Caddy vs Pomerium
| Tagline | Automatic HTTPS web server and reverse proxy with zero config TLS | Identity-aware reverse proxy with OAuth2 SSO for securely exposing internal apps |
| Category | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS |
| Replaces | Heroku, Netlify, Render | Heroku, Netlify, Render |
| GitHub stars | 73k | 4.9k |
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | today | today |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Caddy
- Not a full PaaS; no git push deploy, build pipelines, or app lifecycle management
- No built-in CI/CD integration; needs to be combined with other tools for deployments
- Dashboard and metrics require third-party tools (Prometheus, Grafana) — none built-in
- No managed database provisioning or environment variable secrets management
Pomerium
- No application deployment or hosting capabilities; purely an access proxy layer
- Policy configuration via YAML can be complex; lacks a full-featured web UI in the open-source edition
- Device posture checking and some enterprise features require the commercial Pomerium Zero/Enterprise tier
- Setup complexity is significantly higher than simpler tools like Nginx Proxy Manager for basic use cases
Bottom line
Choose Caddy if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Caddy for the larger community and ecosystem. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Pomerium
Identity-aware reverse proxy with OAuth2 SSO for securely exposing internal apps