head to head · open source
caddy vs Modlishka
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars, 5,002 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Modlishka has 5,415 stars, 959 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 1,305% (76,093 vs 5,415 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Modlishka is written in Go under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Modlishka 18%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (reverse-proxy), 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 | Modlishka | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-08-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 959 |
| 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 Modlishka if
- You want the Modlishka feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Modlishka 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 Modlishka
Modlishka is an open source, GPL 3.0 licensed man in the middle reverse proxy written in Go, intended for authorised security researchers and professional penetration testers who study how browser based authentication and two factor schemes can be bypassed.
read the full Modlishka 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 Modlishka more popular?
caddy has 76,093 GitHub stars and Modlishka has 5,415. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and Modlishka free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Modlishka under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and Modlishka?
caddy is written in Go and Modlishka 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 Modlishka?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,093 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Modlishka if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.