head to head · open source
caddy vs pdns
caddy has 78,857 GitHub stars, 5,239 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pdns has 4,514 stars, 1,036 forks, 932 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 1,647% (78,857 vs 4,514 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pdns is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, pdns 23%. 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 | pdns | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 79K 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 pdns if
- You want the pdns feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and pdns fits your workflow better
About caddy
a project Every site on HTTPS Caddy is an extensible server platform that uses TLS by default. Releases · Documentation · Get Help Powered by Special thanks to: Warp, built for coding with multiple AI agents Available for MacOS, Linux, & Windows Menu Features Install Build from source For development With version information and/or plugins Quick start Overview Full documentation Getting help About Features Easy configuration with the Caddyfile Powerful configuration with its native JSON config Dynamic configuration with the JSON API Config adapters if you don't like JSON Automatic HTTPS by default ZeroSSL and…
read the full caddy overview →
About pdns
PowerDNS is copyright © by PowerDNS.COM BV and lots of contributors, using the GNU GPLv2 license (see NOTICE for the exact license and exception used). All documentation can be found on This file may lag behind at times. For most recent updates, always check Another good place to look for information is: To file bugs, head towards: But please check if the issue is already reported there first. DOCKER This README is mirrored from GitHub to dockerhub. For information about our Docker images, please refer to SOURCE CODE / GIT Source code is available on GitHub: This repository contains the sources for the PowerDNS…
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or pdns more popular?
caddy has 78,857 GitHub stars and pdns has 4,514. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and pdns free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pdns under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and pdns?
caddy is written in Go and pdns in C++. 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 pdns?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (78,857 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pdns if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.