Squid vs Traefik
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 | Squid | Traefik |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,050 | ★ 64,330 |
| First released | 1996 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare Gateway | HAProxy, AWS ELB |
Why pick each one
Choose Squid if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Choose Traefik if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 64.3k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Squid or Traefik better?
Neither is universally better. Traefik has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Squid and Traefik free and open-source?
Yes. Squid is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Traefik under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Squid and Traefik with Docker?
Squid: yes. Traefik: yes.