Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

OpenLiteSpeed VS Caddy

Compare OpenLiteSpeed VS Caddy and see what are their differences

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OpenLiteSpeed logo OpenLiteSpeed

OpenLiteSpeed is a powerful, lightweight, open source and high performance HTTP server developed for those users who have to deal with a large number of websites at once.

Caddy logo Caddy

The HTTP/2 Web Server with Automatic HTTPS
  • OpenLiteSpeed Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-15
  • Caddy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-22

OpenLiteSpeed features and specs

  • High Performance
    OpenLiteSpeed is known for its high performance and efficiency. It uses an event-driven architecture that can handle thousands of simultaneous connections with minimal resource usage, making it ideal for high-traffic websites.
  • SSL Support
    It comes with native support for SSL and TLS protocols, providing a secure web environment and easy integration of SSL certificates for encrypted communication.
  • Easy-to-use Web Interface
    OpenLiteSpeed provides an intuitive web-based interface that allows users to easily manage configurations, monitor server performance, and apply updates, even without command-line expertise.
  • WordPress Optimization
    It offers features like LSCache, a server-level cache solution specifically designed for WordPress, which significantly boosts the performance and speed of WordPress sites.
  • Free and Open Source
    As an open-source web server, OpenLiteSpeed is free to use, modify, and distribute, providing flexibility and cost-effectiveness for developers and businesses.

Possible disadvantages of OpenLiteSpeed

  • Complex Configuration
    While the web interface is user-friendly, some advanced configuration tasks can be complex and may require a deeper understanding of web server management.
  • Limited Third-party Module Support
    Compared to other servers like Apache, OpenLiteSpeed has fewer available third-party modules, which could limit customization and functionalities for some users.
  • Learning Curve
    For users familiar with servers like Apache or Nginx, there might be a learning curve when transitioning to OpenLiteSpeed due to differences in configuration and management.
  • Smaller Community
    OpenLiteSpeed has a smaller user community compared to more established web servers, which might impact the availability of community support and resources.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some legacy or highly customized applications might experience compatibility issues since OpenLiteSpeed is not as universally supported as Apache or Nginx.

Caddy features and specs

  • Automatic HTTPS
    Caddy automatically handles HTTPS by obtaining and renewing certificates from Let's Encrypt, simplifying the process of securing web applications.
  • Ease of Configuration
    Caddy uses a straightforward configuration file (Caddyfile) that is easier to write and understand compared to other web servers like Nginx or Apache.
  • Cross-Platform
    Caddy is designed to run efficiently on virtually any platform, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Docker, giving it great flexibility for deployment.
  • Built-in Reverse Proxy
    Caddy includes built-in support for reverse proxy functionality, which can easily be configured to distribute load among multiple servers.
  • Extensible
    Caddy supports plugins for additional features, allowing users to extend its functionality without compromising its core simplicity.
  • Integrated Logging and Metrics
    Caddy includes integrated logging and monitoring capabilities, which make it easier to maintain and debug the server without additional tools.
  • Active Community and Support
    Caddy has an active community and is well-supported with extensive documentation, which helps new users get up to speed quickly and troubleshoot issues effectively.

Possible disadvantages of Caddy

  • Memory Usage
    Caddy can have higher memory usage compared to other web servers like Nginx, which might be a concern for resource-constrained environments.
  • TLS Configuration Complexity
    While Caddy handles basic HTTPS automatically, advanced TLS configurations can be more complicated to manage and may require a deeper understanding.
  • Learning Curve for New Features
    As Caddy rapidly evolves and adds new features, there can be a learning curve associated with keeping up to date on the latest changes and functionalities.
  • Performance
    Although Caddy performs adequately for many use cases, it may not match the high performance of optimized setups with other web servers like Nginx in highly demanding environments.
  • Licensing Costs
    While Caddy is open source, certain features are available under a commercial license. Organizations may incur additional costs for enterprise-grade functionality.

OpenLiteSpeed videos

Create a High Performance Web Server (CyberPanel/OpenLiteSpeed) for WordPress in 10 minutes

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Install WordPress with OpenLiteSpeed Server for Fastest WP Sites

Caddy videos

Getting started with Caddy the HTTPS Web Server from scratch

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenLiteSpeed and Caddy)
Web And Application Servers
Web Servers
6 6%
94% 94
Application Server
100 100%
0% 0
HTTP/2 Web Server
8 8%
92% 92

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare OpenLiteSpeed and Caddy

OpenLiteSpeed Reviews

We have no reviews of OpenLiteSpeed yet.
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Caddy Reviews

Self Hosting Like Its 2025
If you’re looking to forego fancy web interfaces and prefer editing a straightforward file while having the server manage everything from proxying to HTTPS via Let’s Encrypt, then this is the option for you. However, due to the absence of a web interface, I wouldn’t recommend it for complete beginners. But if you appreciate simple UNIX-based tooling, Caddy is an excellent...
Source: kiranet.org
Top Linux Web Servers: Pros and Cons
Now that we know their advantages and disadvantages, which web server is the best? The answer depends on your use case. Nginx is a very fast and powerful option, Apache is a great general-purpose web server, while LiteSpeed represents a premium alternative. Caddy works great if you need simplicity, while Lighthttpd works best when resources are low.
Source: bigstep.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Caddy seems to be a lot more popular than OpenLiteSpeed. While we know about 247 links to Caddy, we've tracked only 3 mentions of OpenLiteSpeed. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OpenLiteSpeed mentions (3)

  • How to install the OpenLiteSpeed Web Server on CentOS 7
    In today's interconnected world, web servers serve as the backbone of internet infrastructure, playing a crucial role in hosting websites and web applications. OpenLiteSpeed, an open-source web server from LiteSpeed Technologies, is one such tool that's gaining popularity due to its speed, efficiency, and comprehensive security features. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • My Wordpress Hosting Experience - Comments?
    LiteSpeed (and the free-to-use version, OpenLiteSpeed) is a web server application, not hardware. It's a (more or less) drop-in replacement for Apache that uses the same type of config files, but offers some features that Apache doesn't have out of the box. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Autoptimize, Litespeed Cache and WP Cloudflare Super Page Cache in WordPress combined works. But clear cache often messes up site.
    You need to be using Litespeed or OpenLitespeed for the Litespeed plugin to do anything. Source: over 3 years ago

Caddy mentions (247)

  • How I made my Home Server accessible outside my home
    This single record will suffice as we will be using a reverse proxy to map each of our application. For the reverse proxy solution, we will be using Caddy, particularly xcaddy. - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • Simple Web Server
    It looks nice and friendly, but for developers I can recommend exploring caddy[1] or nginx[2]. It's a useful technology to have worked with, even if they're ultimately only used for proxying analytics. [1] https://caddyserver.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Adventures in Homelabbing: From Cloud Obsession to Self-Hosted Shenanigans
    I began to self-host a Minecraft server using Crafty Controller, an Excalidraw instance, Docmost to replace Notion, Plane to replace Jira, and Penpot to replace Figma. To be able to access them from the internet, I used Nginx Proxy Manager to set up reverse proxies with SSL. You can use Traefik or Caddy instead, but I enjoyed the ease-of-use of NPM. For a dashboard solution, I started with Homarr, but later... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Self-hosting with Caddy Server And Souin (Caching Module)
    Caddy is the ultimate web server anyone should be using. This is true for production as well as for local development. It is very fast, and by default obtains and renews SSL certificates automatically. This is useful for when you want to test certain website feature that is only allowed when they're accessed with HTTPS. You get free TLS for all your subdomains, and it does that in a scalable way. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Nginx: Try_files Is Evil Too
    Fortunately Caddy is not evil: https://caddyserver.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing OpenLiteSpeed and Caddy, you can also consider the following products

nginx - A high performance free open source web server powering busiest sites on the Internet.

lighttpd - A secure, fast, compliant, and very flexible web-server that has been optimized for high-performance environments

Apache HTTP Server - Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996

Microsoft IIS - Internet Information Services is a web server for Microsoft Windows

Nginx Proxy Manager - Docker container and built in Web Application for managing Nginx proxy hosts with a simple, powerful interface, providing free SSL support via Let's Encrypt

LiteSpeed Web Server - LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a high-performance Apache drop-in replacement.