Softwr

Cloud · head to head

Caddy vs Earthly

Caddy logo

Caddy

Cloud

Web server with automatic HTTPS by default

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Earthly logo

Earthly

Developer Tools

Engineering guardrails for the AI era

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Caddy smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer; Earthly pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • They diverge on capability: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Earthly covers Policy as code.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Caddy and Earthly actually diverge.

Attributes where Caddy and Earthly differ
AttributeCaddyEarthly
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeNo pricing published on website
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, DockerWeb, CLI
CategoryCloudDeveloper Tools
FoundedUnknown2020

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Earthly

  • Policy as code
  • Multi-stage enforcement
  • AI agent governance
  • Repository-wide policies
  • Incident response automation
  • Compliance management
  • Earthfiles build tool
  • Satellites

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 Earthly
  • Small deployments where Nginx configuration is more effort than the problem warrantsnot Earthly
  • Reverse proxying internal services with TLS without a certificate workflownot Earthly

Earthly

  • Enforcing engineering standards across AI and human developersnot Caddy
  • Automating incident response procedures across all repositoriesnot Caddy
  • Embedding compliance requirements into development workflowsnot Caddy
  • Standardizing build processes with Earthfilesnot 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

Earthly

  • Pricing model not published; requires sales contact
  • Earthly Lunar is a recent launch (2025) with limited track record
  • Primarily GitHub-focused; limited integration with other platforms
  • No public documentation on pricing or feature tiers

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

Free
  • CaddyFree
    • Full functionality
    • Commercial use permitted
    • Community support

Earthly

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Earthly review.

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.
Caddy review

Choose Earthly if

  • You need policy as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI.
  • You also want multi-stage enforcement.
Earthly review

Questions people ask

Is Caddy or Earthly better?
Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Earthly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Caddy or Earthly?
Caddy starts at Free and Earthly at Free.
Does Caddy or Earthly run on more platforms?
Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Earthly runs on Web, CLI.
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 Earthly is typically brought in for.
What can Caddy do that Earthly cannot?
Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Earthly covers Policy as code, Multi-stage enforcement, AI agent governance, Repository-wide policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Caddy: Is Caddy free?

Yes, open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, free for commercial use.

Earthly: What is the difference between Earthfiles and Earthly Lunar?

Earthfiles is an open-source build tool that reached 12,000 GitHub stars and is used by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and Databricks. Earthly Lunar is a separate governance platform launched in 2025 for enforcing standards across development workflows.

Source
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.

Earthly: How does Earthly Lunar enforce standards?

Lunar converts engineering standards, compliance requirements, and processes documented in AGENTS.md files, wikis, and incident postmortems into enforceable guardrails that apply consistently across repositories and development stages.

Source
Caddy: Caddy or Nginx?

Caddy is dramatically simpler to configure and removes certificate management. Nginx has the larger ecosystem and better peak throughput.

Earthly: What is the pricing for Earthly Lunar?

Pricing is not published on the website. Interested customers should contact Earthly's sales team for current pricing and feature tiers.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Caddy

More on Earthly

Keep looking

Other head to heads