head to head · open source
caddy vs AdGuardHome
caddy has 75,840 GitHub stars, 4,970 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AdGuardHome has 36,970 stars, 2,520 forks, 1,253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. caddy leads on adoption by 105% (75,840 vs 36,970 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; AdGuardHome is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, AdGuardHome 7%. AdGuardHome was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (golang, privacy), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | AdGuardHome | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 37K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 2.5K |
| 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 AdGuardHome if
- You want the AdGuardHome feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and AdGuardHome 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 AdGuardHome
AdGuard Home is a free and open source, network wide DNS server that blocks ads and trackers for every device on a network, aimed at self hosters, homelab operators, and network administrators who want filtering without installing client side software on each device.
read the full AdGuardHome overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or AdGuardHome more popular?
caddy has 75,840 GitHub stars and AdGuardHome has 36,970. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and AdGuardHome free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and AdGuardHome under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and AdGuardHome?
caddy is written in Go and AdGuardHome in TypeScript. 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 AdGuardHome?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (75,840 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose AdGuardHome if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.