head to head · open source
caddy vs zoraxy
caddy has 78,911 GitHub stars, 5,250 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zoraxy has 5,572 stars, 333 forks, 159 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. caddy leads on adoption by 1,316% (78,911 vs 5,572 stars). caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; zoraxy is written in HTML under AGPL-3.0. caddy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, zoraxy 6%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (golang, 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 | zoraxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 5.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-11-09 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 333 |
| 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 zoraxy if
- You want the zoraxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and zoraxy 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 zoraxy
Zoraxy A general purpose HTTP reverse proxy and forwarding tool. Now written in Go! Features Simple to use interface with detail in system instructions Reverse Proxy (HTTP/2) Virtual Directory WebSocket Proxy (automatic, no set up needed) Basic Auth Alias Hostnames Custom Headers Load Balancing Redirection Rules TLS / SSL setup and deploy ACME features like auto renew to serve your sites in http s SNI support (and SAN certs) DNS Challenge for Let's Encrypt and these DNS providers Blacklist / Whitelist by country or IP address (single IP, CIDR or wildcard for beginners) Stream Proxy (TCP & UDP) Integrated Up time…
read the full zoraxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caddy or zoraxy more popular?
caddy has 78,911 GitHub stars and zoraxy has 5,572. caddy has the larger community by that measure.
Are caddy and zoraxy free?
Both are open source. caddy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zoraxy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caddy and zoraxy?
caddy is written in Go and zoraxy in HTML. 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 zoraxy?
Choose caddy if you want the larger community (78,911 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zoraxy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.