HAProxy vs Nginx Proxy Manager: Which to Use?

Quick Verdict

Nginx Proxy Manager is the right choice for self-hosting. It has a web UI, automatic SSL, and zero-config proxy host creation. HAProxy is a superior load balancer and connection handler, but its text-only configuration and lack of built-in SSL automation make it overkill for typical self-hosting setups.

Overview

HAProxy is a high-performance TCP/HTTP load balancer and reverse proxy used by some of the highest-traffic sites on the internet (GitHub, Reddit, Stack Overflow). It excels at connection handling, health checking, and load balancing algorithms. Configuration is entirely through haproxy.cfg — no GUI, no API for dynamic routing. Current version: 3.3.3 (LTS: 3.2.12).

Nginx Proxy Manager (NPM) is a GUI-driven reverse proxy built on Nginx. It handles SSL certificates, proxy host creation, and access control through a web interface. Current version: v2.13.7.

HAProxy is the formula racing car; NPM is the automatic sedan. Both get you there, but they’re built for different drivers.

Feature Comparison

Feature	HAProxy 3.3	NPM v2.13
Configuration	haproxy.cfg (text file)	Web UI
SSL/TLS termination	Yes (manual cert setup)	Yes (automatic Let’s Encrypt)
Let’s Encrypt automation	No (needs external tool)	Built-in
Load balancing algorithms	12+ (roundrobin, leastconn, source, uri, hdr, etc.)	Basic (Nginx upstream)
Health checks	Advanced (HTTP, TCP, agent, interval-based)	Basic (Nginx upstream)
Connection queuing	Yes (sophisticated queue management)	No
Stats dashboard	Built-in (haproxy.cfg config)	Built-in admin UI
ACLs	Powerful (regex, header, path, IP)	Basic (access lists)
Rate limiting	Yes (stick-tables)	Via Nginx config
TCP/UDP proxying	Yes	Yes (stream hosts)
WebSocket support	Yes	Yes
Hot reload	Yes (SIGHUP)	Yes (via UI)
Multi-user management	No	Yes (user accounts)

Installation Complexity

HAProxy

services:
  haproxy:
    image: haproxy:3.3.3
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "8404:8404"
    volumes:
      - ./haproxy.cfg:/usr/local/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg:ro
      - ./certs:/etc/ssl/certs:ro
    sysctls:
      - net.ipv4.ip_unprivileged_port_start=0
    restart: unless-stopped

Then write a haproxy.cfg file defining frontends, backends, and ACLs. Manage SSL certificates separately with Certbot or similar. Every new service requires editing the config file and reloading.

NPM

services:
  npm:
    image: jc21/nginx-proxy-manager:2.13.7
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "81:81"
    volumes:
      - npm-data:/data
      - npm-letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt
    restart: unless-stopped

Deploy, open the UI, click “Add Proxy Host,” type the domain and upstream address. SSL certificate is requested automatically. Done.

Winner: NPM. Not even close for ease of setup.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	HAProxy	NPM
Idle RAM	~15-30 MB	~80-120 MB
Max concurrent connections	100,000+	10,000+ (Nginx)
Requests/sec	100,000+	~50,000 (Nginx)
Connection handling	Event-driven, single-process	Multi-worker (Nginx)
Latency overhead	~0.1ms	~0.5ms

HAProxy is significantly faster under extreme load. It was designed to handle millions of connections across server farms. For self-hosting workloads (typically <100 concurrent connections), both perform identically.

Community and Support

HAProxy has deep enterprise adoption and extensive documentation for production use cases. NPM has a larger self-hosting community and more tutorials targeting home lab setups. HAProxy’s documentation assumes networking knowledge; NPM’s assumes you want things to work with minimal configuration.

Use Cases

Choose HAProxy If…

• You need advanced load balancing across multiple backend servers
• You’re handling high traffic (thousands of concurrent connections)
• You need sophisticated health checks with failover
• You need TCP proxying with complex ACL rules
• You’re comfortable with text-based configuration
• You need connection queuing and rate limiting via stick-tables
• You’re running a production environment with SLA requirements

Choose NPM If…

• You’re self-hosting 5-50 services at home or on a VPS
• You want automatic SSL certificate management
• You prefer a GUI over config files
• You add/remove services regularly and want quick setup
• You want multiple family members or team members to manage proxies
• You don’t need advanced load balancing

Final Verdict

NPM for self-hosting, HAProxy for infrastructure. If you’re running a homelab or VPS with Docker containers, NPM gets the job done with minimal effort. HAProxy’s power is wasted on routing traffic to your Jellyfin and Nextcloud instances.

If you’re running a serious production setup with multiple backend servers, failover requirements, and thousands of concurrent users, HAProxy is the industry standard for a reason.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can HAProxy do automatic SSL like NPM?

Not natively. HAProxy can terminate SSL/TLS, but you need to provide certificates. Use Certbot with a deploy hook, or ACME.sh with HAProxy’s ACME support (experimental in 2.6+). It’s possible but requires more setup than NPM’s one-click approach.

Is HAProxy harder to configure than NPM?

Yes. HAProxy’s config file uses a custom syntax with frontends, backends, ACLs, and stick-tables. The learning curve is steep compared to NPM’s point-and-click interface. The tradeoff is much more flexibility and power.

Can I run both HAProxy and NPM together?

Yes, but there’s rarely a reason to. If you need HAProxy’s load balancing for specific services, you could put HAProxy in front of NPM, or use HAProxy for specific high-performance routes and NPM for everything else.

Which should I choose for a homelab?

NPM. HAProxy is designed for data center workloads. A homelab routing traffic to 10-20 Docker containers doesn’t need HAProxy’s connection management capabilities.

Related

• How to Self-Host HAProxy with Docker
• How to Self-Host Nginx Proxy Manager
• Traefik vs HAProxy
• NPM vs Traefik
• Best Self-Hosted Reverse Proxies
• Reverse Proxy Explained