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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, with 65,081 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Traefik leads for solo developers. The overall ranking weighs 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 of the appsgit catalog.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Traefik

    traefik/traefik

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

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesGoDocker

    Traefik has 65,081 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 846 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok.

  2. Rank 2:

    Caddy

    caddyserver/caddy

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

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesGoDocker

    Caddy has 77,243 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 331 commits in the last year; it replaces Netlify.

  3. Rank 3:

    Nginx Proxy Manager

    NginxProxyManager/nginx-proxy-manager

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

    Web Servers & Reverse ProxiesTypeScriptDocker

    Nginx Proxy Manager has 34,325 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 798 commits in the last year.

1 of 2 · 10 picks

Top picks

10 of the 15 apps in the web servers & reverse proxies category, ranked 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 65,081 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 846 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok.

  2. 2

    Caddy

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

    Caddy has 77,243 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 331 commits in the last year; it replaces Netlify.

  3. 3

    Nginx Proxy Manager

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

    Nginx Proxy Manager has 34,325 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 798 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).

    Pangolin has 23,015 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 5,364 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok and Tailscale.

  5. 5

    NGINX

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

    NGINX has 31,800 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license, ships a Docker image and had 283 commits in the last year.

  6. 6

    BunkerWeb

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

    BunkerWeb has 11,043 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,931 commits in the last year.

  7. 7

    SafeLine

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

    SafeLine has 22,706 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 43 commits in the last year.

  8. 8

    Zoraxy

    General purpose HTTP reverse proxy and forwarding tool.

    Zoraxy has 5,510 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 505 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 5,026 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 602 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 4,160 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 771 commits in the last year.

2 of 2 · 5 picks

Best for solo developers

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 65,081 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image, is written in Go and had 846 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok. 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 77,243 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in Go and had 331 commits in the last year; it replaces Netlify. 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 34,325 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image, is written in TypeScript and had 798 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 23,015 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in TypeScript and had 5,364 commits in the last year; it replaces ngrok and Tailscale. 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 31,800 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license, ships a Docker image, is written in C and had 283 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.

What is the best open source reverse proxy?

The best open source reverse proxy is Traefik, with 65,081 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Traefik leads for solo developers. The overall ranking weighs 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 of the appsgit catalog.

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.

Which open source reverse proxy is best for a solo developer?

Traefik ranks first for solo developers, with 65,081 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager follow. The solo developers ranking adds points for Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

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 5,364 commits in the last 12 months and a latest release, 1.24.0, from September 2026. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.

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