Fabio vs relayd
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Fabio | relayd |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | MIT | ISC |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,342 | ★ 3,882 |
| First released | 2015 | 2006 |
| Replaces | HAProxy, Nginx | HAProxy, F5 BIG-IP |
What are Fabio and relayd?
Fabio
Fabio is a fast, modern, zero-configuration load balancing HTTP and TCP router that automatically updates routes from Consul. Services register themselves with no manual configuration.
- Zero-config routing
- Consul service discovery
- HTTP and TCP load balancing
- Hot route updates
relayd
relayd is OpenBSD's daemon for relaying and load-balancing TCP connections, supporting application-layer filtering and SSL/TLS acceleration. It integrates closely with the pf packet filter.
- TCP load balancing
- Application-layer filtering
- TLS acceleration
- pf integration
Fabio vs relayd: key differences
Fabio is written in Go, while relayd is built with C. Licensing differs — MIT for Fabio versus ISC for relayd. Relayd is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Fabio. Relayd is the more established project (first released 2006), while Fabio arrived in 2015. Fabio lists first-class Docker deployment; relayd does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Fabio if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Choose relayd if…
- Tightly integrated with OpenBSD
- Very lightweight
Watch out for
- OpenBSD focused
- Terse configuration
Frequently asked questions
Is Fabio or relayd better?
Fabio is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider relayd if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Fabio and relayd free and open-source?
Yes. Fabio is licensed under MIT and relayd under ISC. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Fabio and relayd with Docker?
Fabio: yes. relayd: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Fabio or relayd?
relayd has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Fabio. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.