Anubis review

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Anubis is an open-source reverse proxy that sits in front of an existing web service and evaluates incoming requests before they reach the upstream. It is aimed at solo operators and small teams seeking to protect web resources from scraper bots, including AI crawlers, without relying on Cloudflare. Its central mechanism is proof-of-work: browser-like clients are asked to perform browser-side computation, with challenge difficulty and algorithm configurable by administrators. This makes Anubis a focused option for teams willing to operate a self-hosted layer and tune request handling themselves.

Policy controls let administrators allow, deny, challenge, or weigh requests. Rules can match request paths, user-agent strings, and HTTP headers, so the proxy can apply different treatment to different traffic rather than challenging every request the same way. Requests that pass policy checks are reverse-proxied to an upstream service. Prometheus-style metrics, health checks, and debug routes support operational visibility, while configurable temporary-data storage backends offer flexibility in how that data is stored. Prometheus is the listed integration; the product’s self-hosted deployment and Linux and Windows platform support suit teams managing their own environment.

Anubis is free and open source, with no paid plan tiers described here. That keeps the product’s scope relatively clear: its buyer is choosing challenge-based controls and request policies, not behavioral analysis, device fingerprinting, or a JavaScript SDK. Teams that need those detection approaches or a real-time API should look at alternatives with those capabilities. For operators who want a proxy they can configure around paths, headers, and user agents, Anubis offers a narrower, self-managed approach; ticket and community support channels are available.

Anubis pros and cons

• Where it wins
  • Configurable proof-of-work challenge difficulty and algorithm
  • Policies can allow, deny, challenge, or weigh requests
  • Prometheus-style metrics, health checks, and debug routes
• Where it doesn't
  • Requires self-hosted deployment in front of an existing service
  • Challenge-based protection is narrower than behavioral analysis
  • No device fingerprinting or JavaScript SDK

Anubis fact sheet, pricing and score →

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Last updated 7 Oct 2026 · How we research and update