Is Caddy or Fastly better?

Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Fastly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Caddy or Fastly?

Caddy starts at Free and Fastly at Free.

Does Caddy or Fastly run on more platforms?

Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Fastly runs on Web, Api.

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 Fastly is typically brought in for.

What can Caddy do that Fastly cannot?

Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics.

Cloud · head to head

Caddy vs Fastly

Caddy

Cloud

Web server with automatic HTTPS by default

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Fastly

Cloud

High performance edge computing platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Caddy smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer; Fastly bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
They diverge on capability: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Fastly covers Edge Compute.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Caddy and Fastly actually diverge.

Attributes where Caddy and Fastly differ
Attribute	Caddy	Fastly
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	usage-based
Platforms	Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker	Web, Api
Founded	Unknown	2011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Fastly

Edge Compute
CDN
DDoS Protection
Real-time Analytics
Image Optimization
Video Streaming
API
Instant Purge

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

Fastly

Serving static and dynamic content through a global CDNnot Caddy
Running edge logic and caching in front of an origin applicationnot 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

Fastly

Bandwidth is priced per region, and delivery to India, Africa and South Korea is $0.28 per GB against $0.12 in North America and Europe
The same traffic therefore costs more than twice as much depending on where the audience is, which is invisible until the bill arrives
The free allowance is 100 GB of bandwidth and 1M requests a month
Requests are billed separately from bandwidth, at $0.01 per 10,000 above the first million
High volume rates past 50 TB are not published and require contacting sales

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

Free

CaddyFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support

Fastly

Free

Free TrialFree
- CDN
- DDoS protection
- Real-time analytics
Pay-As-You-GoFree
- Usage-based pricing
- Advanced features
- Priority 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.

Caddy review

Choose Fastly if

You need edge compute.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Api.
You also want cdn.

Fastly review

Questions people ask

Is Caddy or Fastly better?: Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and Fastly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Caddy or Fastly?: Caddy starts at Free and Fastly at Free.
Does Caddy or Fastly run on more platforms?: Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Fastly runs on Web, Api.
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 Fastly is typically brought in for.
What can Caddy do that Fastly cannot?: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. Fastly covers Edge Compute, CDN, DDoS Protection, Real-time Analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Caddy: Is Caddy free?

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

Fastly: Does Fastly charge based on usage or a flat monthly fee?

Fastly operates on a usage-based model with volume discounts. They offer a free tier with 100 GB bandwidth and 1M requests for experimentation, then customers pay per unit consumed with tiered discounts as consumption increases.

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.

Fastly: What are Fastly's main service packages and their costs?

Fastly offers Network Services Packages ($1,500-$6,000/month baseline), Security Packages (custom pricing), Compute Packages ($500/month entry level), and Observability Packages ($1,500/month entry level). Enterprise solutions include custom quotes for high-volume deployments.

Source

Caddy: Caddy or Nginx?

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

Fastly: Can I start using Fastly for free?

Yes, Fastly offers a free tier with generous allowances for experimentation including 100 GB bandwidth and 1M requests. You can start building free and only pay when you use additional resources.

Source

Fastly: Are there surprise overage charges with Fastly?

Fastly advertises predictable pricing with no surprise overages. The pricing structure is designed to be transparent as consumption grows.

Source

Caddy vs Fastly

Caddy

Fastly

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Caddy

Only in Fastly

What people use each for

Caddy

Fastly

Where each one falls short

Caddy

Fastly

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

Fastly

Which should you pick?

Choose Caddy if

Choose Fastly if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Caddy

More on Fastly

Keep looking

Other head to heads