head to head · open source
frp vs caddy
frp has 109,502 GitHub stars, 15,213 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. caddy has 75,840 stars, 4,970 forks, 286 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. frp leads on adoption by 44% (109,502 vs 75,840 stars). frp is written in Go under Apache-2.0; caddy is written in Go under Apache-2.0. frp has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, caddy 7%. caddy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (go, 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
| frp | caddy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 110K | ★ 76K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 5.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick frp if
- You weight community size — 110K 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 caddy if
- You want the caddy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and caddy fits your workflow better
About frp
frp is a fast reverse proxy written in Go that exposes a local server behind a NAT or firewall to the internet, built for operators and developers who need inbound access to machines they cannot port forward.
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is frp or caddy more popular?
frp has 109,502 GitHub stars and caddy has 75,840. frp has the larger community by that measure.
Are frp and caddy free?
Both are open source. frp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and caddy under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between frp and caddy?
frp is written in Go and caddy in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, frp or caddy?
Choose frp if you want the larger community (109,502 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose caddy if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.