Nginx vs Caddy

Nginx is the established powerhouse web server and reverse proxy. Caddy is a modern alternative that prioritizes automatic HTTPS, simple configuration, and sensible defaults. Both are excellent choices, but they target different priorities.

Automatic HTTPS — Caddy's Killer Feature

Caddy obtains and renews TLS certificates automatically from Let's Encrypt (or ZeroSSL) with zero configuration. Simply specify a domain name in your Caddyfile, and Caddy handles certificate issuance, renewal, and OCSP stapling. It also redirects HTTP to HTTPS by default.

With Nginx, you need to set up Certbot or another ACME client, configure certificate paths, schedule renewal cron jobs, and manually handle OCSP stapling. It works, but it is significantly more manual.

Configuration Simplicity

A basic Caddy reverse proxy:

The equivalent Nginx config is 15+ lines covering server blocks, listen directives, location blocks, proxy headers, and SSL configuration. For simple use cases, Caddy's brevity is a major advantage.

Performance at Scale

Nginx is written in C and has been optimized over 20 years for extreme performance. It powers some of the highest-traffic websites in the world. Caddy, written in Go, performs well for most workloads but has slightly higher memory usage and marginally lower throughput at extreme scale.

For most applications, both perform well beyond what the application itself can handle. The web server is rarely the bottleneck.

When to Choose

For quick deployments, personal projects, and teams that value simplicity, Caddy is excellent. For large-scale production environments, complex routing needs, and teams with Nginx expertise, Nginx remains the standard. Explore system design concepts and practice interview questions. See our guides and pricing.