Caddy vs Nginx
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Caddy
Fast, multi-platform web server with automatic HTTPS
VS
Nginx
High-performance web server and reverse proxy
| Feature | Caddy | Nginx |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 98 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 76,004 | ★ 31,711 |
| First released | 2015 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Apache | Apache, IIS |
What are Caddy and Nginx?
Caddy
Caddy is a powerful, extensible web server and reverse proxy written in Go that provides automatic HTTPS out of the box. Its simple configuration makes it popular for self-hosting.
- Automatic HTTPS by default
- Simple Caddyfile config
- Single binary
- Plugin ecosystem
Nginx
Nginx is a high-performance web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer that powers a large share of the internet. It is the foundation for many self-hosted proxy setups.
- Fast reverse proxy
- HTTP and stream load balancing
- Low memory footprint
- Massive deployment base
Caddy vs Nginx: key differences
Caddy is written in Go, while Nginx is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Caddy versus BSD-2-Clause for Nginx. Nginx is the more established project (first released 2004), while Caddy arrived in 2015. Caddy has the considerably larger community, at 76,004 GitHub stars versus 31,711.
Why pick each one
Choose Caddy if…
- Zero-config TLS
- Easy to learn
Watch out for
- Fewer tuning knobs than Nginx
Choose Nginx if…
- Battle-tested at scale
- Very low resource usage
- Huge community knowledge
Watch out for
- Config syntax takes learning
- No automatic HTTPS
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy or Nginx better?
Caddy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Nginx if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Caddy and Nginx free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Nginx under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy and Nginx with Docker?
Caddy: yes. Nginx: yes.