relayd vs HAProxy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
HAProxy
Reliable, high-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer
| Feature | relayd | HAProxy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 89 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | ISC | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,884 | ★ 6,873 |
| First released | 2006 | 2001 |
| Replaces | HAProxy, F5 BIG-IP | F5 BIG-IP, AWS ELB |
What are relayd and HAProxy?
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
HAProxy
HAProxy is a fast and reliable open-source load balancer and reverse proxy for TCP and HTTP applications. It is widely deployed for high-availability and high-traffic sites.
- High-performance load balancing
- TCP and HTTP modes
- Detailed health checks
- Runtime API
relayd vs HAProxy: key differences
Both projects are written in C. Licensing differs — ISC for relayd versus GPL-2.0 for HAProxy. Relayd is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for HAProxy. HAProxy is the more established project (first released 2001), while relayd arrived in 2006. HAProxy lists first-class Docker deployment; relayd does not.
Why pick each one
Choose relayd if…
- Tightly integrated with OpenBSD
- Very lightweight
Watch out for
- OpenBSD focused
- Terse configuration
Choose HAProxy if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.9k GitHub stars
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is relayd or HAProxy better?
Neither is universally better. HAProxy has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are relayd and HAProxy free and open-source?
Yes. relayd is licensed under ISC and HAProxy under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run relayd and HAProxy with Docker?
relayd: check the project docs for container support. HAProxy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, relayd or HAProxy?
relayd has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for HAProxy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.