head to head · open source
caddy vs lightway-core
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars, 5,002 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightway-core has 626 stars, 72 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 12,055% (76,093 vs 626 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; lightway-core is written in C under GPL-2.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, lightway-core 12%. 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 | lightway-core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 626 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-04-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 72 |
| 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 lightway-core if
- You want the lightway-core feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and lightway-core 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 lightway-core
Lightway Core is a small, multi platform C library published by ExpressVPN that provides the foundational components of a virtual private network protocol, written for developers, researchers, and VPN operators who want to build on or study the protocol behind ExpressVPN's Lightway.
read the full lightway-core overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or lightway-core more popular?
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars and lightway-core has 626. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and lightway-core free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lightway-core under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and lightway-core?
caddy is written in Go and lightway-core 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 lightway-core?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,093 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lightway-core if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.