Cloud · head to head
Caddy vs Cilium
Cilium
Cloud
eBPF-based networking, observability and security for Kubernetes
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Caddy smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer; Cilium requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
- They diverge on capability: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Cilium covers eBPF datapath.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Caddy and Cilium actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Caddy
- Automatic HTTPS
- Caddyfile
- Reverse proxy
- Single binary
Only in Cilium
- eBPF datapath
- Identity-based policy
- Hubble observability
- Sidecar-free mesh
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Caddy
- Sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages beforenot Cilium
- Small deployments where Nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrantsnot Cilium
- Reverse proxying internal services with TLS without a certificate workflownot Cilium
Cilium
- Kubernetes networking at a scale where iptables-based CNI performance degradesnot Caddy
- Network policy expressed on workload identity rather than fragile IP rulesnot Caddy
- Seeing which services actually talk to each other, and what policy is droppingnot Caddy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Caddy
- Smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer
- Adding plugins means rebuilding the binary rather than loading a module
- Under very high throughput Nginx generally still benchmarks ahead
- Automatic certificate issuance needs outbound internet access, which complicates air-gapped deployments
Cilium
- Requires a recent Linux kernel, which rules out older distributions and some managed environments
- eBPF is genuinely hard to debug when it misbehaves, and the skill is rare on most teams
- Broad scope — CNI, policy, mesh, observability — means the learning curve covers several domains at once
Pricing, plan by plan
Caddy
Free- CaddyFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support
Cilium
Free- CiliumFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
Which should you pick?
Choose Caddy if
- You need automatic https.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker.
- You also want caddyfile.
Choose Cilium if
- You need ebpf datapath.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Kubernetes, Linux.
- You also want identity-based policy.
Questions people ask
- Is Caddy or Cilium better?
- Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Cilium at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Caddy or Cilium?
- Caddy starts at Free and Cilium at Free.
- Does Caddy or Cilium run on more platforms?
- Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Cilium runs on Kubernetes, Linux.
- Can I use Caddy for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Caddy best used for?
- Caddy is most often used for sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before, small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants, reverse proxying internal services with tls without a certificate workflow. Of those, sites and services where expired certificates have caused outages before and small deployments where nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrants are not what Cilium is typically brought in for.
- What can Caddy do that Cilium cannot?
- Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Cilium covers eBPF datapath, Identity-based policy, Hubble observability, Sidecar-free mesh.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Caddy: Is Caddy free?
Yes, open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, free for commercial use.
Cilium: Is Cilium free?
Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Isovalent sells an enterprise distribution and support.
Caddy: What does automatic HTTPS mean?
Caddy obtains certificates from Let’s Encrypt or ZeroSSL on first request and renews them before expiry, with no cron job or configuration.
Cilium: What does eBPF change?
It lets Cilium run packet-processing programs inside the kernel instead of relying on iptables rule chains, which behave poorly as the number of services grows.
Caddy: Caddy or Nginx?
Caddy is dramatically simpler to configure and removes certificate management. Nginx has the larger ecosystem and better peak throughput.
Cilium: Does Cilium replace a service mesh?
It can cover much of what a mesh does without sidecars, though full mesh feature sets still favour Istio or Linkerd.
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