The Best Reverse Proxy Software in 2026
The products below were researched from official websites, including pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. They are ranked on the core job of routing, securing, caching or transforming inbound traffic, alongside value for money and verified features, so buyers can shortlist reverse proxy software.
Our top picks
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Top ranked
NGINX#1 of 339.3/10A flexible self-hosted reverse proxy with caching, load balancing, TLS, and protocol support.
Free plan
-
Runner-up
HAProxy Community Edition#2 of 339.1/10A capable reverse proxy for teams managing high-volume TCP and HTTP traffic themselves.
Free plan
-
Top-ranked free plan
Cloudflare Tunnel#3 of 338.9/10A free outbound tunnel for publishing private services through Cloudflare’s edge.
Free plan
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.
The full ranking 33 tools, best first
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Best forEstablished general-purpose reverse proxying
A flexible self-hosted reverse proxy with caching, load balancing, TLS, and protocol support.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
9.3/10★★★★★Visit NGINX -
Best forHigh-performance L4 and L7 traffic management
A capable reverse proxy for teams managing high-volume TCP and HTTP traffic themselves.
- TLS termination
9.1/10★★★★★Visit HAProxy -
Best forPublishing private services with edge protection
A free outbound tunnel for publishing private services through Cloudflare’s edge.
- Web application firewall
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
8.9/10★★★★☆Visit Cloudflare -
Best forBroad self-hosted routing and orchestration
A broad self-hosted proxy for dynamic discovery, multi-protocol routing, and cloud-native operations.
- Web application firewall
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
8.8/10★★★★☆Visit Traefik Proxy -
Best forWeb-based NGINX proxy administration
A self-hosted Nginx manager for browser-based proxy administration.
- Response caching
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
8.6/10★★★★☆Visit site -
Best forCaching-focused HTTP reverse proxying
A self-hosted proxy for teams that need caching, TLS termination, and extensibility.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
8.4/10★★★★☆Visit site -
Best forSimple HTTPS-enabled self-hosted proxying
A focused self-hosted proxy for automatic TLS, flexible configuration, and traffic routing.
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
8.3/10★★★★☆Visit Caddy -
Best forManaged tunnels, APIs, and secure ingress
A broad reverse proxy platform for managed tunnels, APIs, and secure ingress.
- Web application firewall
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
8.2/10★★★★☆Visit ngrok -
Best forAdvanced proxying and service-mesh workloads
A flexible self-hosted proxy for advanced routing, service-mesh, and observability workloads.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
8.1/10★★★★☆Visit Envoy Proxy -
Best forKubernetes routing with advanced controls
A self-hosted Kubernetes ingress and reverse proxy with advanced traffic controls.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
7.9/10★★★★☆Visit Skipper -
Best forConsul-driven service discovery and routing
A Consul-centered reverse proxy for self-hosted service-oriented environments.
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
7.8/10★★★★☆Visit Fabio -
Best for.NET-based application reverse proxying
A flexible, self-hosted reverse proxy toolkit for ASP.NET Core applications.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
7.7/10★★★★☆Visit Microsoft -
Best forReverse proxying with integrated WAF protection
A focused open-source reverse proxy that adds WAF, bot, API, and access controls.
- Rate limiting
7.6/10★★★★☆Visit BunkerWeb -
Best forHTTP caching and content delivery optimization
A focused Linux reverse proxy for programmable caching and content delivery optimization.
- Response caching
- TLS termination
7.5/10★★★★☆Visit Varnish Cache -
Best forProgrammable modern proxy development
A flexible, self-hosted Rust foundation for programmable proxies and network services.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
7.4/10★★★★☆Visit Pingora -
Best forNGINX-compatible open-source proxying
A free, NGINX-compatible proxy for teams comfortable managing self-hosted infrastructure.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
7.3/10★★★★☆Visit freenginx -
Best forProgrammable lightweight self-hosted proxying
A programmable self-hosted proxy for routing, resilience, observability, and deployments.
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
7.2/10★★★★☆Visit Soli Proxy -
Best forGUI-managed proxying for mixed protocols
A free GUI-managed proxy for HTTP, TCP, UDP, TLS, and self-hosted services.
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
7.1/10★★★★☆Visit Zoraxy -
Best forFeature-rich small-team self-hosted proxying
A feature-rich open-source proxy for small teams managing their own infrastructure.
- Response caching
- Rate limiting
- TLS termination
7.0/10★★★★☆Visit Reproxy -
Best forMinimal zero-downtime Linux proxying
A focused self-hosted proxy for Linux teams needing runtime changes and zero-downtime upgrades.
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
6.9/10★★★☆☆Visit Sōzu -
Best forClustered tunnels and endpoint forwarding
A self-hosted choice for clustered tunnels, endpoint routing, and TCP forwarding.
- TLS termination
6.8/10★★★☆☆Visit Piko -
Best forStraightforward Linux reverse proxy failover
A free, Linux-focused reverse proxy for routing, TLS termination, and failover.
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
6.7/10★★★☆☆Visit Pound -
Best forTunneling TCP, UDP, and private services
A free open-source tunnel for TCP, UDP, HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, and private services.
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
6.6/10★★★☆☆Visit frp -
Best forHosted tunnels for local servers
A flexible tunnel for making local HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and TCP services reachable.
- Rate limiting
- TLS termination
6.5/10★★★☆☆Visit PageKite -
Best forAffordable multi-protocol tunneling
A flexible tunneling service with broad protocol support and a low-cost Pro tier.
- Rate limiting
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
6.4/10★★★☆☆Visit LocalXpose -
Best forAffordable device-based remote access
Affordable device-based tunnels with useful management and API features.
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
6.3/10★★★☆☆Visit Openport -
Best forCache-heavy HTTP and TCP deployments
A cache-focused reverse proxy for self-hosted HTTP and TCP deployments.
- Response caching
- TLS termination
6.1/10★★★☆☆Visit Nuster -
Best forNode-style dynamic route registration
An open-source Node.js reverse proxy for dynamic routes, TLS, and clustered operation.
- WebSocket support
- TLS termination
6.0/10★★★☆☆Visit Redbird -
Best forHostname-based TLS pass-through
A focused self-hosted router for hostname-based TLS pass-through.
5.9/10★★★☆☆Visit SNI Proxy -
Best forIdentity-aware access to private applications
A flexible reverse proxy for identity-based access to private applications and services.
5.8/10★★★☆☆Visit Pomerium -
Best forEnterprise Layer 7 DoS mitigation
A specialized NGINX module for always-on behavioral DoS and DDoS mitigation.
5.7/10★★★☆☆Visit F5 -
Best forCloudflare users needing advanced certificate controls
A Cloudflare add-on for teams that need more control over TLS certificates.
5.6/10★★★☆☆Visit Cloudflare -
Best forWindows/IIS teams routing and balancing web applications
A free, IIS-native reverse proxy for HTTP routing, balancing, affinity, and caching.
- TLS termination
5.5/10★★★☆☆Visit Microsoft
No tools match those filters.
Compare at a glance
| # | Tool | Free plan | Paid from | Deployment model | TLS termination | Rate limiting | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NGINX | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 9.3 |
| 2 | HAProxy Community Edition | Yes | Free | Yes | 9.1 | ||
| 3 | Cloudflare Tunnel | Yes | Free | Both | Yes | 8.9 | |
| 4 | Traefik Proxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 8.8 |
| 5 | Nginx Proxy Manager | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 8.6 | ||
| 6 | Apache Traffic Server | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 8.4 | |
| 7 | Caddy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 8.3 | |
| 8 | ngrok | Yes | $10/mo | Both | Yes | Yes | 8.2 |
| 9 | Envoy Proxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 8.1 |
| 10 | Skipper | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.9 | |
| 11 | Fabio | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 7.8 | ||
| 12 | YARP | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.7 | |
| 13 | BunkerWeb | Yes | Free | Yes | 7.6 | ||
| 14 | Varnish Cache | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 7.5 | |
| 15 | Pingora | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.4 |
| 16 | freenginx | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.3 |
| 17 | Soli Proxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.2 |
| 18 | Zoraxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.1 |
| 19 | Reproxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 7.0 |
| 20 | Sōzu | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | Yes | 6.9 |
| 21 | Piko | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 6.8 | ||
| 22 | Pound | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 6.7 | |
| 23 | frp | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 6.6 | |
| 24 | PageKite | Yes | Both | Yes | Yes | 6.5 | |
| 25 | LocalXpose | Yes | $8/mo | Both | Yes | Yes | 6.4 |
| 26 | Openport | Yes | $1/device/mo | Managed | Yes | 6.3 | |
| 27 | Nuster | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | 6.1 | ||
| 28 | Redbird | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | Yes | No | 6.0 |
| 29 | SNI Proxy | Yes | Free | Self-hosted | No | 5.9 | |
| 30 | Pomerium | Yes | $7/user/mo | 5.8 | |||
| 31 | F5 NGINX App Protect DoS | No | 5.7 | ||||
| 32 | Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager | No | $10/mo | 5.6 | |||
| 33 | IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) | Yes | Free | Yes | 5.5 |
Head-to-head All 28 comparisons →
- NGINX vs HAProxy Community Edition
- NGINX vs Cloudflare Tunnel
- NGINX vs Traefik Proxy
- NGINX vs Nginx Proxy Manager
- NGINX vs Apache Traffic Server
- NGINX vs Caddy
- NGINX vs ngrok
- HAProxy Community Edition vs Cloudflare Tunnel
- HAProxy Community Edition vs Traefik Proxy
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How we rank reverse proxy software
Every tool on this page was researched by iTechGuides Editors from its official website — pricing pages, plan tables and product documentation. We rank on how well each one does this category's core job, what the free or entry plan includes, and where it falls short. Where we have enough verified facts, the score out of 10 is a rubric — job fit, value and how much we could verify — shown with its breakdown on every tool's page; a tool we have not verified enough to score yet shows its rank without a number. Scores are re-checked when a product changes its plans. Read the full editorial policy, or submit a tool we missed.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Last updated · How we research and update