Best Self-Hosted Reverse Proxy in 2026

Quick Picks

Use Case	Best Choice	Why
Best overall	Caddy	Simplest config, automatic HTTPS, lowest resource usage
Best for beginners	Nginx Proxy Manager	Web UI, zero config file editing
Best for Docker-heavy setups	Traefik	Auto-discovers containers via labels
Best for maximum control	Nginx	Most flexible config, largest ecosystem
Best for load balancing	HAProxy	Production-grade, battle-tested at scale

The Full Ranking

1. Caddy — Best Overall

Caddy (v2.9) is a modern web server and reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS built in. Its Caddyfile format is the simplest config language of any reverse proxy. Add a domain name, point it at a backend, and Caddy handles SSL certificates, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, OCSP stapling, and HTTP-to-HTTPS redirection automatically.

For the typical self-hoster running 5-30 services on a single server, Caddy gets you from zero to fully proxied with HTTPS faster than anything else. Adding a new service takes two lines in the Caddyfile. Memory usage is 20-40 MB at idle — lighter than everything except raw Nginx.

Pros:

• Automatic HTTPS with zero configuration
• Caddyfile syntax is two lines per service
• HTTP/3 (QUIC) support
• Serves static files natively
• 20-40 MB idle RAM
• Excellent documentation
• Active development with monthly releases

Cons:

• No web UI for management
• No native Docker auto-discovery (requires third-party plugin)
• Plugin ecosystem is smaller than Nginx’s module ecosystem
• No built-in rate limiting or caching without plugins

Best for: Most self-hosters who want the simplest, lightest reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Caddy with Docker

2. Nginx Proxy Manager — Best for Beginners

Nginx Proxy Manager (v2.13.7) wraps Nginx in a web UI. Create proxy hosts, enable SSL, and configure access lists — all through point-and-click forms. No config files, no terminal commands after initial setup.

NPM is the right choice if you or the people you share your homelab with prefer a GUI. Adding a new proxied service takes 30 seconds in the web interface. SSL certificates are provisioned with a checkbox.

Pros:

• Web UI for all management tasks
• SSL certificates via checkbox (Let’s Encrypt HTTP and DNS challenge)
• Built-in access lists (IP and password auth)
• Wildcard certificate support
• Multiple admin accounts
• Custom Nginx config injection for power users

Cons:

• Higher memory usage (~100-150 MB idle) due to Node.js management layer
• Config stored in SQLite database, not version-controllable text files
• No HTTP/3 support
• Single primary maintainer (bus factor risk)
• No Docker auto-discovery

Best for: Beginners, GUI-preferring users, and shared homelabs where multiple people manage proxy hosts.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Nginx Proxy Manager

3. Traefik — Best for Docker-Heavy Setups

Traefik (v3.6) is a cloud-native edge router that watches Docker for container changes. Deploy a new container with the right labels and Traefik automatically creates a route and provisions an SSL certificate. No config file editing needed after initial setup.

Traefik is ideal if you frequently add, remove, or update containers. Its auto-discovery eliminates the “deploy container, then go edit the proxy config, then reload” workflow entirely.

Pros:

• Auto-discovers Docker containers via labels
• Automatic Let’s Encrypt (HTTP, TLS-ALPN, DNS challenges)
• 30+ built-in middleware (auth, rate limiting, headers, circuit breaker)
• Docker Swarm and Kubernetes native support
• Prometheus metrics and OpenTelemetry tracing built-in
• Read-only dashboard for monitoring
• HTTP/3 support

Cons:

• Higher memory usage (~80-120 MB idle)
• Steeper initial setup (static config + dynamic labels)
• Learning curve for label syntax
• No web UI for managing routes (dashboard is read-only)
• Split config model (static file + dynamic labels) can be confusing

Best for: Self-hosters who frequently deploy containers, Docker Swarm/Kubernetes users, and those who want config-as-code with routing defined alongside services.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Traefik with Docker

4. Nginx — Best for Maximum Control

Nginx (v1.28) is the most widely deployed web server on the internet. It handles reverse proxying, static file serving, caching, rate limiting, URL rewriting, and load balancing with a battle-tested, C-based event-driven architecture.

Nginx gives you complete control over every aspect of request handling. The configuration syntax is more verbose than Caddy or Traefik, but the flexibility is unmatched. Every edge case has a solution in Nginx’s module ecosystem.

Pros:

• Most flexible configuration of any reverse proxy
• Proven at massive scale (34% of all web servers)
• Extremely low resource usage (~10-30 MB idle)
• Built-in caching, rate limiting, and gzip compression
• Largest community and ecosystem (20 years of solutions)
• TCP/UDP stream proxying built-in
• Lua scripting via OpenResty/njs

Cons:

• No automatic HTTPS — requires Certbot or manual SSL setup
• Verbose config syntax
• No web UI
• No Docker auto-discovery
• WebSocket proxying requires manual header configuration
• No built-in config management (text files only)

Best for: Power users who need advanced caching, rate limiting, URL rewriting, or Lua scripting. Production deployments at scale.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Nginx with Docker

5. HAProxy — Best for Load Balancing

HAProxy (v3.3) is the industry-standard load balancer, used by GitHub, Reddit, and Stack Overflow. It excels at distributing traffic across multiple backend servers with advanced health checks, stick tables for session persistence, and TCP-level proxying.

HAProxy is overkill for most homelabs but unmatched when you need production-grade traffic management. It is the lightest option here (15-30 MB idle) and handles the highest concurrent connection counts.

Pros:

• Production-grade load balancing (multiple algorithms)
• Advanced health checks (HTTP content matching, TCP, scripts)
• Stick tables for rate limiting and session persistence
• TCP/UDP proxying (databases, MQTT, game servers)
• Extremely low resource usage (~15-30 MB idle)
• Real-time stats dashboard
• Battle-tested at internet scale

Cons:

• No automatic HTTPS — external ACME client required
• No Docker auto-discovery
• Custom config syntax with a learning curve
• No web UI for route management (stats page is read-only)
• Config changes require reload (no hot reload of routes)
• Not designed for static file serving

Best for: Multi-server load balancing, TCP proxying, high-availability setups. Not ideal for typical single-server homelabs.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host HAProxy with Docker

Full Comparison Table

Feature	Caddy	NPM	Traefik	Nginx	HAProxy
Automatic HTTPS	Yes (zero config)	Yes (checkbox)	Yes (labels)	No	No
Web UI	No	Yes	Read-only	No	Stats only
Docker auto-discovery	Plugin	No	Yes (native)	No	No
HTTP/3	Yes	No	Yes	Experimental	No
Config format	Caddyfile	Web UI	Labels + YAML	nginx.conf	haproxy.cfg
Idle RAM	20-40 MB	100-150 MB	80-120 MB	10-30 MB	15-30 MB
Static file serving	Yes	Limited	No	Yes	No
Caching	Plugin	Via Nginx	No	Built-in	No
Rate limiting	Plugin	Limited	Middleware	Built-in	Stick tables
TCP/UDP proxying	Plugin	Stream hosts	Yes	Stream module	Yes (native)
Load balancing	Yes	Limited	Yes	Upstream module	Yes (advanced)
Kubernetes support	No	No	Yes (native)	Ingress controller	Ingress controller
License	Apache 2.0	MIT	MIT	BSD 2-Clause	GPL v2

How We Evaluated

Every reverse proxy was evaluated on:

1. Setup simplicity — How fast can you go from zero to proxying with HTTPS?
2. Ongoing maintenance — How easy is it to add, remove, and modify routes?
3. Resource usage — RAM and CPU at idle and under load
4. Feature completeness — SSL, load balancing, health checks, middleware
5. Community and maintenance — Active development, documentation quality, bus factor
6. Self-hosting suitability — How well does it fit the typical homelab (single server, 5-30 services)?

The ranking prioritizes the self-hosting use case. In a production infrastructure context, the ranking would be different (HAProxy and Nginx would rank higher).

Related

• How to Self-Host Caddy with Docker
• How to Self-Host Nginx Proxy Manager
• How to Self-Host Traefik with Docker
• How to Self-Host Nginx with Docker
• How to Self-Host HAProxy with Docker
• Traefik vs Caddy
• Nginx Proxy Manager vs Traefik
• Nginx Proxy Manager vs Caddy
• Caddy vs Nginx
• Traefik vs HAProxy
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Managed Hosting
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Paid SSL
• Reverse Proxy Explained
• SSL Certificates Explained
• Docker Compose Basics