What is HevSocks5Server?

HevSocks5Server is a lightweight SOCKS5 proxy server aimed at personal networks, servers and routers that need a fast, low-overhead proxy. It implements the standard CONNECT and UDP ASSOCIATE commands (UDP relay is not supported on Windows at this time), adds an extended FWD UDP command that carries UDP over TCP, and works across both IPv4 and IPv6 in a dual-stack setup. Several username/password accounts can be defined in an authentication file, which the running process reloads when it receives SIGUSR1; by assigning a hexadecimal mark per account you can combine it with iptables connlimit rules to cap how many connections a user may open. Operators run it as a standalone binary with a YAML config (worker count, listen address and port, bind addresses, timeouts, logging, optional daemon/pid-file mode), or embed it into their own programs via its C, Java and Kotlin APIs. Prebuilt binaries ship with each GitHub release for Linux (several architectures), macOS, FreeBSD and Windows, and an OpenWrt package is available via opkg; no Docker image is documented.

Should you self-host HevSocks5Server?

HevSocks5Server scores 50/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #15 of 25 in Proxy. It has 620 GitHub stars.

It shipped 6 stable releases in the past year. The latest, 2.13.1, came out on 8 August 2026. New versions land roughly every 3 months.

Setup is easy: most people get it running in one sitting. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in C.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is frp (85/100, 110 243 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See HevSocks5Server vs frp side by side.

Features

Daemon Mode
Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6
Embeddable library API
Live auth file reload
Multi-threaded workers
Per-user connection limits
SOCKS5 proxy (CONNECT)
UDP over TCP
UDP RelayWindows is not supported at this time.
Username/password authentication

How to configure HevSocks5Server

bind-addressmain: bind source address (ipv4|ipv6); overridden by bind-address-v{4,6} if specified
main: bind source address (ipv4|ipv6); overridden by bind-address-v{4,6} if specified
bind-address-v4main: bind source address (ipv4)
main: bind source address (ipv4)
bind-address-v6main: bind source address (ipv6)
main: bind source address (ipv6)
bind-interfacemain: bind source network interface
main: bind source network interface
connect-timeoutmisc: TCP connect timeout (ms)
misc: TCP connect timeout (ms)
domain-address-typeunspecmain: domain address type
main: domain address type
values: ipv4|ipv6|unspec
fileauth: path to the authentication file (USERNAME PASSWORD MARK lines)
auth: path to the authentication file (USERNAME PASSWORD MARK lines)
limit-nofilemisc: if present, set rlimit nofile; else use default value
misc: if present, set rlimit nofile; else use default value
listen-address'::'main: listen address (ipv4|ipv6)
main: listen address (ipv4|ipv6)
values: ipv4|ipv6
listen-ipv6-onlyfalsemain: listen ipv6 only
main: listen ipv6 only
values: true|false
log-filemisc: log destination
misc: log destination
values: null, stdout, stderr or file-path
log-levelmisc: log level
misc: log level
values: debug, info, warn or error
mark0main: socket mark (hex: 0x1, dec: 1, oct: 01)
main: socket mark (hex: 0x1, dec: 1, oct: 01)
passwordauth: password (single-account inline config)
auth: password (single-account inline config)
pid-filemisc: if present, run as a daemon with this pid file
misc: if present, run as a daemon with this pid file
port1080main: listen port
main: listen port
task-stack-sizemisc: task stack size (bytes)
misc: task stack size (bytes)
tcp-fastopenmain: TCP fastopen
main: TCP fastopen
values: true|false
tcp-read-write-timeoutmisc: TCP read-write timeout (ms)
misc: TCP read-write timeout (ms)
udp-copy-buffer-numsmisc: number of udp buffers in splice, 1500 bytes per buffer
misc: number of udp buffers in splice, 1500 bytes per buffer
udp-listen-addressmain: UDP listen address (ipv4|ipv6)
main: UDP listen address (ipv4|ipv6)
values: ipv4|ipv6
udp-portmain: UDP listen port (0: random, a-b: range)
main: UDP listen port (0: random, a-b: range)
values: 0 (random) or a-b range
udp-public-address-v4main: UDP public address (ipv4)
main: UDP public address (ipv4)
udp-public-address-v6main: UDP public address (ipv6)
main: UDP public address (ipv6)
udp-read-write-timeoutmisc: UDP read-write timeout (ms)
misc: UDP read-write timeout (ms)
udp-recv-buffer-sizemisc: UDP socket recv buffer (SO_RCVBUF) size (bytes)
misc: UDP socket recv buffer (SO_RCVBUF) size (bytes)
usernameauth: username (single-account inline config)
auth: username (single-account inline config)
workers4main: number of worker threads
main: number of worker threads