and running since December along with some early applications like River[1], our decentralized group chat and Delta - a decentralized CMS. Users have already started to build their own apps on Freenet including games, and we have some interesting apps in development like Atlas, a search/recommendation engine. Architecturally, this new Freenet is a global, decentralized key-value store where keys are webassembly…

    May 2026 · freenet.org · its alternatives →

11. 11
    ZeroHTTPd: A web server to teach Linux performance, with benchmarks▲472

    Articles in this series Part I. Iterative ServersPart II. Forking ServersPart III. Pre-forking ServersPart IV. Threaded ServersPart V. Pre-threaded ServersPart VI: poll-based serverPart VII: epoll-…

    2019 · unixism.net · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Top, but for Nginx▲219

    top for NGINX. Contribute to gsquire/topngx development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    NoCodeDevs 2.0▲178

    The network for no-code makers

    2020 · makerthrive.com · its alternatives →

14. 14
    We built a terminal-only Bluesky / AT Proto client written in Fortran▲145

    Yes, that Fortran.

    Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

15. 15
    go-nbd – A Pure Go NBD Server and Client▲113

    Hey HN! I just released go-nbd, a lightweight Go library for effortlessly creating NBD servers and clients. Its a neat tool for creating custom Linux block devices with arbitrary backends, such as a file, byte slice or what I'm planning to use it for, a tape drive. While there are a few partially abandoned projects like this out there already, this library tries to be as maintainable as possible by only implementing the most recent handshake revision and baseline functionality for both the client and the server, while still having enough support to be useful. I'd love to get your feedback :)

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Nginx Common Useful Configuration▲77

    Nginx common useful configuration. Contribute to tldr-devops/nginx-common-configuration development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

17. 17MD
    Multiplayer Demo Built with Elixir▲221

    Hey HN, I’m an engineer at Supabase [0] and one of the creators of this demo. My team and I have been working hard to bring developers the next version of Supabase Realtime. The current version of Realtime [1] is a Change Data Capture (CDC) server for a PostgreSQL database that broadcasts changes via WebSockets to authorized subscribers. It’s written in Elixir/Phoenix. The server utilizes PostgreSQL’s logical replication functionality, which writes database changes to Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) segment files, and a replication slot, responsible for managing and retaining WAL files.…

    2022 · multiplayer.dev · its alternatives →

18. 18PA
    Pipenet – A Modern Alternative to Localtunnel▲114

    Hey HN! localtunnel's server needs random ports per client. That doesn't work on Fly.io or behind strict firewalls. We rewrote it in TypeScript and added multiplexing over a single port. Open-source and 100% self-hostable. Public instance at *.pipenet.dev if you don't want to self-host. Built at Glama for our MCP Inspector, but it's a generic tunnel with no ties to our infra. https://github.com/punkpeye/pipenet

    Jan 2026 · pipenet.dev · its alternatives →

19. 19
    Deploying subdomain-based routing like github.io▲55

    A website server that supports serving many websites using subdomain-based routing. - xieyuheng/x-server

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Pubky Core▲126

    Open-source protocol for a decentralized, user-owned web

    2024 · pubky.org · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Real-time, top-like metrics for Nginx▲134

    Real-time metrics for nginx server. Contribute to lebinh/ngxtop development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2014 · github.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    NoCode Portal▲230

    A resource for no-code/low-code development

    2020 · nocodeportal.com · its alternatives →

23. 23NI
    Nginx Image with HTTP/3 (QUIC), TLS1.3 with 0-RTT, Brotli▲219

    2019 · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Portr – open-source ngrok alternative designed for teams▲172

    Expose local http, tcp or websocket connections to the public internet - amalshaji/portr

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →