Caddy vs Phusion Passenger
Caddy
caddyserver.comPhusion Passenger
phusionpassenger.comSide by side
| Figure | Caddy | Phusion Passenger |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $25/mo | $1.96/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 5 |
| Spec score · Web Server Software | 8.1 (#6) | 8.1 (#11) |
| Deployment | Caddy can be deployed as a command-line process, system service, container, Kubernetes workload, or embedded component. | Passenger can run locally or on a remote cloud server, and its features page also describes Docker integration. |
| Security | The maker says Caddy's TLS defaults meet PCI DSS, NIST, and HIPAA compliance requirements. | Passenger says it defends against slow client attacks and common HTTP parser exploits and uses privilege separation. |
| Support | Free community help is available through the forum; paid sponsorship tiers offer private support and other services depending on tier. | Support tiers offer between one ticket per year and unlimited tickets, with stated response times ranging from five days to two hours. |
Plans
Caddy
- Indie$25 a month
- Indie Pro$50 a month
- Startup$99 a month
- Startup Pro$249 a month
- Business$999 a month
- Business+$2,999 a month
- Enterprise$5,900 a month
- Enterprise+$11,900 a month
Phusion Passenger
- Passenger Enterprise Bronze supportFree
- Passenger Enterprise Silver support$23.52 a year
- Passenger Enterprise Gold support$89.11 a year
- Passenger Enterprise Diamond support$308.19 a year
- Passenger EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Caddy
Caddy is an extensible server platform used as a web server or proxy, and it is self-hosted. By default, it obtains and renews TLS certificates for sites and redirects HTTP to HTTPS. Its reverse proxy supports HTTP, HTTPS, WebSockets, gRPC, and FastCGI, along with load balancing and health checks. Configuration options include JSON through a RESTful API, the Caddyfile, and other adapters. Compile-time plugins extend its static binary. DNS challenge integrations include Cloudflare, DigitalOcean, Route 53, and other providers through libdns. Caddy can run as a command-line process, system service, container, Kubernetes workload, or embedded component. The software is free, with no paywalled features; sponsorship plans add services and support while leaving the license unchanged. Free community help is available through a forum. Caddy says its TLS defaults meet PCI DSS, NIST, and HIPAA compliance requirements, and that dependencies are verified with Go modules and release artifacts are cryptographically signed.
Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.