Caddy: Self-Hosted Web Server with Automatic HTTPS

Caddy is a modern, open-source web server written in Go that stands out for one killer feature: automatic HTTPS by default. With over 69,000 GitHub stars, Caddy has become the go-to reverse proxy for developers who want SSL certificates provisioned and renewed without any configuration. It handles Let's Encrypt and ZeroSSL certificates automatically, serves HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 out of the box, and uses a clean, human-readable configuration format called the Caddyfile.

Self-hosting Caddy as your reverse proxy gives you a production-grade web server that eliminates certificate management headaches entirely.

Key Features

• Automatic HTTPS with Let's Encrypt and ZeroSSL — certificates obtained and renewed without configuration
• Human-readable Caddyfile configuration syntax that replaces verbose Nginx configs
• HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (QUIC) support enabled by default
• Built-in reverse proxy with load balancing, health checks, and circuit breakers
• On-demand TLS for dynamically provisioning certificates when clients connect
• API-driven configuration with a full JSON config API alongside the Caddyfile
• Extensible plugin architecture with modules for rate limiting, caching, and authentication
• Single static binary with no external dependencies — easy to deploy and update

Why Self-Host Caddy?

Zero certificate management. The biggest pain point of running a web server is SSL certificates. Caddy handles everything automatically — obtaining, renewing, and applying certificates for every site you configure. You never touch certbot, cron jobs, or certificate files again.

Simple configuration. A Caddyfile that reverse proxies to an application is just a few lines. Compare that to equivalent Nginx or Apache configurations and the difference is dramatic. Less configuration means fewer mistakes and faster deployments.

Modern protocol support. Caddy serves HTTP/3 with QUIC by default, giving your sites better performance on lossy networks and mobile connections. Most other web servers require manual configuration or third-party modules for HTTP/3.

Single binary deployment. Caddy compiles to a single Go binary with no runtime dependencies. Deploy it on any Linux server, update by replacing one file, and avoid complex package management.

System Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	1 vCPU	2 vCPUs
RAM	256 MB	1 GB
Storage	5 GB SSD	10 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04+	Ubuntu 24.04

Caddy is exceptionally lightweight. Resource usage depends on the number of concurrent connections and the complexity of middleware you configure. For a typical reverse proxy serving a handful of applications, Caddy barely registers on system metrics.

Getting Started

Deploy Caddy on your VPS using Docker Compose through Dokploy. Our guide covers Caddyfile configuration, reverse proxy setup for multiple services, persistent certificate storage, and automatic HTTPS.

Deploy Caddy with Dokploy →

Alternatives

• Traefik — Cloud-native reverse proxy with Docker-aware automatic service discovery
• Nginx Proxy Manager — GUI-based Nginx reverse proxy with Let's Encrypt integration
• HAProxy — High-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer for demanding traffic scenarios
• Nginx — Industry-standard web server with extensive ecosystem and documentation

FAQ

How does Caddy handle HTTPS automatically? When you add a domain to your Caddyfile, Caddy automatically obtains a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt (or ZeroSSL), configures HTTPS, and renews the certificate before it expires. It also redirects HTTP to HTTPS by default. No manual certificate management is needed.

Can Caddy replace Nginx? For most use cases, yes. Caddy handles reverse proxying, static file serving, load balancing, and TLS termination. Where Nginx still has an edge is in raw throughput for extremely high-traffic scenarios and in its massive ecosystem of third-party modules.

Does Caddy support wildcard certificates? Yes. Caddy can obtain wildcard certificates through DNS challenge providers. You configure your DNS provider's API credentials, and Caddy handles wildcard certificate issuance and renewal automatically.

Is Caddy fast enough for production? Yes. Caddy is written in Go and handles thousands of concurrent connections efficiently. For typical self-hosted application stacks, Caddy's performance is indistinguishable from Nginx. The bottleneck is almost always the upstream application, not the reverse proxy.

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App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.