Pound vs Traefik Proxy
Pound
github.com
Traefik Proxy
traefik.ioSide by side
| Figure | Pound | Traefik Proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 4 |
| Spec score · Reverse Proxy Software | 7.1 (#25) | 8.3 (#10) |
| Integrations | Optional build support includes Lua extensions, DNS-based dynamic backends, and Perl-compatible regular expressions through PCRE or PCRE2. | The project identifies Docker, Docker Swarm, Kubernetes, Consul, Etcd, Rancher and Amazon ECS among its supported infrastructure integrations. |
| Purpose | Pound is a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTPS front end for web servers. | Traefik is an open-source reverse proxy and ingress controller for deploying services and APIs. |
| Security | The project describes Pound as a small program that can run setuid/setgid or in a chroot jail and does not access the hard disk except to read certificate files at startup when required. | Traefik provides automatic HTTPS, Let’s Encrypt support, custom certificates, authentication, and Web Application Firewall support. |
| Support | The maintainer directs bug reports to email addresses [email protected] and [email protected] or the GitHub issue tracker. | Traefik Labs offers commercial support with expert assistance available 24/7/365. |
| What it does | Pound is a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTPS front-end for web servers. | Traefik Proxy is an open-source application proxy that automatically discovers services and routes requests across cloud, on-premises and bare-metal environments. |
Plans
Traefik Proxy
- Traefik ProxyFree
- Traefik Proxy Open SourceFree
- Traefik Hub API GatewayPriced on request
- Traefik Hub API ManagementPriced on request
In their own words
Traefik Proxy
Traefik Proxy is a free, open-source reverse proxy and ingress controller for deploying services and APIs. It discovers services and adjusts routing dynamically, supporting HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, TCP, UDP, WebSockets, and gRPC. Traffic controls include Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing, mirroring, blue-green and canary deployments, stickiness, and active health checks. Security options include automatic HTTPS, Let’s Encrypt, custom certificates, authentication, and Web Application Firewall support. Integrations span Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm, Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher, Amazon ECS, Consul, and key-value stores. It supports deployment on environments including Kubernetes distributions, virtual machines, bare metal, Docker Swarm, and HashiCorp Nomad. Observability includes OpenTelemetry, a built-in dashboard, distributed tracing, and metrics integrations. WebAssembly plugins and a public plugin catalog provide extension options. Traefik Proxy is self-hosted and listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The plan is free; Traefik Labs also offers commercial support with expert assistance available 24/7/365.