head to head · open source
caddy vs node
caddy has 76,036 GitHub stars, 4,994 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. node has 1,354 stars, 355 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 5,516% (76,036 vs 1,354 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; node is written in Go under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, node 26%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (golang), 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.
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Side by side
| caddy | node | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 355 |
| 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 node if
- You want the node 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 node 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 node
Mysterium Node is the official Go implementation of the Mysterium Network distributed VPN (dVPN) protocol, a cross platform package for operators who want to run a node on that network and for developers who want to build clients against it.
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or node more popular?
caddy has 76,036 GitHub stars and node has 1,354. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and node free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and node?
caddy is written in Go and node 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 node?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (76,036 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose node if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.