Caddy vs Traefik: Which Modern Proxy?
Caddy is a web server with automatic HTTPS and simple config; Traefik is a dynamic reverse proxy that auto-discovers services from Docker and Kubernetes.
Caddy serves sites and proxies with automatic TLS and a clean Caddyfile, great as a general server. Traefik is built for dynamic environments: it reads labels and provider APIs (Docker, Kubernetes, Consul) to configure routes automatically as services come and go, with a dashboard and middleware system. Caddy favors simple sites; Traefik favors container-native dynamic routing.
| Caddy | Traefik | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary role | Web server + proxy | Dynamic reverse proxy |
| Service discovery | Static / plugins | Native (Docker, K8s) |
| HTTPS | Automatic | Automatic |
| Config | Caddyfile | Labels / providers |
| Best for | Sites, simple proxy | Container/microservice routing |
Use case and discovery
Caddy is ideal when you have a known set of sites or services and want auto-TLS with minimal config. Traefik is ideal in container orchestration where services scale and change, since it reconfigures routes automatically from provider metadata, with middlewares for auth, rate limiting, and retries.
In CI and deploy
Both run as containers; Traefik integrates with your orchestrator config, Caddy with a Caddyfile. Validate config in CI before rollout. Either deploys from managed runners, where faster runners shorten image builds and integration tests.
The verdict
Serving sites or a fixed set of services with auto-HTTPS: Caddy. Dynamic container or Kubernetes environments needing automatic service discovery and middleware: Traefik. They overlap on auto-TLS but target different problems - static simplicity versus dynamic routing.