Caddy Has a Free Web Server: Automatic HTTPS, Reverse Proxy, and Zero-Config TLS Certificates

Setting up Nginx with Let's Encrypt means: install Nginx, install Certbot, configure renewal cron, edit nginx.conf, handle redirect loops, debug certificate errors. For HTTPS. In 2026.

What if your web server automatically obtained and renewed TLS certificates — with zero configuration?

That's Caddy. Automatic HTTPS by default.

The Simplest Caddyfile

example.com {
    root * /var/www/html
    file_server
}

That's it. Caddy automatically:

1. Obtains a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt
2. Redirects HTTP → HTTPS
3. Renews the certificate before expiry
4. Serves your files with HTTP/2 and HTTP/3

Reverse Proxy

api.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

app.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:5173
}

example.com {
    handle /api/* {
        reverse_proxy localhost:3000
    }
    handle {
        reverse_proxy localhost:5173
    }
}

Load Balancing

api.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3001 localhost:3002 localhost:3003 {
        lb_policy round_robin
        health_uri /health
        health_interval 10s
    }
}

Caddy vs Nginx vs Traefik

Feature	Caddy	Nginx	Traefik
Auto HTTPS	Built-in	Certbot needed	Built-in
Config format	Caddyfile (simple)	nginx.conf (complex)	YAML/TOML
HTTP/3	Built-in	Module	Built-in
Hot reload	Yes	nginx -s reload	Yes
Written in	Go	C	Go
Memory usage	~30MB	~5MB	~50MB

Choose Caddy for simplicity. Choose Nginx for raw performance. Choose Traefik for Docker/K8s service discovery.

Start here: caddyserver.com

---

Need custom data extraction, scraping, or automation? I build tools that collect and process data at scale — 78 actors on Apify Store and 265+ open-source repos. Email me: [e-mail] | My Apify Actors