head to head · open source
caddy vs mosdns
caddy has 76,036 GitHub stars, 4,994 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mosdns has 3,749 stars, 486 forks, 118 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 1,928% (76,036 vs 3,749 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; mosdns is written in Go under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, mosdns 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 | mosdns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-02-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 486 |
| 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 mosdns if
- You want the mosdns 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 mosdns 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 mosdns
mosdns is a DNS forwarder written in Go, licensed under GPL 3.0, and aimed at people who want to run their own DNS forwarding and resolution path instead of relying on the resolver handed to them by a router, an ISP, or a third party service.
read the full mosdns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or mosdns more popular?
caddy has 76,036 GitHub stars and mosdns has 3,749. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and mosdns free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mosdns under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and mosdns?
caddy is written in Go and mosdns 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 mosdns?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,036 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mosdns if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.