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Caddy

329
271
+ 1
20
Traefik

909
1.2K
+ 1
93
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Caddy vs Traefik: What are the differences?

Caddy and Traefik are both popular web servers and reverse proxy servers that provide various features and functionalities. Here are the key differences between them.

  1. Configuration Syntax: Caddy uses a simplified and intuitive configuration syntax with a Caddyfile, which makes it easier to set up and configure. On the other hand, Traefik uses a more complex configuration system with YAML or TOML files, providing more flexibility but requiring a deeper understanding of the configuration syntax.

  2. Automatic HTTPS: Caddy has built-in automatic HTTPS functionality, which means that SSL/TLS certificates are automatically provisioned and renewed for all sites by default. This feature greatly simplifies the process of securing websites with SSL/TLS. In contrast, Traefik also supports automatic HTTPS, but it requires additional configuration and integration with external services like Let's Encrypt.

  3. Dynamic Configuration: Traefik excels in handling dynamic configurations and containerized environments. It can automatically discover and configure backend services based on Docker containers or other orchestration platforms like Kubernetes. Caddy, although able to handle dynamic configurations, may require manual configuration for each service or container.

  4. Plugins and Middleware: Caddy is designed with a modular architecture and supports a wide range of plugins and middleware. These plugins can easily be added to enhance the functionality of the server. Traefik also supports plugins but currently has a more limited selection. However, Traefik's plugin ecosystem is rapidly expanding and catching up with Caddy's.

  5. Community and Adoption: Caddy has gained popularity quickly and has a growing community of users and contributors. It has been well received for its simplicity and ease of use. Traefik, on the other hand, has been around for a longer time and has a larger community with a strong focus on containerized environments. Its adoption in complex and scalable infrastructures is widespread.

  6. Support and Documentation: Caddy offers official commercial support and has comprehensive documentation available, both in written form and through video tutorials. Traefik also provides support and has extensive documentation, including a detailed user guide and a cookbook. However, Traefik's documentation may require a slightly higher level of technical understanding.

In summary, Caddy shines in its simplicity, automatic HTTPS, and intuitive configuration syntax, making it great for beginners and small to medium-sized projects. On the other hand, Traefik excels in its dynamic configuration capabilities, extensive plugin ecosystem, and strong community support, making it more suitable for larger and complex containerized environments.

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Pros of Caddy
Pros of Traefik
  • 6
    Easy HTTP/2 Server Push
  • 6
    Sane config file syntax
  • 4
    Builtin HTTPS
  • 2
    Letsencrypt support
  • 2
    Runtime config API
  • 20
    Kubernetes integration
  • 18
    Watch service discovery updates
  • 14
    Letsencrypt support
  • 13
    Swarm integration
  • 12
    Several backends
  • 6
    Ready-to-use dashboard
  • 4
    Easy setup
  • 4
    Rancher integration
  • 1
    Mesos integration
  • 1
    Mantl integration

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Cons of Caddy
Cons of Traefik
  • 3
    New kid
  • 7
    Not very performant (fast)
  • 7
    Complicated setup

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- No public GitHub repository available -

What is Caddy?

Caddy 2 is a powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS written in Go.

What is Traefik?

A modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy. Traefik integrates with your existing infrastructure components and configures itself automatically and dynamically.

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What companies use Caddy?
What companies use Traefik?
See which teams inside your own company are using Caddy or Traefik.
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What tools integrate with Caddy?
What tools integrate with Traefik?

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What are some alternatives to Caddy and Traefik?
NGINX
nginx [engine x] is an HTTP and reverse proxy server, as well as a mail proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft nginx served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.
HAProxy
HAProxy (High Availability Proxy) is a free, very fast and reliable solution offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP-based applications.
Envoy
Originally built at Lyft, Envoy is a high performance C++ distributed proxy designed for single services and applications, as well as a communication bus and “universal data plane” designed for large microservice “service mesh” architectures.
Apache HTTP Server
The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful and flexible HTTP/1.1 compliant web server. Originally designed as a replacement for the NCSA HTTP Server, it has grown to be the most popular web server on the Internet.
Apache Tomcat
Apache Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations.
See all alternatives