Caddy vs Render

Thinking of swapping Render for the open-source Caddy? Here’s the honest trade-off.

73k Go Apache-2.0 today

What you give up vs Render

  • 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

What you gain

  • • Full data ownership — self-host Caddy on your own infrastructure.
  • • No per-seat SaaS bill (Render: usage-based costs as you grow).
  • • Open-source code you can audit and extend (Apache-2.0).