Traefik vs Caddy: Which Reverse Proxy?

Quick Verdict

Caddy is the better choice for most self-hosters. Its Caddyfile syntax is dead simple, automatic HTTPS works out of the box with zero configuration, and it uses far less memory than Traefik. Choose Traefik if you need Docker label-based auto-discovery so new containers are routed automatically, if you run Docker Swarm or Kubernetes, or if you need advanced middleware like circuit breakers and rate limiting.

Overview

Traefik (v3.6) is a cloud-native edge router written in Go. It watches Docker, Kubernetes, and other providers for service changes and automatically creates routes based on labels. Configuration is split between a static config file and dynamic config via labels or files. Traefik has been around since 2016 and is widely used in production orchestration environments.

Caddy (v2.9) is a modern web server and reverse proxy written in Go. Its defining feature is automatic HTTPS — point it at a domain name and it handles certificate provisioning and renewal without any configuration. Routes are defined in a Caddyfile, a human-readable config format that replaces Nginx’s verbose blocks with minimal syntax.

Both are Go binaries, both handle automatic Let’s Encrypt, and both reverse proxy your self-hosted services. The difference is in how you configure them and what happens when you add a new service.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Traefik (v3.6)	Caddy (v2.9)
Configuration format	Docker labels + YAML static config	Caddyfile or JSON API
Auto service discovery	Yes — Docker, Swarm, K8s, Consul, etc.	No — manual Caddyfile entries
Automatic HTTPS	Yes — requires explicit config	Yes — enabled by default, zero config
Let’s Encrypt challenges	HTTP, TLS-ALPN, DNS	HTTP, TLS-ALPN, DNS
Wildcard certificates	Yes — via DNS challenge	Yes — via DNS challenge
HTTP/2	Yes	Yes
HTTP/3 (QUIC)	Yes	Yes
Web dashboard	Yes — read-only monitoring	No built-in dashboard
Middleware ecosystem	30+ built-in (auth, rate limit, headers, circuit breaker)	Modules via plugins (fewer built-in, extensible)
Load balancing	Round robin, weighted, sticky sessions	Round robin, random, cookie hash, header hash
TCP/UDP proxying	Yes — native routers	Yes — Layer 4 module
Health checks	Yes — automatic backend checks	Yes — active and passive
Metrics	Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, Datadog	Prometheus (via module)
Config reload	Hot reload (file provider, label changes)	Hot reload via API or config adapter
Static file serving	No — reverse proxy only	Yes — full web server
License	MIT	Apache 2.0

Installation Complexity

Caddy is simpler to set up. A single Docker Compose service, two port mappings, two volumes, and a Caddyfile that reads like English. To proxy a service:

app.example.com {
    reverse_proxy container:8080
}

That’s it. HTTPS is automatic. No static config, no entry points, no certificate resolvers.

Traefik requires more initial setup. You need a static configuration file defining entry points, certificate resolvers, and providers. Then each service needs Docker labels specifying the router rule, entry point, and TLS resolver. The learning curve is steeper, but the payoff is that new containers with the right labels are discovered automatically — no config file editing needed.

For a homelab with 5-15 services that change occasionally, Caddy’s simplicity wins. For a dynamic environment where containers come and go frequently, Traefik’s auto-discovery is worth the upfront complexity.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	Traefik	Caddy
Idle RAM	~80-120 MB	~20-40 MB
Under load RAM	~200-400 MB	~50-100 MB
CPU at idle	Low	Very low
Binary size	~130 MB (Docker image)	~40 MB (Docker image)
Startup time	2-5 seconds	< 1 second

Caddy is significantly lighter. For a homelab running on a mini PC or Raspberry Pi, this matters. Traefik’s higher memory footprint comes from its service discovery watchers and middleware pipeline. Both handle typical self-hosting traffic loads without breaking a sweat — the difference only matters when resources are constrained.

Community and Support

Metric	Traefik	Caddy
GitHub stars	53K+	60K+
First release	2016	2015 (v1), 2020 (v2)
Release cadence	Monthly	Monthly
Documentation	Comprehensive but verbose	Excellent and concise
Community forum	community.traefik.io	caddy.community
Commercial support	Traefik Enterprise (paid)	Caddy sponsorship tiers

Both have strong communities. Traefik’s documentation is thorough but sometimes hard to navigate — the split between static and dynamic config across multiple providers creates many pages. Caddy’s documentation is notably well-organized and its Caddyfile examples are easy to follow.

Use Cases

Choose Traefik If…

• You run Docker Swarm or Kubernetes and want native integration
• You add and remove containers frequently and want zero-touch routing
• You need advanced middleware (circuit breakers, rate limiting, retries, mirroring)
• You want Prometheus metrics and distributed tracing out of the box
• You prefer config-as-code where routing lives with the container definition (labels)
• You manage multiple environments and want a single proxy to handle them all

Choose Caddy If…

• You want the simplest possible reverse proxy setup
• You run a homelab with a fixed set of services
• Memory is limited (Raspberry Pi, low-spec VPS)
• You want to also serve static files (documentation sites, Hugo/Astro sites)
• You prefer a readable config file over Docker labels
• You want automatic HTTPS with zero configuration

FAQ

Can Caddy auto-discover Docker containers like Traefik?

Not natively. There are community plugins like caddy-docker-proxy that add Docker label-based configuration to Caddy, but it is a third-party solution and not as mature as Traefik’s native provider.

Which is faster at proxying requests?

Both are fast enough for any self-hosting workload. In synthetic benchmarks, Caddy and Traefik perform comparably. The bottleneck in a homelab is always the backend service, never the reverse proxy.

Can I migrate from one to the other easily?

Routes don’t transfer directly. Traefik uses labels and YAML; Caddy uses the Caddyfile. But both use Let’s Encrypt, so certificate migration is not needed — the new proxy will obtain fresh certificates automatically.

Final Verdict

Caddy wins for most self-hosters. It is simpler to configure, uses less memory, starts faster, and its automatic HTTPS is genuinely zero-config. The Caddyfile is readable by anyone, and adding a new service takes two lines.

Traefik is the better tool if your workflow is container-centric and you want routing defined alongside your Compose files via labels. It is also the clear choice for Swarm and Kubernetes deployments. But for the typical self-hoster running a fixed set of services on a single server, Caddy’s simplicity is a real advantage that Traefik’s power does not overcome.

Related

• How to Self-Host Traefik with Docker
• How to Self-Host Caddy with Docker
• Nginx Proxy Manager vs Traefik
• Nginx Proxy Manager vs Caddy
• Best Self-Hosted Reverse Proxy
• Reverse Proxy Explained
• Docker Compose Basics