Top pick · highest health
Caddy
Powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS.
★ 79k 152 commits / 90d ⟳ today Apache-2.0 Docker
Category
Open source web servers
Web Servers and Reverse Proxies. A web server is a piece of software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A Reverse Proxy is a proxy server that appears to any client to be an ordinary web server, but in reality merely acts as an intermediary that forwards requests to one or more ordinary web servers. Repoly tracks 19 open-source web servers tools, each scored nightly from its repository activity and ranked by that score alone. Caddy leads at 100/100 with 152 commits in the last 90 days and 79k stars, followed by Traefik (99) and NGINX (98). 16 of the 19 score 70 or above, 19 publish a Docker image, and the median health is 94. Apache-2.0 is the most common licence, carried by 4 of them. Between them they stand in for Tailscale.
updated Oct 2026 19 tools ★ 296k stars 19 with Docker median 94
Best for…
Ranked by health
Table view
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Traefik
HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy.
★ 65k 269 commits / 90d ⟳ today MIT Docker
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NGINX
HTTP and reverse proxy server, mail proxy server, and generic TCP/UDP proxy server.
★ 32k 99 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday BSD-2-Clause Docker
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Nginx Proxy Manager
Docker container for managing Nginx proxy hosts with a simple, powerful interface.
★ 35k 144 commits / 90d ⟳ 10 days ago MIT Docker
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Pangolin
Identity-aware tunneled reverse proxy with dashboard UI, access control, and WireGuard-based tunnels (alternative to Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale).
★ 23k 1058 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday AGPL-3.0 Docker
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SafeLine
Web application firewall / reverse proxy to protect your web apps from attacks and exploits.
★ 23k 38 commits / 90d ⟳ 8 days ago GPL-3.0 Docker
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BunkerWeb
Next-gen Web Application Firewall (WAF) that will protect your web services.
★ 11k 619 commits / 90d ⟳ today AGPL-3.0 Docker
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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 public Internet.
★ 5.1k 177 commits / 90d ⟳ today Apache-2.0 Docker
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Zoraxy
General purpose HTTP reverse proxy and forwarding tool.
★ 5.6k 100 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday AGPL-3.0 Docker
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Algernon
Small self-contained pure-Go web server with Lua, Markdown, HTTP/2, QUIC, Redis and PostgreSQL support.
★ 3k 77 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 days ago BSD-3-Clause Docker
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go-doxy
Lightweight, simple, and performant reverse proxy with WebUI, Docker integration, automatic shutdown/startup for container based on traffic.
★ 4.2k 185 commits / 90d ⟳ 3 days ago MIT Docker
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SWAG (Secure Web Application Gateway)
Nginx webserver and reverse proxy with PHP support, built-in Certbot (Let's Encrypt) client and fail2ban integration.
★ 3.8k 48 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday GPL-3.0 Docker
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Ferron
Fast, memory-safe web server written in Rust.
★ 2.2k 948 commits / 90d ⟳ 2 days ago MIT Docker
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Static Web Server
Cross-platform, high-performance, and asynchronous web server for static file serving.
★ 2.4k 25 commits / 90d ⟳ 12 days ago Apache-2.0 Docker
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Vinyl Cache
Web application accelerator/caching HTTP reverse proxy (formerly Varnish).
★ 13 267 commits / 90d ⟳ yesterday BSD-2-Clause Docker
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UUSEC WAF
Industry-leading high-performance, AI and semantic technology web application firewall and API security gateway (fork of nginx).
★ 1.7k 14 commits / 90d ⟳ 10 days ago GPL-3.0 Docker
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Apache HTTP Server
Secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards.
★ 0 0 commits / 90d ⟳ unknown Apache-2.0 Docker
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HAProxy
Very fast and reliable reverse-proxy offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP-based applications.
★ 0 0 commits / 90d ⟳ unknown GPL-2.0 Docker
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Lighttpd
Secure, fast, compliant, and very flexible web server that has been optimized for high-performance environments.
★ 0 0 commits / 90d ⟳ 4 months ago BSD-3-Clause Docker
| # | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caddy Docker | 79k | 152 | Apache-2.0 | today | |
| 2 | Traefik Docker | 65k | 269 | MIT | today | |
| 3 | NGINX Docker | 32k | 99 | BSD-2-Clause | yesterday | |
| 4 | Nginx Proxy Manager Docker | 35k | 144 | MIT | 10 days ago | |
| 5 | Pangolin Docker | 23k | 1058 | AGPL-3.0 | yesterday | |
| 6 | SafeLine Docker | 23k | 38 | GPL-3.0 | 8 days ago | |
| 7 | BunkerWeb Docker | 11k | 619 | AGPL-3.0 | today | |
| 8 | Pomerium Docker | 5.1k | 177 | Apache-2.0 | today | |
| 9 | Zoraxy Docker | 5.6k | 100 | AGPL-3.0 | yesterday | |
| 10 | Algernon Docker | 3k | 77 | BSD-3-Clause | 3 days ago | |
| 11 | go-doxy Docker | 4.2k | 185 | MIT | 3 days ago | |
| 12 | SWAG (Secure Web Application Gateway) Docker | 3.8k | 48 | GPL-3.0 | yesterday | |
| 13 | Ferron Docker | 2.2k | 948 | MIT | 2 days ago | |
| 14 | Static Web Server Docker | 2.4k | 25 | Apache-2.0 | 12 days ago | |
| 15 | Vinyl Cache Docker | 13 | 267 | BSD-2-Clause | yesterday | |
| 16 | UUSEC WAF Docker | 1.7k | 14 | GPL-3.0 | 10 days ago | |
| 17 | Apache HTTP Server Docker | 0 | 0 | Apache-2.0 | unknown | |
| 18 | HAProxy Docker | 0 | 0 | GPL-2.0 | unknown | |
| 19 | Lighttpd Docker | 0 | 0 | BSD-3-Clause | 4 months ago |
How the web server tools compare
Caddy edges Traefik 100 to 99. Traefik is the busier codebase, though, with 269 commits in 90 days to 152. Caddy also has the largest following, at 79k stars.
The most recent release is Traefik v3.7.17, published today. Lighttpd publishes no tagged releases, which costs up to 25 of the 100 points. Lighttpd scores under 40, so check recent activity before adopting it. By stack, Go (7), C (5) and Rust (2) are the most common. Caddy, Traefik, NGINX and 9 more are permissively licensed; Pangolin, SafeLine, BunkerWeb and 4 more are copyleft. Apache HTTP Server and HAProxy are not hosted on a forge Repoly can read, so they have no measured score yet.
Web Servers: common questions
What is the best open source web server tool?
By Repoly's GitHub health score, Caddy at 100/100 (152 commits in 90 days, v2.11.7 from 27 days ago). Traefik is next at 99. The score measures maintenance, not features, so shortlist the top few and try them.
Which web server tools are the most actively developed?
Pangolin (1,058 commits in 90 days), Ferron (948 commits in 90 days) and BunkerWeb (619 commits in 90 days). Commit activity is 35 of the 100 health points, the largest single term.
Which web server tools can I run in Docker?
19 of 19 publish a Docker image or Compose file, led by Caddy, Traefik, NGINX, Nginx Proxy Manager, Pangolin and 14 more.
Which web server tools have a permissive licence?
12 of 19: Caddy (Apache-2.0), Traefik (MIT), NGINX (BSD-2-Clause), Nginx Proxy Manager (MIT), Pomerium (Apache-2.0) and 7 more. 7 are copyleft.
Which paid products can open source web server tools replace?
Tailscale (Pangolin ranks highest here).
