head to head · open source
caddy vs xfrpc
caddy has 78,371 GitHub stars, 5,175 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. xfrpc has 842 stars, 127 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. caddy leads on adoption by 9,208% (78,371 vs 842 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; xfrpc is written in C under GPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, xfrpc 15%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (reverse-proxy), 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 | xfrpc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 78K | ★ 842 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-24 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 127 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caddy if
- You weight community size — 78K 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 xfrpc if
- You want the xfrpc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and xfrpc 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 xfrpc
What is xfrpc The xfrpc project is an implementation of frp client written in C language for OpenWRT and IOT system. The main motivation of this project is to provide a lightweight solution for devices with limited resources such as OpenWRT devices which often have limited ROM and RAM space. The project aims to provide a frp client that uses less space and memory than other available options. Development Status xfrpc partially compitable with latest frp release feature, It targets to fully compatible with latest frp release. the following table is detail compatible feature (vs official frpc / frp v0.71)…
read the full xfrpc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or xfrpc more popular?
caddy has 78,371 GitHub stars and xfrpc has 842. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and xfrpc free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and xfrpc under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and xfrpc?
caddy is written in Go and xfrpc 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 xfrpc?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (78,371 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose xfrpc if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.