Nginx Proxy Manager

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.