Nginx vs HAProxy: Which Proxy to Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

Nginx is the better choice for self-hosting. It serves as both a web server and reverse proxy, has simpler configuration, and a larger community with more self-hosting-specific tutorials. HAProxy is a more capable load balancer with superior connection handling, but its complexity is only justified for high-traffic production environments.

Overview

Nginx is the world’s most popular web server and reverse proxy, powering roughly a third of the internet. It handles static file serving, reverse proxying, SSL termination, and basic load balancing. Current version: 1.28.2.

HAProxy is a dedicated TCP/HTTP load balancer and reverse proxy used by GitHub, Reddit, Stack Overflow, and other high-traffic sites. It’s not a web server — its focus is connection handling, health checking, and load distribution. Current version: 3.3.3 (LTS: 3.2.12).

Feature Comparison

Feature	Nginx 1.28	HAProxy 3.3
Web server	Yes	No
Static file serving	Yes (fast)	No
Reverse proxy	Yes	Yes
SSL termination	Yes	Yes
Automatic SSL	No (needs Certbot)	No (needs Certbot)
Load balancing algorithms	3 (round-robin, least-conn, IP hash)	12+
Health checks	Active (Plus only), passive (OSS)	Advanced (HTTP, TCP, agent, interval)
Connection queuing	No	Yes
Stick tables	No	Yes (session persistence)
Rate limiting	Yes (limit_req, limit_conn)	Yes (stick-tables)
Stats dashboard	No (stub_status only)	Built-in (detailed)
Config syntax	nginx.conf (declarative)	haproxy.cfg (procedural ACLs)
Hot reload	Yes (nginx -s reload)	Yes (SIGHUP)
HTTP/3	Yes (1.25+)	Experimental
Modules	Yes (dynamic/compiled)	Lua, SPOE
Written in	C	C

Installation Complexity

Nginx

services:
  nginx:
    image: nginx:1.28.2
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
      - ./conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

Config:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name app.example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://app:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

HAProxy

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

Config requires defining global, defaults, frontend, and backend sections with ACL rules for routing.

Winner: Nginx. More familiar syntax, and the same config file can serve static content and proxy traffic.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	Nginx	HAProxy
Idle RAM	~5-10 MB	~15-30 MB
Requests/sec (proxy)	~50,000+	~100,000+
Max connections	~10,000 per worker	100,000+
Connection handling	Multi-worker event loop	Single-process event loop
Latency overhead	~0.3ms	~0.1ms
Static file serving	Excellent	N/A

HAProxy handles more concurrent connections and has lower proxy latency. Nginx is lighter on memory and doubles as a web server. For self-hosting loads (<100 concurrent connections), both perform identically.

Community and Support

Nginx has an enormous community with decades of documentation, tutorials, and Stack Overflow answers. HAProxy has deep enterprise documentation but less self-hosting-focused content. You’ll find more “how to proxy Nextcloud with Nginx” tutorials than HAProxy equivalents.

Use Cases

Choose Nginx If…

• You need a web server and reverse proxy in one
• You’re serving static files alongside proxying
• You want a familiar, well-documented configuration format
• You need Nginx-specific modules (njs, Lua, GeoIP2, RTMP)
• You’re following self-hosting tutorials (most use Nginx)
• You don’t need advanced load balancing

Choose HAProxy If…

• You need advanced load balancing across multiple backends
• You need sophisticated health checking with failover
• You need connection queuing and stick-table session persistence
• You’re handling thousands of concurrent connections
• You need detailed statistics and monitoring dashboards
• You’re running high-availability production infrastructure

Final Verdict

Nginx for self-hosting, HAProxy for load balancing. Neither has automatic HTTPS, so both require Certbot or similar for SSL. Nginx wins for self-hosting because it’s a web server that can proxy, while HAProxy is a load balancer that can proxy — and self-hosters need the former more often.

If you want the easiest reverse proxy experience, skip both and use Nginx Proxy Manager (GUI on top of Nginx), Caddy (automatic HTTPS, simple config), or Traefik (Docker-native auto-discovery).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need HAProxy for my homelab?

Almost certainly not. HAProxy’s strengths — advanced load balancing, connection queuing, stick tables — solve problems you don’t have with 10-30 Docker containers. Nginx, NPM, Caddy, or Traefik are better fits.

Which has better documentation?

Both have excellent documentation. Nginx has more community content (blog posts, tutorials, videos). HAProxy’s official docs are thorough but assume more networking knowledge.

Can Nginx do everything HAProxy does?

For basic load balancing and proxying, yes. For advanced features (12 load balancing algorithms, agent health checks, stick-table session persistence, connection queuing), no. Nginx Plus (commercial) closes some of these gaps.

Neither has automatic HTTPS — what should I use instead?

For self-hosting with automatic HTTPS: Caddy (Caddyfile + automatic HTTPS), Nginx Proxy Manager (GUI + Let’s Encrypt), or Traefik (Docker labels + ACME).

Related

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