Caddy vs AWS Application Load Balancer
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Caddy and AWS Application Load Balancer.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
Caddy
0 reviews
4.0/5
AWS Application Load Balancer
0 reviews
Caddy is rated higher (4.2 vs 4.0). Caddy is a modern open source web server and load balancer with automatic HTTPS (Let's Encrypt/ZeroSSL) by default. No SSL configuration needed. Used for reverse proxying and load balancing. AWS ALB provides Layer 7 load balancing with host and path-based routing, content-based routing, WebSocket support, and gRPC support. Integrates with ECS, EKS, and Lambda.
Caddy Automatic HTTPS load balancer and web server |  AWS Application Load Balancer Layer 7 load balancer with path-based routing | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | usage-based |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $0.0225/mo |
| Best for | Developers and SaaS teams who want a reverse proxy or web server that handles TLS certificates automatically with minimal configuration | AWS teams running microservices or containers who need Layer 7 routing with WAF integration and a contractual 99.99% Multi-AZ uptime commitment |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | 39 AWS regions / 124 AZs across NA, SA, EU, ME, AF, APAC, ANZ |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | api accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Caddy → | Visit AWS Application Load Balancer → | |
Caddy
Pros
- + Automatic HTTPS by default — certificate issuance and renewal built in
- + Free, Apache 2.0, single static Go binary with no runtime dependencies
- + Reverse proxy with load balancing, health checks, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3
- + On-Demand TLS for SaaS platforms issuing certs on customer domains
- + Live JSON config API plus Caddyfile; fleet-wide cert coordination via shared storage
Cons
- - Raw throughput behind Nginx at extreme concurrency
- - Smaller module ecosystem; plugins require compiling a custom binary
- - Businesses are expected to buy sponsorships ($2,999/mo+) for support
- - No SLA or contractual support from a large vendor
AWS Application Load Balancer
Pros
- + Content-based routing (host, path, header, method) with HTTP/2, gRPC and WebSocket support
- + 99.99% Multi-AZ SLA with explicit 10/30/100% service credits — the strongest published in this category
- + Native IPv6, AWS WAF at the listener, Shield Standard DDoS protection at no extra charge
- + Deep ECS/EKS/Lambda/Auto Scaling integration with no glue code
Cons
- - LCU metering is hard to forecast — bills can double when traffic dimensions shift
- - An idle ALB still bills about $16.42/month before any traffic or data transfer charges
- - Requires AWS-specific knowledge (VPC, target groups, security groups, WAF rule groups)
- - Routing configuration does not port to other clouds — real vendor lock-in
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