head to head · open source
caddy vs dns.toys
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars, 5,002 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dns.toys has 2,828 stars, 186 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 2,591% (76,093 vs 2,828 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dns.toys is written in Go under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, dns.toys 7%. 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 | dns.toys | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-02-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 186 |
| 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 dns.toys if
- You want the dns.toys feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dns.toys 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 dns.toys
dns.toys is an MIT licensed DNS server, written in Go, that takes creative liberties with the DNS protocol to deliver everyday utilities — weather, world time, unit and currency conversion, IP lookup and more — to anyone with a terminal and a dig command.
read the full dns.toys overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or dns.toys more popular?
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars and dns.toys has 2,828. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and dns.toys free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dns.toys under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and dns.toys?
caddy is written in Go and dns.toys 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 dns.toys?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,093 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dns.toys if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.