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.
Not the right match-up?
| Feature | Fabio | relayd |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 7,334 | ★ 3,851 |
| First released | 2015 | 2006 |
| Replaces | HAProxy, Nginx | HAProxy, F5 BIG-IP |
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
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.