# Caddy, release history and use on real websites.

A modern web server written in Go that obtains HTTPS certificates on its own (Let's Encrypt) and has a short configuration. Popular on small VPS boxes, in self-hosting and as a reverse proxy in front of containerised apps.

- **Status:** Modern. Actively developed, HTTP/3 and automatic HTTPS are built in. An alternative to nginx wherever the configuration should stay short.
- **Category:** [Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)
- **First release:** 2015
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Latest version:** 2.11.9 (4 Nov 2026)
- **Official website:** https://caddyserver.com
- **Documentation:** https://caddyserver.com/docs/
- **GitHub:** https://github.com/caddyserver/caddy
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/caddy

## Caddy on audited websites

130 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run Caddy (<1%). That ranks it #16 of the 34 technologies in Servers & Hosting we have seen in audits.

### Websites running Caddy vs all websites

- **Web score:** 75 (all websites 72)
- **SEO:** 79 (all websites 79)
- **Security:** 61 (all websites 59)
- **Performance:** 81 (all websites 72)
- **AI Readiness:** 27 (all websites 31)

### Most used in Servers & Hosting

1. [Cloudflare](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cloudflare): 22% (3,772)
2. [Vercel](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/vercel): 22% (3,635)
3. [Google CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cdn): 16% (2,700)
4. [nginx](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/nginx): 14% (2,284)
5. [OpenResty](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/openresty): 10% (1,707)
6. [Apache HTTP Server](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/apache-http-server): 9.3% (1,574)
7. [jsDelivr](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/jsdelivr): 7.2% (1,221)
8. [cdnjs](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cdnjs): 6.0% (1,019)
9. [Netlify](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/netlify): 5.8% (971)
10. [AWS CloudFront](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/aws-cloudfront): 5.1% (859)

## Caddy versions and release history

2 release lines since 2019, as listed by endoflife.date. The latest version is 2.11.9, released 4 Nov 2026. Supported according to endoflife.date: 2.

| Version | Released | Latest release | Support |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | 4 May 2020 | 2.11.9 (4 Nov 2026) | Supported |
| 1 | 24 Apr 2019 | 1.0.5 (28 Feb 2020) | End of life, since 1 Jul 2020 |

Sources: [endoflife.date](https://endoflife.date/caddy), checked 8 Nov 2026.

## Other technologies in Servers & Hosting

- [unpkg](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/unpkg): 2.8% of websites
- [Fastly](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/fastly): 1.6% of websites
- [BunnyCDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/bunnycdn): 1.2% of websites
- [Microsoft IIS](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/microsoft-iis): 1.0% of websites
- [LiteSpeed](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/litespeed): <1% of websites
- [Amazon S3](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/amazon-s3): <1% of websites
- [Google Cloud](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cloud): <1% of websites
- [Varnish](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/varnish): <1% of websites
- [Azure](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/azure): <1% of websites
- [Hostinger CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/hostinger-cdn): <1% of websites
- [GitHub Pages](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/github-pages): <1% of websites
- [Akamai](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/akamai): <1% of websites

[All 35 in Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)

## Questions about Caddy

### What is Caddy?

A modern web server written in Go that obtains HTTPS certificates on its own (Let's Encrypt) and has a short configuration. Popular on small VPS boxes, in self-hosting and as a reverse proxy in front of containerised apps. The be1st catalog lists Caddy under Servers & Hosting. License of Caddy: Apache-2.0.

### What is the latest version of Caddy?

The latest version of Caddy is 2.11.9, released 4 Nov 2026 (source: endoflife.date).

### Which Caddy versions are still supported?

According to endoflife.date, these Caddy release lines are supported: 2.

### How many websites use Caddy?

130 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run Caddy (<1%), as of 8 Nov 2026.

### When was Caddy first released?

Caddy was first released in 2015; the oldest version listed by endoflife.date dates from 2019.

### Is Caddy still a modern choice?

Yes. Caddy counts as a modern technology. Actively developed, HTTP/3 and automatic HTTPS are built in. An alternative to nginx wherever the configuration should stay short.

### What are the alternatives to Caddy?

Technologies that do the same job as Caddy include nginx, Apache HTTP Server, and LiteSpeed.

Numbers: latest audit of each of 16,845 websites audited by be1st, as of 8 Nov 2026.