caddy-l4 vs Envoy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | caddy-l4 | Envoy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 98 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,780 | ★ 28,983 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | HAProxy | Nginx, HAProxy |
What are caddy-l4 and Envoy?
caddy-l4
Caddy-L4 is an experimental application-layer-aware Layer 4 proxy app for the Caddy server, enabling TCP and UDP routing alongside Caddy's HTTP features. It allows protocol multiplexing on a single port.
- TCP and UDP proxying
- Protocol multiplexing
- Caddy integration
- Connection matchers
Envoy
Envoy is a high-performance, open-source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications and service meshes. It offers advanced load balancing, observability, and dynamic configuration.
- Service mesh data plane
- Dynamic xDS configuration
- Rich observability
- Advanced load balancing
caddy-l4 vs Envoy: key differences
Caddy-l4 is written in Go, while Envoy is built with C++. Caddy-l4 is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Envoy. Envoy is the more established project (first released 2016), while caddy-l4 arrived in 2020. Envoy has the considerably larger community, at 28,983 GitHub stars versus 1,780. Envoy lists first-class Docker deployment; caddy-l4 does not.
Why pick each one
Choose caddy-l4 if…
- Extends Caddy nicely
- Port multiplexing
Watch out for
- Marked experimental
- Requires Caddy knowledge
Choose Envoy if…
- Advanced load balancing
- Dynamic configuration API
- Deep observability features
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Verbose YAML configuration
- Heavy for simple setups
Frequently asked questions
Is caddy-l4 or Envoy better?
Neither is universally better. Envoy has the larger community, while caddy-l4 is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are caddy-l4 and Envoy free and open-source?
Yes. caddy-l4 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Envoy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run caddy-l4 and Envoy with Docker?
caddy-l4: check the project docs for container support. Envoy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, caddy-l4 or Envoy?
caddy-l4 has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Envoy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.