head to head · open source
caddy vs Kathara
caddy has 76,688 GitHub stars, 5,050 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped today. Kathara has 645 stars, 86 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. caddy leads on adoption by 11,790% (76,688 vs 645 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Kathara is written in Python under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Kathara 13%. 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 | Kathara | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 645 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 86 |
| 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 Kathara if
- You want the Kathara feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Kathara 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 Kathara
Kathará is a lightweight, container based network emulation system for network engineers, students, and researchers who need to build, test, and demonstrate virtual networks on Docker or Kubernetes.
read the full Kathara overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or Kathara more popular?
caddy has 76,688 GitHub stars and Kathara has 645. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and Kathara free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Kathara under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and Kathara?
caddy is written in Go and Kathara in Python. 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 Kathara?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,688 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Kathara if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.