head to head · open source
caddy vs wireguard-install
caddy has 75,951 GitHub stars, 4,988 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. wireguard-install has 2,663 stars, 455 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. caddy leads on adoption by 2,752% (75,951 vs 2,663 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; wireguard-install is written in Shell under MIT. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, wireguard-install 17%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| caddy | wireguard-install | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 76K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 455 |
| 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 wireguard-install if
- You want the wireguard-install feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and wireguard-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 wireguard-install
wireguard install is an MIT licensed Shell installer for Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CentOS, Fedora, openSUSE and Raspberry Pi OS that stands up and manages a WireGuard VPN server on a Linux machine in a few minutes, and it is aimed at self hosters, system administrators and small teams who want their own VPN endpoint — typically on a cloud server, virtual private server or dedicated server — without configuring WireGuard by hand.
read the full wireguard-install overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Networking & Connectivity projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Networking & Connectivity field.
Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or wireguard-install more popular?
caddy has 75,951 GitHub stars and wireguard-install has 2,663. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and wireguard-install free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and wireguard-install under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and wireguard-install?
caddy is written in Go and wireguard-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 wireguard-install?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (75,951 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose wireguard-install if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.