head to head · open source
caddy vs openvpn-install
caddy has 75,840 GitHub stars, 4,970 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. openvpn-install has 16,133 stars, 3,336 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 370% (75,840 vs 16,133 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; openvpn-install is written in Shell under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, openvpn-install 21%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (privacy), 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 | openvpn-install | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| 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 openvpn-install if
- You want the openvpn-install feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and openvpn-install 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 openvpn-install
openvpn install is an MIT licensed Bash script that installs and manages a self hosted OpenVPN server on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, CentOS, Amazon Linux, Arch Linux, Oracle Linux, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, aimed at anyone who runs their own VPS, dedicated server or home machine and wants to generate VPN client configuration files per device.
read the full openvpn-install overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or openvpn-install more popular?
caddy has 75,840 GitHub stars and openvpn-install has 16,133. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and openvpn-install free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openvpn-install under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and openvpn-install?
caddy is written in Go and openvpn-install in Shell. 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 openvpn-install?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (75,840 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openvpn-install if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.