What is the best open-source alternative to NGINX Plus?

The best open-source alternative to NGINX Plus depends on the use case. The highest-PopScore candidates on GitPop are caddy, traefik, envoy.

Is NGINX Plus open source?

No, NGINX Plus is a closed-source product by F5 Networks, Inc.. The open-source alternatives on this page are listed by GitPop PopScore (momentum, activity, and noise-filtered).

3 candidates

Open source alternatives to NGINX Plus

Web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer. · F5 Networks, Inc.

Pricing: NGINX open-source is free; NGINX Plus paid

NGINX open-source is the default reverse proxy; NGINX Plus adds enterprise features. Open-source alternatives in 2026 split into two camps: edge proxies (Caddy, Traefik) and high-performance servers (HAProxy, Envoy). Caddy is the most direct 'I just want HTTPS that works' replacement; Envoy is the right pick for service-mesh and large-scale traffic management.

The 3 candidates, ranked by PopScore

#01caddyserver/caddy
Automatic-HTTPS web server. The right pick when you want NGINX-like power with zero-config TLS.
GitHub
#02traefik/traefik
Cloud-native reverse proxy with auto service discovery. The right pick for container-native deployments.
GitHub
#03envoyproxy/envoy
High-performance edge/middle/service proxy. The right pick for service-mesh and large-scale traffic management.
GitHub

Related alternatives

Looking for a side-by-side comparison of two open-source projects? The compare matrix has 60+ "X vs Y" pages. Looking for a curated "best of" list for a specific category? See Best AI tools 2026 (and the 7 other category editions).