Caddy vs YARP
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
YARP
Reverse proxy toolkit for building proxies in .NET
| Feature | Caddy | YARP |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 78 · Good |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 76,036 | ★ 9,616 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Nginx, Apache | Nginx |
What are Caddy and YARP?
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
YARP
YARP, short for Yet Another Reverse Proxy, is a Microsoft open-source toolkit for building fast, customizable reverse proxy servers using ASP.NET Core. Developers configure it in code or config files.
- Build custom reverse proxies
- ASP.NET Core based
- Dynamic configuration
- Load balancing and health checks
Caddy vs YARP: key differences
Caddy is written in Go, while YARP is built with C#. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Caddy versus MIT for YARP. Caddy is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for YARP. Caddy is the more established project (first released 2015), while YARP arrived in 2021. Caddy has the considerably larger community, at 76,036 GitHub stars versus 9,616.
Why pick each one
Choose Caddy if…
- Zero-config TLS
- Easy to learn
Watch out for
- Fewer tuning knobs than Nginx
Choose YARP if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 9.6k GitHub stars
- Written in C#
Frequently asked questions
Is Caddy or YARP better?
Caddy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider YARP if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Caddy and YARP free and open-source?
Yes. Caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and YARP under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Caddy and YARP with Docker?
Caddy: yes. YARP: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Caddy or YARP?
Caddy has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for YARP. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.