head to head · open source
caddy vs DnsServer
caddy has 78,660 GitHub stars, 5,232 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DnsServer has 10,288 stars, 816 forks, 187 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 665% (78,660 vs 10,288 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; DnsServer is written in C# under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, DnsServer 8%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| caddy | DnsServer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 10K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 816 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 79K 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 DnsServer if
- You want the DnsServer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and DnsServer fits your workflow better
About caddy
a project Every site on HTTPS Caddy is an extensible server platform that uses TLS by default. Releases · Documentation · Get Help Powered by Special thanks to: Warp, built for coding with multiple AI agents Available for MacOS, Linux, & Windows Menu Features Install Build from source For development With version information and/or plugins Quick start Overview Full documentation Getting help About Features Easy configuration with the Caddyfile Powerful configuration with its native JSON config Dynamic configuration with the JSON API Config adapters if you don't like JSON Automatic HTTPS by default ZeroSSL and…
read the full caddy overview →
About DnsServer
Technitium DNS Server Self host a DNS server for privacy & security Block ads & malware at DNS level for your entire network! Technitium DNS Server is an open source authoritative as well as recursive DNS server that can be used for self hosting a DNS server for privacy & security. It works out of the box with no or minimal configuration and provides a user friendly web console accessible using any modern web browser. Nobody really bothers about domain name resolution since it works automatically behind the scenes and is complex to understand. Most computer software use the operating system's DNS resolver that…
read the full DnsServer overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Networking & Connectivity projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Networking & Connectivity field.
Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or DnsServer more popular?
caddy has 78,660 GitHub stars and DnsServer has 10,288. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and DnsServer free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and DnsServer under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and DnsServer?
caddy is written in Go and DnsServer 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 DnsServer?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (78,660 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose DnsServer if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.