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Shadowsocks vs sing-box: catalog facts
Shadowsocks	sing-box
Free Free and open source; you supply your own server.	Free Free and open source under the GPL.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Command line
Lightweight with low CPU and bandwidth use Clients and servers for most platforms, including routers	One binary covering WireGuard, Shadowsocks, VMess, Trojan, Hysteria and more A routing engine that picks an outbound per connection by domain, IP or process
A proxy rather than a full VPN Split across many separate implementations of varying quality	JSON configuration that is genuinely complex to write correctly Documentation assumes you already know the protocols involved
Downloadable app, Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-3.0
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.