Comparison: RouteX vs HAProxy vs Traefik vs Caddy

TL;DR

Proxy	Best For
RouteX	Game servers, DDoS protection, API-driven infrastructure, bandwidth-constrained environments
HAProxy	Enterprise HTTP routing, high-traffic websites, complex L7 rules
Traefik	Kubernetes/Docker ingress, cloud-native, auto-discovery
Caddy	Simple web servers, automatic HTTPS, small projects

Detailed Feature Matrix

Protocol & Layer Support

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
TCP Proxying	✅ Full	✅ Full	✅ Full	❌
UDP Proxying	✅ Full session model	⚠️ Limited	✅	❌
HTTP/HTTPS L7	❌ L4 only	✅ Full parsing, header rewrite	✅ Full	✅ Full
HTTP/2, gRPC	❌	✅	✅	✅
TLS Termination	⚠️ Passthrough only	✅ Full offload	✅ Full auto	✅ Full auto Let's Encrypt
PROXY Protocol	❌	✅ v1/v2	✅ v2	❌
WebSocket	✅ Transparent (L4)	✅	✅	✅

Security & DDoS Protection

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
iptables Rate Limiting	✅ PPS, SYN, RST, connlimit	❌ L7 only	❌	❌
Game Protocol Detection	✅ MC Java/Bedrock, FiveM, GMod	❌	❌	❌
Behavioral Scoring	✅ Per-IP threat score → auto-ban	❌	❌	❌
Connection Cycling Detection	✅ Sliding window	❌	❌	❌
Payload Inspection	✅ First-bytes byte matching	❌	❌	❌
Amplification Detection	✅ Request/response ratio	❌	❌	❌
TCP Invalid State Drop	✅ iptables	❌	❌	❌
Fragment Drop	✅ iptables	❌	❌	❌
ACL (IP allow/deny)	✅ Global + Per-proxy, live API	✅ Extensive (IP, headers, paths)	✅ IP whitelist middleware	❌
Rate Limiting (L7)	✅ Token bucket per-IP	✅ stick-table based	✅ RateLimit middleware	❌

Load Balancing & Traffic Management

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
Algorithms	5 (RR, LC, IP-hash, weighted, random)	10+	Round-robin	Round-robin
Sticky Sessions	✅ Source IP with TTL	✅ Cookie + IP based	✅ Cookie based	✅
Health Checks	✅ Active TCP probes	✅ Active + Passive + Agent	✅	✅
Connection Draining	✅ Bounded timeout	✅	✅	✅ Graceful
Bandwidth Quotas	✅ Hourly/Daily/Weekly/Monthly	❌	❌	❌
Auto-Suspend on Quota	✅	❌	❌	❌
Backend Max Connections	✅ Per-upstream limit	✅	❌	❌

Observability

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
Metrics Formats	Prometheus + InfluxDB + CSV + JSON	Prometheus (exporter)	Prometheus + OpenTelemetry	Prometheus
Per-Connection Logging	✅ Connect/close + byte counts + duration	✅ Custom format	✅ Access logs	✅
Event Stream	✅ L7 block events API	❌	❌	❌
Web Dashboard	❌ REST API only	✅ HTML stats page	✅ Dashboard UI	❌

Operations

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
Config Format	YAML (flat)	Custom DSL	YAML/TOML/KV/Labels	Caddyfile / JSON
Hot Reload	✅ Per-proxy, inotify-based	⚠️ Soft reload (drops conns)	✅	✅ Graceful
API Management	✅ 36 REST endpoints	⚠️ Stats socket (text protocol)	✅ API + Dashboard	✅ Admin API
DNS Discovery	❌ Static IP only	✅ Dynamic resolution	✅ Docker/Swarm/K8s/Consul	❌
Let's Encrypt	❌	❌	✅	✅ Auto
Multi-Process	❌ Single binary	✅ nbproc	❌	❌

Maturity & Community

Feature	RouteX	HAProxy	Traefik	Caddy
First Release	2026	2001	2016	2015
Language	Go	C	Go	Go

When to Choose RouteX

✅ Game server hosting — Built-in protocol detection catches bot attacks that generic proxies miss. Minecraft Bedrock unconnected ping validation is a unique feature.

✅ DDoS mitigation for non-HTTP services — Layered defense: iptables drops volumetrics at kernel level, L7 catches slow/app-layer attacks. No other proxy combines both.

✅ API-driven infrastructure — 36 REST endpoints for full programmatic control. Change ACL rules, eject backends, view bandwidth usage — all without editing config files.

✅ Bandwidth-constrained environments — Enforce hourly/daily/monthly quotas with auto-suspension. Track usage per proxy. Perfect for metered hosting or budget-conscious deployments.

✅ Simple YAML config — No custom DSL to learn. Flat structure. One file per proxy. IDE autocomplete and validation work out of the box.

When to Choose HAProxy

✅ Enterprise HTTP routing — HAProxy's L7 capabilities are unmatched. Header rewriting, cookie-based persistence, URL routing, compression, caching.

✅ Complex ACL rules — HAProxy ACL can match on any combination of source/dest IP, ports, HTTP headers, cookies, URL paths, SSL fingerprints, GeoIP.

✅ Extreme scale — HAProxy handles millions of concurrent connections in production. Battle-tested at Facebook, Cloudflare scale.

When to Choose Traefik

✅ Kubernetes/Docker — Native service discovery. Auto-configures routes from container labels. No config files needed for new services.

✅ Let's Encrypt automation — Automatic certificate provisioning and renewal. Zero manual TLS management.

✅ Cloud-native ecosystem — Integrates with Consul, Etcd, ZooKeeper, Marathon. OpenTelemetry tracing built in.

When to Choose Caddy

✅ Simple web servers — Single binary. Automatic HTTPS. Caddyfile is the simplest config format available.

✅ Reverse proxy with auto-HTTPS — Point at a backend, Caddy handles cert provisioning automatically. Zero config TLS.

✅ Developer environments — Fast setup. No dependencies. Great for local development and small production deployments.