Caddy vs SWAG (Secure Web Application Gateway)
| Tagline | Automatic HTTPS web server and reverse proxy with zero config TLS | Nginx reverse proxy with built-in Let's Encrypt SSL and fail2ban protection |
| Category | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS | Self-Hosting Platforms & PaaS |
| Replaces | Heroku, Netlify, Render | Netlify, Vercel, Render |
| GitHub stars | 73k | 3.7k |
| Language | Go | Docker |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | today | 5 days ago |
| 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
SWAG (Secure Web Application Gateway)
- No CI/CD pipeline or git-push-to-deploy workflow like Netlify/Vercel.
- No edge CDN or global distribution; traffic is served from a single host.
- No serverless functions or build system; it is purely a reverse proxy and SSL terminator.
- Dashboard and observability are minimal compared to managed PaaS platforms.
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; 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.
SWAG (Secure Web Application Gateway)
Nginx reverse proxy with built-in Let's Encrypt SSL and fail2ban protection