SWAG vs Varnish Cache
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | SWAG | Varnish Cache |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Reverse Proxy & Gateways |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Dockerfile | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,727 | ★ 4,045 |
| First released | 2020 | 2006 |
| Replaces | Cloudflare | Cloudflare, Squid |
What are SWAG and Varnish Cache?
SWAG
SWAG is a Nginx-based reverse proxy bundle from LinuxServer.io that includes Certbot for Let's Encrypt certificates and fail2ban for security. It ships preconfigured proxy templates for many apps.
- Nginx with auto Let's Encrypt
- Preconfigured app templates
- Built-in fail2ban
- Easy Docker setup
Varnish Cache
Varnish Cache is a powerful HTTP accelerator that sits in front of web servers to cache content and dramatically speed up delivery. Its VCL language gives fine-grained control over caching.
- Powerful HTTP caching
- VCL configuration language
- Massive throughput
- Edge-side includes
SWAG vs Varnish Cache: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Varnish Cache's repository is archived and no longer developed, while SWAG is actively maintained. SWAG is written in Dockerfile, while Varnish Cache is built with C. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for SWAG versus BSD-2-Clause for Varnish Cache. SWAG is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Varnish Cache. Varnish Cache is the more established project (first released 2006), while SWAG arrived in 2020.
Why pick each one
Choose SWAG if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
Choose Varnish Cache if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Frequently asked questions
Is SWAG or Varnish Cache better?
Neither is universally better. Varnish Cache has the larger community, while SWAG is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are SWAG and Varnish Cache free and open-source?
Yes. SWAG is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Varnish Cache under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SWAG and Varnish Cache with Docker?
SWAG: yes. Varnish Cache: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, SWAG or Varnish Cache?
SWAG has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Varnish Cache. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.