head to head · open source
caddy vs node-dns
caddy has 77,398 GitHub stars, 5,091 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. node-dns has 591 stars, 80 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 12,996% (77,398 vs 591 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; node-dns is written in JavaScript under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, node-dns 14%. 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 | node-dns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 591 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-05 | 2026-07-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 80 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 77K 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-dns if
- You want the node-dns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and node-dns 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-dns
node dns is a DNS server and client library in pure JavaScript with no dependencies, published on npm as dns2 , for Node.js developers who need to resolve or serve DNS records programmatically.
read the full node-dns overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or node-dns more popular?
caddy has 77,398 GitHub stars and node-dns has 591. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and node-dns free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-dns under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and node-dns?
caddy is written in Go and node-dns in JavaScript. 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-dns?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (77,398 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose node-dns if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.