SHSelfHostIndex

HAProxy vs Nginx Proxy Manager

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?
HA HAProxy Reliable, high-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer VS NG Nginx Proxy Manager Easy reverse proxy management with a web UI and free SSL
FeatureHAProxyNginx Proxy Manager
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguageCTypeScript
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM128 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 6,760★ 33,804
First released20012019
ReplacesF5 BIG-IP, AWS ELBCloudflare

Why pick each one

Choose HAProxy if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in C
HAProxy details

Choose Nginx Proxy Manager if…

  • Beginner-friendly
  • Free certificates built in
Nginx Proxy Manager details

Frequently asked questions

Is HAProxy or Nginx Proxy Manager better?

Nginx Proxy Manager is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider HAProxy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are HAProxy and Nginx Proxy Manager free and open-source?

Yes. HAProxy is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Nginx Proxy Manager under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run HAProxy and Nginx Proxy Manager with Docker?

HAProxy: yes. Nginx Proxy Manager: yes.

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