Caddy vs Tengine
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
Tengine
Nginx-derived web server with extra features
| Feature | Caddy | Tengine |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 76,036 | ★ 13,373 |
| First released | 2015 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Apache | Nginx |
What are Caddy and Tengine?
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
Tengine
Tengine is a web server originated by Taobao based on Nginx, adding advanced features for high-traffic websites such as dynamic module loading and enhanced load balancing. It is fully Nginx compatible.
- Nginx-compatible server
- Dynamic module loading
- Enhanced load balancing
- Proven at large scale
Caddy vs Tengine: key differences
Caddy is written in Go, while Tengine is built with C. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Caddy versus BSD-2-Clause for Tengine. Caddy is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Tengine. Tengine is the more established project (first released 2011), while Caddy arrived in 2015. Caddy has the considerably larger community, at 76,036 GitHub stars versus 13,373.
Why pick each one
Choose Caddy if…
- Zero-config TLS
- Easy to learn
Watch out for
- Fewer tuning knobs than Nginx
Choose Tengine if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 13.4k GitHub stars
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy or Tengine better?
Caddy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Tengine if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Caddy and Tengine free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tengine under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy and Tengine with Docker?
Caddy: yes. Tengine: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Caddy or Tengine?
Caddy has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Tengine. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.