head to head · open source
caddy vs blocky
caddy has 75,894 GitHub stars, 4,982 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. blocky has 6,965 stars, 305 forks, 51 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 990% (75,894 vs 6,965 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; blocky is written in Go under Apache-2.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, blocky 4%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), 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 | blocky | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 7.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 305 |
| 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 blocky if
- You want the blocky feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and blocky 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 blocky
Blocky is a fast, lightweight DNS proxy and ad blocker written in Go that runs on a local network, blocking ad, malware and other unwanted domains for every device that sends its DNS queries to it.
read the full blocky overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or blocky more popular?
caddy has 75,894 GitHub stars and blocky has 6,965. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and blocky free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and blocky under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and blocky?
caddy is written in Go and blocky 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 blocky?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (75,894 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose blocky if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.