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10 top picks · 1 audience ranking

Best open source web servers and reverse proxies

The best open source reverse proxy is Traefik (MIT, 65,398 GitHub stars, Docker image). Caddy stands out for the most GitHub stars, and Nginx Proxy Manager stands out for an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide.

This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Traefik leads for solo developers.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed daily

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Traefik

    traefik/traefik

    HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy.

    Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesGoDocker

    Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Traefik has 65,398 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 920 commits in the last year.

  2. Rank 2:

    Caddy

    caddyserver/caddy

    Powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS.

    Active · last commit Oct 27, 2026

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesGoDocker

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Caddy has 78,501 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 406 commits in the last year.

  3. Rank 3:

    Nginx Proxy Manager

    NginxProxyManager/nginx-proxy-manager

    Docker container for managing Nginx proxy hosts with a simple, powerful interface.

    Active · last commit Oct 20, 2026

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesTypeScriptDocker

    Stands out for an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide. Nginx Proxy Manager has 34,559 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 838 commits in the last year.

At a glance

Open source web servers and reverse proxies compared

Ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 15 apps in the web servers & reverse proxies category. Projects with fewer than 12 commits in the last 12 months rank below every more active project.

Top 10 picks compared, data as of Oct 28, 2026
AppStands out forLicenseGitHub starsCommits (12 mo)Last commitDocker image
Traefika permissive MIT licenseMIT65,398920Oct 27, 2026Yes
Caddythe most GitHub starsApache-2.078,501406Oct 27, 2026Yes
Nginx Proxy Manageran appsgit step-by-step deploy guideMIT34,559838Oct 20, 2026Yes
Pangolinthe most commits in the last 12 months (5,808)AGPL-3.023,2575,808Oct 28, 2026Yes
NGINXa permissive BSD-2-Clause licenseBSD-2-Clause31,991319Oct 27, 2026Yes
BunkerWeb–AGPL-3.011,1292,288Oct 27, 2026Yes
SafeLine–GPL-3.023,05645Oct 22, 2026Yes
Zoraxy–AGPL-3.05,548546Oct 27, 2026Yes
Pomerium–Apache-2.05,079647Oct 28, 2026Yes
go-doxy–MIT4,167866Oct 27, 2026Yes

1 of 2 · 10 picks

Top picks

10 of the 15 apps in the web servers & reverse proxies category.

  1. 1

    Traefik

    HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy.

    Stands out for a permissive MIT license. Traefik has 65,398 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 920 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Caddy

    Powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS.

    Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Caddy has 78,501 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 406 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Nginx Proxy Manager

    Docker container for managing Nginx proxy hosts with a simple, powerful interface.

    Stands out for an appsgit step-by-step deploy guide. Nginx Proxy Manager has 34,559 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 838 commits in the last year.

  4. 4

    Pangolin

    Identity-aware tunneled reverse proxy with dashboard UI, access control, and WireGuard-based tunnels (alternative to Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale).

    Stands out for the most commits in the last 12 months (5,808). Pangolin has 23,257 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 5,808 commits in the last year.

  5. 5

    NGINX

    HTTP and reverse proxy server, mail proxy server, and generic TCP/UDP proxy server.

    Stands out for a permissive BSD-2-Clause license. NGINX has 31,991 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license, ships a Docker image and had 319 commits in the last year.

  6. 6

    BunkerWeb

    Next-gen Web Application Firewall (WAF) that will protect your web services.

    BunkerWeb has 11,129 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,288 commits in the last year.

  7. 7

    SafeLine

    Web application firewall / reverse proxy to protect your web apps from attacks and exploits.

    SafeLine has 23,056 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 45 commits in the last year.

  8. 8

    Zoraxy

    General purpose HTTP reverse proxy and forwarding tool.

    Zoraxy has 5,548 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 546 commits in the last year.

  9. 9

    Pomerium

    Identity-aware reverse proxy, successor to now obsolete oauth_proxy. It inserts an OAuth step before proxying your request to the backend, so that you can safely expose your self-hosted websites to…

    Pomerium has 5,079 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 647 commits in the last year.

  10. 10

    go-doxy

    Lightweight, simple, and performant reverse proxy with WebUI, Docker integration, automatic shutdown/startup for container based on traffic.

    go-doxy has 4,167 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 866 commits in the last year.

2 of 2 · 5 picks

Which open source reverse proxy is best for solo developers?

For solo developers, Traefik ranks first (MIT, 65,398 GitHub stars), followed by Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager. Ranked for solo developers on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Traefik

    HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy.

    Traefik has 65,398 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image, is written in Go and had 920 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Caddy

    Powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS.

    Caddy has 78,501 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in Go and had 406 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Nginx Proxy Manager

    Docker container for managing Nginx proxy hosts with a simple, powerful interface.

    Nginx Proxy Manager has 34,559 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image, is written in TypeScript and had 838 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Pangolin

    Identity-aware tunneled reverse proxy with dashboard UI, access control, and WireGuard-based tunnels (alternative to Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale).

    Pangolin has 23,257 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in TypeScript and had 5,808 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    NGINX

    HTTP and reverse proxy server, mail proxy server, and generic TCP/UDP proxy server.

    NGINX has 31,991 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license, ships a Docker image, is written in C and had 319 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

Is Traefik free?

Yes. Traefik is open-source software released under the MIT license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Can I self-host these web servers and reverse proxies with Docker?

Yes, all of them. Traefik, Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose.

Are all of these web servers and reverse proxies open source?

All 10 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.

Which of these web servers and reverse proxies is the most actively developed?

Pangolin, with 5,808 commits in the last 12 months and a latest release, 1.25.3, from October 2026. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.

How is this list ranked?

Ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 15 apps in the web servers & reverse proxies category. Projects with fewer than 12 commits in the last 12 months rank below every more active project.

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