caddy-l4 vs Traefik
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Traefik
Cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer
| Feature | caddy-l4 | Traefik |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 85 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,780 | ★ 64,942 |
| First released | 2020 | 2015 |
| Replaces | HAProxy | HAProxy, AWS ELB |
What are caddy-l4 and Traefik?
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
Traefik
Traefik is a modern reverse proxy and load balancer that automatically discovers services and configures routing. It integrates natively with Docker, Kubernetes, and other orchestrators.
- Automatic service discovery
- Native Docker and Kubernetes support
- Let's Encrypt integration
- Live configuration reload
caddy-l4 vs Traefik: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for caddy-l4 versus MIT for Traefik. Caddy-l4 is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Traefik. Traefik is the more established project (first released 2015), while caddy-l4 arrived in 2020. Traefik has the considerably larger community, at 64,942 GitHub stars versus 1,780. Traefik 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 Traefik if…
- Automatic service discovery
- Built-in Let's Encrypt
- First-class Docker support
Watch out for
- Configuration learning curve
- Debugging can be opaque
Frequently asked questions
Is caddy-l4 or Traefik better?
Neither is universally better. Traefik has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are caddy-l4 and Traefik free and open-source?
Yes. caddy-l4 is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Traefik under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run caddy-l4 and Traefik with Docker?
caddy-l4: check the project docs for container support. Traefik: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, caddy-l4 or Traefik?
caddy-l4 has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Traefik. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.