HAProxy Enterprise

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to HAProxy Enterprise

A curated collection of the 4 best self hosted alternatives to HAProxy Enterprise.

HAProxy Enterprise is the commercial, supported edition of the HAProxy load balancer. It provides enterprise-grade load balancing, application delivery, security, observability, and professional support for high-performance, highly available applications.

Alternatives List

#1
Caddy

Caddy

Fast, extensible web server and reverse proxy with automatic TLS certificates, simple configuration, HTTP/3 support, and production-ready observability features.

Caddy screenshot

Caddy is a modern, production-grade web server and reverse proxy focused on secure defaults and operational simplicity. It is commonly used as an edge server in front of apps, APIs, and containers, with automatic HTTPS enabled by default.

Key Features

  • Automatic HTTPS (ACME) with certificate issuance and renewal; supports on-demand TLS workflows
  • Reverse proxy and layer-7 load balancing with health checks, retries, timeouts, and multiple upstream policies
  • Native HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (QUIC) support
  • Flexible request handling pipeline with matchers, handlers, and rich routing
  • Multiple configuration methods: Caddyfile (human-friendly) and JSON (full API-driven config)
  • Dynamic configuration via admin API; hot reload without dropping connections
  • Built-in observability: structured logs, access logs, metrics integrations via ecosystem modules
  • Extensible module system (plugins) for auth, DNS providers for DNS-01 challenges, additional handlers, and storage backends

Use Cases

  • Secure reverse proxy in front of web apps (Docker/Kubernetes or bare metal) with automatic TLS
  • Edge gateway for APIs with routing, header manipulation, and rate/timeout controls
  • Static site hosting with modern protocol support (HTTP/2/3) and straightforward TLS management

Limitations and Considerations

  • Some advanced capabilities (e.g., specific auth methods, WAF features, DNS providers, metrics exporters) may require third-party modules and a custom build.

Caddy is well-suited for teams that want a secure-by-default web server with minimal TLS operational burden and a clean configuration model. Its extensibility and modern protocol support make it a strong choice for both simple deployments and complex edge routing setups.

69kstars
4.6kforks
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#2
Traefik

Traefik

Traefik is a dynamic reverse proxy and load balancer for Docker, Kubernetes, and microservices with automatic service discovery, routing, and TLS/ACME support.

Traefik screenshot

Traefik is a cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer designed for modern microservices and container platforms. It automatically discovers services from orchestrators and configures routing, TLS, and middlewares with minimal manual configuration.

Key Features:

  • Dynamic configuration via providers (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, Consul, etcd, file) with automatic service discovery
  • HTTP/HTTPS routing with host/path rules, priorities, and weighted load balancing
  • Automatic TLS with ACME (e.g., Let’s Encrypt), including certificate management and renewal
  • Middleware pipeline for common edge concerns (redirects, headers, basic auth, IP allow/deny, rate limiting, retries, circuit breakers)
  • TCP and UDP routing for non-HTTP workloads
  • Integrated observability: access logs, metrics (Prometheus/others), tracing (OpenTelemetry/Jaeger/Zipkin depending on setup)
  • Traefik dashboard/API for inspecting routers, services, middlewares, and health
  • Canary/blue-green style rollouts via traffic splitting and weights

Use Cases:

  • Ingress/controller for Kubernetes clusters to expose services securely with automated TLS
  • Reverse proxy for Docker Compose homelabs to route multiple apps by hostname
  • Edge gateway for microservices needing centralized routing, auth/headers, and rate limiting

Limitations and Considerations:

  • Several advanced capabilities (e.g., richer policy/governance, enterprise-grade features) are offered in Traefik’s commercial products rather than the core proxy

Traefik is widely adopted as a default edge component for containerized environments, reducing manual proxy configuration through provider-driven discovery. It fits particularly well where services are frequently added/removed and TLS and routing rules need to be managed declaratively.

61kstars
5.8kforks
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#3
Nginx Proxy Manager

Nginx Proxy Manager

Web-based reverse proxy manager for Nginx with hosts, streams, access lists, and automatic Let's Encrypt certificates via an easy admin UI.

Nginx Proxy Manager screenshot

Nginx Proxy Manager (NPM) is a web-based management interface for configuring Nginx as a reverse proxy. It simplifies publishing internal web apps to the internet or to private networks by providing a UI to create proxy hosts, manage TLS certificates, and apply common security and routing settings without hand-editing Nginx config files.

Key Features

  • Manage Proxy Hosts (reverse proxy) with per-host settings (forward host/port, WebSocket support, caching, header tweaks)
  • Built-in Let’s Encrypt certificate issuance and renewals (including wildcard support via DNS challenge in supported setups)
  • Central certificate management: upload/import custom certificates and reuse across hosts
  • Access Lists for basic HTTP authentication and IP-based allow/deny rules
  • Support for Redirection Hosts (HTTP redirects) and 404 hosts (catch-all behavior)
  • Stream (TCP/UDP) proxying for non-HTTP services
  • Multi-user admin UI with permissions suitable for delegating proxy management
  • Runs well in containers; commonly deployed via Docker/Docker Compose

Use Cases

  • Put multiple self-hosted apps behind a single domain with HTTPS and per-app routing
  • Provide TLS termination and simple authentication in front of internal services
  • Publish TCP/UDP services (e.g., game servers or databases) through a managed stream proxy

Limitations and Considerations

  • Designed as a management layer over Nginx; complex Nginx behaviors may still require custom configuration patterns outside the UI.

NPM is a practical choice when you want the reliability of Nginx with a straightforward web UI for day-to-day proxy, TLS, and access-control operations. It is widely used in homelab and small-team environments to standardize how services are exposed and secured.

30.9kstars
3.5kforks
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#4
Zoraxy

Zoraxy

Self-hosted reverse proxy and HTTP(S) gateway with a web UI, TLS support, routing rules, and traffic/security utilities for homelabs and small servers.

Zoraxy screenshot

Zoraxy is a lightweight reverse proxy designed for self-hosters who want a simple web UI to publish multiple services behind one HTTP(S) entrypoint. It focuses on easy setup, practical routing features, and built-in utilities commonly needed in homelabs and small deployments.

Key Features

  • Web-based admin UI to manage proxy hosts and routing rules
  • Reverse proxy for HTTP/HTTPS services with host- and path-based routing
  • TLS/HTTPS support (certificate management options depend on deployment)
  • Access controls and request filtering features intended to reduce unwanted traffic
  • Built-in traffic/utility tools (e.g., diagnostics and convenience features surfaced in the UI)
  • Designed to be lightweight and easy to run on modest hardware

Use Cases

  • Expose multiple self-hosted apps (media, dashboards, admin panels) under different subdomains
  • Front internal services with HTTPS and centralized routing rules
  • Provide a simple GUI-managed edge gateway for a homelab or small VPS

Limitations and Considerations

  • Feature depth and ecosystem are smaller than larger proxy stacks (e.g., NGINX/Traefik) and may not cover advanced enterprise needs.

Zoraxy fits users who want a straightforward reverse proxy with a GUI and sensible defaults rather than a highly extensible edge platform. It is particularly suitable for homelabs and small deployments where simplicity and low overhead are priorities.

4.8kstars
270forks
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Why choose an open source alternative?

  • •Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • •No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • •Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • •Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running