Caddy vs River
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
River
Configurable reverse proxy from the Pingora project
| Feature | Caddy | River |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 74,748 | ★ 2,351 |
| First released | 2015 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Apache | nginx, HAProxy |
Why pick each one
Choose River if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy or River better?
Caddy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider River if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Caddy and River free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and River under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy and River with Docker?
Caddy: yes. River: check the project docs for container support.