head to head · open source
caddy vs meridian
caddy has 78,808 GitHub stars, 5,232 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. meridian has 500 stars, 27 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. caddy leads on adoption by 15,662% (78,808 vs 500 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; meridian is written in Python under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, meridian 5%. 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 | meridian | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 500 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 27 |
| 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 meridian if
- You want the meridian feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and meridian 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 meridian
Meridian Deploy it right. Share it easily. One command turns a fresh VPS into a hardened self hosted VPN server, with a built in web panel and a connection page for each person. A VPN that connects can still give itself away: an open admin port, a self signed certificate, a container that skips the firewall. Meridian sets up every layer on a fresh Debian or Ubuntu VPS, tests the server with real traffic, and gives you two interfaces: a connection page for each person who connects and a web panel to manage people and servers from any browser. When an address gets blocked, add a relay, turn on domain mode, or move…
read the full meridian overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or meridian more popular?
caddy has 78,808 GitHub stars and meridian has 500. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and meridian free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and meridian under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and meridian?
caddy is written in Go and meridian 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 meridian?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (78,808 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose meridian if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.