Cachix vs nix-serve
Cachix
cachix.orgnix-serve
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Cachix | nix-serve |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Build Cache Software | 7.9 (#9) | 7.7 (#14) |
| Deployment | Cachix Deploy continuously deploys to Nix profiles such as NixOS, nix-darwin, and Home Manager using a pull model. | The README describes running nix-serve locally as a standalone binary cache server. |
| Purpose | Cachix shares binaries between CI, development, and deployment environments. | nix-serve serves a Nix store as a binary cache that other Nix installations can use as a substituter. |
Plans
In their own words
Cachix
Cachix hosts Nix binary caches so teams can share binaries across CI, development, and deployment environments. Its CLI can push binaries, watch a Nix store, and configure Nix to use a cache. The service says its optimizations speed up cache roundtrips, while Cloudflare CDN provides performance and unlimited bandwidth on all plans. When a cache reaches its storage limit, least-recently-used entries are removed; Cachix says it sends a warning email at 85% of that limit. Documentation includes CI guides for GitHub Actions, Buildkite, CircleCI, GitLab CI, Hercules CI, Hydra, and Travis CI. Cachix Deploy uses a pull model to deploy continuously to Nix profiles such as NixOS, nix-darwin, and Home Manager. Teams can assign read or write access, revoke tokens, and require a token for private cache reads and writes; cache entries are signed. Enterprise options include on-premise or self-hosted deployment, SSO, SLA, dedicated premium support, custom deployment, and audit logs. Cachix offers a free plan and a 14-day trial. Listed Starter, Standard, and Pro plans have prices available by contacting Cachix.