Caddy vs Sandstorm
| Tagline | Automatic HTTPS web server and reverse proxy with zero config TLS | Personal server platform for running self-hosted web apps with strong sandboxing |
| Category | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS |
| Replaces | Heroku, Netlify, Render | Heroku, Render, Netlify |
| GitHub stars | 73k | 7k |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 4/5 Involved |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | today | yesterday |
| 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
Sandstorm
- App ecosystem is very small; most popular self-hosted apps are not packaged for Sandstorm
- Project has limited active development; community and update cadence have slowed significantly
- No Docker support; apps must be specially packaged in Sandstorm's proprietary SPK format
- No horizontal scaling, load balancing, or modern cloud-native deployment patterns
Bottom line
Choose Caddy if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Caddy for the larger community and ecosystem. Caddy has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Sandstorm
Personal server platform for running self-hosted web apps with strong sandboxing