Caddy Has a Free Web Server: Automatic HTTPS, Reverse Proxy, and Zero-Config TLS Certificates

Setting up Nginx with Let's Encrypt means: install Nginx, install Certbot, configure renewal cron, edit nginx.conf, handle redirect loops, debug certificate errors. For HTTPS. In 2026. What if your web server automatically obtained and renewed TLS certificates — with zero configuration? That's Caddy. Automatic HTTPS by default. The Simplest Caddyfile example.com { root * / var / www / html file_server } That's it. Caddy automatically: Obtains a TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt Redirects HTTP → HTTPS Renews the certificate before expiry Serves your files with HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 Reverse Proxy api.example.com { reverse_proxy localhost: 3000 } app.example.com { reverse_proxy localhost: 5173 } example.com { handle / api /* { reverse_proxy localhost: 3000 } handle { reverse_proxy localhost: 5173 } } Load Balancing api.example.com { reverse_proxy localhost: 3001 localhost: 3002 localhost: 3003 { lb_policy round_robin health_uri / health health_interval 10s } } Caddy vs Nginx vs Traefik Featu