HAProxy vs Caddy
A detailed comparison to help you choose between HAProxy and Caddy.
Quick Verdict
4.5/5
HAProxy
0 reviews
4.2/5
Caddy
0 reviews
HAProxy is rated higher (4.5 vs 4.2). HAProxy is a free, open source, high-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer. Handles 100,000+ concurrent connections. Used by Reddit, Tumblr, and AWS. Known for reliability over many years. 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.
HAProxy The reliable open source load balancer | Caddy Automatic HTTPS load balancer and web server | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.5 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.2 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | free |
| Starting price | Free | Free |
| Best for | Teams running their own infrastructure who want a proven, free, high-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer and are comfortable with configuration files | Developers and SaaS teams who want a reverse proxy or web server that handles TLS certificates automatically with minimal configuration |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit HAProxy → | Visit Caddy → | |
HAProxy
Pros
- + Free and open source — no metering, no feature paywall
- + 25 years of production use at very large scale
- + Strong documented performance with lean memory use
- + Transparent LTS lifecycle with published end-of-life dates
- + Layer 4 and 7, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, gRPC, Lua and a REST API
Cons
- - File-based configuration only — no GUI in the community edition
- - No support or SLA unless you buy HAProxy Enterprise
- - Advanced security (WAF, bot management) is an enterprise add-on or DIY
- - You bring the infrastructure — no managed service in the free tier
- - Linux-first; other platforms are second-class
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
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