head to head · open source
caddy vs bind9
caddy has 76,688 GitHub stars, 5,050 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped today. bind9 has 779 stars, 186 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped today. caddy leads on adoption by 9,744% (76,688 vs 779 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; bind9 is written in C under MPL-2.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, bind9 24%. bind9 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 | bind9 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 779 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 186 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 77K 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 bind9 if
- You want the bind9 feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and bind9 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 bind9
BIND 9 is a complete, highly portable open source implementation of the Domain Name System protocol, written in C, for operators and organisations that need to run authoritative, recursive, or forwarding DNS infrastructure themselves.
read the full bind9 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or bind9 more popular?
caddy has 76,688 GitHub stars and bind9 has 779. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and bind9 free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bind9 under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and bind9?
caddy is written in Go and bind9 in C. 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 bind9?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,688 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bind9 if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.