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Cloud · head to head

Caddy vs PagerDuty

Caddy logo

Caddy

Cloud

Web server with automatic HTTPS by default

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Technology

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Caddy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Caddy smaller ecosystem than Nginx, so third-party guides and modules are fewer; PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • They diverge on capability: Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, PagerDuty covers Incident response.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Caddy and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Caddy and PagerDuty differ
AttributeCaddyPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, DockerWeb, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryCloudTechnology
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: 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 PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

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

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot Caddy
  • On-call schedulingnot Caddy
  • Real-time alertingnot Caddy
  • Service reliabilitynot Caddy
  • Digital operationsnot 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

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Caddy

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

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty 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 PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Questions people ask

Is Caddy or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Caddy starts at Free and PagerDuty at $21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Caddy or PagerDuty?
Caddy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Caddy and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Caddy or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Caddy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Caddy for free?
Yes. Caddy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
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 PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Caddy do that PagerDuty cannot?
Caddy covers Automatic HTTPS, Caddyfile, Reverse proxy, Single binary. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Caddy: Is Caddy free?

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

PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

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.

PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
Caddy: Caddy or Nginx?

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

PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
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