Best Varnish Cache Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 tools from reverse proxy software ranked against Varnish Cache on the same published basis.
- 1Varnish Cache vs ngrok
- 2Varnish Cache vs Pomerium
- 3Varnish Cache vs F5 BIG-IP APM
- 4Varnish Cache vs LocalXpose
- 5Varnish Cache vs BunkerWeb
- 6Varnish Cache vs Caddy
- 7Varnish Cache vs freenginx
- 8Varnish Cache vs NGINX
- 9Varnish Cache vs Traefik Proxy
- 10Varnish Cache vs Envoy Proxy
- 11Varnish Cache vs Roslynator
- 12Varnish Cache vs Cloudflare Serverless Registry
- 14Varnish Cache vs Reproxy
- 15Varnish Cache vs HAProxy Community Edition
- 16Varnish Cache vs PageKite
- 17Varnish Cache vs Cloudflare Tunnel
- 18Varnish Cache vs Openport
- 19Varnish Cache vs frp
- 20Varnish Cache vs Skipper
- 21Varnish Cache vs Apache Traffic Server
Varnish Cache alternatives compared
| # | Tool | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ngrok | 7.8 | Free plan | $10/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 2 | Pomerium | 7.8 | Free plan | $7/mo | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 3 | F5 BIG-IP APM | 7.7 | No | — | Android, API, iOS, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 4 | LocalXpose | 7.4 | Free plan | $8/mo | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 5 | BunkerWeb | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| 6 | Caddy | 7.3 | No | $25/mo | Android, API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| 7 | freenginx | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 8 | NGINX | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 9 | Traefik Proxy | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 10 | Envoy Proxy | 7.1 | Free plan | Free | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 11 | Roslynator | 7.0 | Free plan | Free | Browser, Linux, Mac, Windows |
| 12 | Cloudflare Serverless Registry | 6.8 | No | — | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 14 | Reproxy | 6.7 | No | — | API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 15 | HAProxy Community Edition | 6.6 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 16 | PageKite | 6.6 | No | — | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android |
| 17 | Cloudflare Tunnel | 6.4 | No | — | Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| 18 | Openport | 6.4 | No | — | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux |
| 19 | frp | 6.3 | No | — | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android |
| 20 | Skipper | 6.3 | No | — | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 21 | Apache Traffic Server | 6.0 | No | — | Mac, Linux |
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Questions about Varnish Cache alternatives
What is the best alternative to Varnish Cache?
ngrok, number 1 in reverse proxy software with a score of 7.8 out of 10. The others here: Pomerium, F5 BIG-IP APM, LocalXpose and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to Varnish Cache?
ngrok is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 10 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, the fullest spec sheet first: how deeply the product is documented, the platforms it runs on, a free tier or trial to test it, and its standing.