HAProxy Community Edition vs Caddy

HCHAProxy Community Edition9.1Visit Caddy8.3Visit

Higher score HC HAProxy Community Edition #2 in Reverse Proxy Software 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 5 features Visit HAProxy

vs

Caddy #7 in Reverse Proxy Software 8.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 5 features Visit Caddy

• HAProxy Community Edition fits best

  High-performance L4 and L7 traffic management

• Caddy fits best

  Simple HTTPS-enabled self-hosted proxying

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Side by side

Feature	HCHAProxy Community Edition 9.1/10 Visit ↗	Caddy 8.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	8.3
Ranking	#2 in Reverse Proxy Software	#7 in Reverse Proxy Software
Best for	High-performance L4 and L7 traffic management	Simple HTTPS-enabled self-hosted proxying
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Free plan
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
Support	Community, Docs	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features HAProxy Community Edition 1/5 · Caddy 2/5
TLS termination	✓	✓
Web application firewall	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Response caching	Not checked yet	—
WebSocket support	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Rate limiting	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment model	Not checked yet	Self-hosted
Configuration method	Not checked yet	Both
Our review
Pros	Handles both TCP proxying and HTTP reverse proxying Supports TLS termination, health checks, and session persistence Includes routing, rate limiting, monitoring, and high availability	Automatic TLS certificate provisioning and renewal Load balancing with active and passive health checks Caddyfile, JSON, and RESTful API configuration
Cons	Requires self-managed deployment and operations Runs on Linux and self-hosted infrastructure Global traffic management is outside the community edition	Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure management Standard distribution does not include response caching Focused on proxying rather than WAF or general rate limiting
Our verdict	HAProxy Community Edition is a free, open-source reverse proxy and software load balancer for TCP and HTTP applications. It is designed for teams running self-managed infrastructure on Linux, including containers, virtual machines, and… Read the review →	Caddy is an open-source, self-hosted web server and reverse proxy for websites, applications, and services. It handles HTTP, HTTPS, WebSocket, gRPC, and FastCGI traffic, while automatically obtaining and renewing TLS certificates. Its… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• HAProxy Community Edition — where it wins

  • Handles both TCP proxying and HTTP reverse proxying
  • Supports TLS termination, health checks, and session persistence
  • Includes routing, rate limiting, monitoring, and high availability

  Where it doesn't

  • Requires self-managed deployment and operations
  • Runs on Linux and self-hosted infrastructure
  • Global traffic management is outside the community edition

• Caddy — where it wins

  • Automatic TLS certificate provisioning and renewal
  • Load balancing with active and passive health checks
  • Caddyfile, JSON, and RESTful API configuration

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires infrastructure management
  • Standard distribution does not include response caching
  • Focused on proxying rather than WAF or general rate limiting

• HCHAProxy Community Edition9.1/10 · Free plan

  A capable reverse proxy for teams managing high-volume TCP and HTTP traffic themselves.

  Visit HAProxyFull verdict →
• Caddy8.3/10 · Free plan

  A focused self-hosted proxy for automatic TLS, flexible configuration, and traffic routing.

  Visit CaddyFull verdict →