[imiric]

Nginx also has its own custom configuration format, which looks alien to anyone who isn't used to it. Many engineers are at this point, but think about the amount of documentation and books written about it. It's full of quirks and gotchas, where misconfiguration is very easy, and configuring complex behavior very difficult.

The appeal of Caddy is that it has sane modern defaults so that it doesn't need a lot of configuration. Things like HTTPS by default, automated cert management, Tailscale integration, etc., are all very convenient to have OOB. It's also much easier to extend than Nginx with tools like xcaddy. The configuration format itself is arguably less quirky than Nginx's. Someone below mentioned replacing a 10k Nginx setup with a 1k Caddy one, and while this is always going to be painful, it speaks for itself.