sslh 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.
Traefik
Cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer
| Feature | sslh | Traefik |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,117 | ★ 64,942 |
| First released | 2008 | 2015 |
| Replaces | HAProxy | HAProxy, AWS ELB |
What are sslh and Traefik?
sslh
sslh is an applicative protocol multiplexer that lets HTTPS, SSH, OpenVPN, and other services share the same TCP port. It inspects the first bytes of a connection and forwards it to the right server.
- Share one port across protocols
- SSH and HTTPS on port 443
- Tiny resource footprint
- Probe-based routing
Traefik
Traefik is a modern reverse proxy and load balancer that automatically discovers services and configures routing. It integrates natively with Docker, Kubernetes, and other orchestrators.
- Automatic service discovery
- Native Docker and Kubernetes support
- Let's Encrypt integration
- Live configuration reload
sslh vs Traefik: key differences
Sslh is written in C, while Traefik is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for sslh versus MIT for Traefik. Sslh is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Traefik. Sslh is the more established project (first released 2008), while Traefik arrived in 2015. Traefik has the considerably larger community, at 64,942 GitHub stars versus 5,117.
Why pick each one
Choose sslh if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
Choose Traefik if…
- Automatic service discovery
- Built-in Let's Encrypt
- First-class Docker support
Watch out for
- Configuration learning curve
- Debugging can be opaque
Frequently asked questions
Is sslh or Traefik better?
Neither is universally better. Traefik has the larger community, while sslh is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are sslh and Traefik free and open-source?
Yes. sslh is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Traefik under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run sslh and Traefik with Docker?
sslh: yes. Traefik: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, sslh or Traefik?
sslh has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Traefik. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.