head to head · open source
caddy vs acme-dns
caddy has 76,064 GitHub stars, 4,996 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped today. acme-dns has 2,832 stars, 304 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 2,586% (76,064 vs 2,832 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; acme-dns is written in Go under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, acme-dns 11%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| caddy | acme-dns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-25 | 2026-06-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 304 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 76K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick acme-dns if
- You want the acme-dns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and acme-dns fits your workflow better
About caddy
Caddy is a Go based, Apache 2.0 licensed HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and HTTP/3 web server and reverse proxy that obtains and renews TLS certificates automatically by default, built for operators and teams who want every site on HTTPS without maintaining a separate certificate workflow.
read the full caddy overview →
About acme-dns
acme dns is a limited, self hosted DNS server written in Go that exposes a RESTful HTTP API for updating TXT records, letting operators automate ACME DNS 01 challenges without handing broad DNS control to their automation.
read the full acme-dns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or acme-dns more popular?
caddy has 76,064 GitHub stars and acme-dns has 2,832. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and acme-dns free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and acme-dns under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and acme-dns?
caddy is written in Go and acme-dns in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, caddy or acme-dns?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,064 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose acme-dns if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.