Caddy vs mosdns
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Caddy
Fast, multi-platform web server with automatic HTTPS
VS
mosdns
Flexible plugin-based forwarding DNS server
| Feature | Caddy | mosdns |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 74,748 | ★ 3,716 |
| First released | 2015 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Apache | AdGuard DNS |
Why pick each one
Choose mosdns if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy or mosdns better?
Caddy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider mosdns if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Caddy and mosdns free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mosdns under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy and mosdns with Docker?
Caddy: yes. mosdns: yes.