Nginx vs Caddy vs Traefik Compared

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/app
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name app.example.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name app.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/app.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/app.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

    location /api {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
    }

    # Static files with caching
    location /static {
        alias /var/www/static;
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

# Caddyfile
app.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

api.example.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:8080
}

static.example.com {
    root * /var/www/static
    file_server
    header Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable"
}

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3
    command:
      - --providers.docker=true
      - --entrypoints.web.address=:80
      - --entrypoints.websecure.address=:443
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=admin@example.com
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/acme.json
      - --certificatesresolvers.le.acme.tlschallenge=true
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - ./acme.json:/acme.json

  web:
    image: my-web-app
    labels:
      - "traefik.http.routers.web.rule=Host(`app.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.web.tls.certresolver=le"

  api:
    image: my-api
    labels:
      - "traefik.http.routers.api.rule=Host(`api.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.api.tls.certresolver=le"

upstream backend {
    server 10.0.1.10:3000 weight=3;
    server 10.0.1.11:3000;
    server 10.0.1.12:3000 backup;
}

server {
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

app.example.com {
    reverse_proxy 10.0.1.10:3000 10.0.1.11:3000 {
        lb_policy round_robin
        health_uri /health
        health_interval 10s
    }
}

# Automatic — scales with Docker replicas
services:
  web:
    image: my-app
    deploy:
      replicas: 3
    labels:
      - "traefik.http.services.web.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"
      - "traefik.http.services.web.loadbalancer.healthcheck.path=/health"