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Traefik

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Traefik vs Varnish: What are the differences?

# Introduction

  1. Configuration Language: Traefik uses TOML configuration files by default, which are simple and easy to understand, making it quicker to implement and manage. On the other hand, Varnish uses its proprietary VCL (Varnish Configuration Language), which provides more advanced control and flexibility but has a steeper learning curve.

  2. Load Balancing: Traefik is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that is designed to handle microservices and containerized applications seamlessly, offering dynamic load balancing based on various factors like round-robin, least connection, and more. In contrast, Varnish is primarily a reverse proxy cache that can also be configured as a load balancer, but its focus is more on caching than load balancing.

  3. TLS Termination: Traefik simplifies the TLS termination process by automatically obtaining and renewing SSL certificates through Let's Encrypt, reducing the administrative overhead. Varnish, on the other hand, requires manual configuration for TLS termination, including managing SSL certificates and renewals.

  4. Container Orchestration Integration: Traefik is commonly used in containerized environments like Docker and Kubernetes, seamlessly integrating with these tools to dynamically update its configuration based on changes in the environment. Varnish can also be used in container environments but lacks the native integrations and dynamic configuration capabilities that Traefick offers.

  5. Protocols Supported: Traefik is focused on supporting modern protocols like HTTP/2 and gRPC, ensuring compatibility with modern web applications and performance enhancements. Varnish, being a long-standing tool in the caching and proxying realm, also supports these protocols but may require additional configuration and setup compared to Traefik.

In Summary, Traefik and Varnish differ in configuration language, load balancing capabilities, TLS termination process, container orchestration integration, and supported protocols.

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Pros of Traefik
Pros of Varnish
  • 20
    Kubernetes integration
  • 18
    Watch service discovery updates
  • 14
    Letsencrypt support
  • 13
    Swarm integration
  • 12
    Several backends
  • 6
    Ready-to-use dashboard
  • 4
    Easy setup
  • 4
    Rancher integration
  • 1
    Mesos integration
  • 1
    Mantl integration
  • 104
    High-performance
  • 67
    Very Fast
  • 57
    Very Stable
  • 44
    Very Robust
  • 37
    HTTP reverse proxy
  • 21
    Open Source
  • 18
    Web application accelerator
  • 11
    Easy to config
  • 5
    Widely Used
  • 4
    Great community
  • 2
    Essential software for HTTP

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Cons of Traefik
Cons of Varnish
  • 7
    Complicated setup
  • 7
    Not very performant (fast)
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    What is Traefik?

    A modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy. Traefik integrates with your existing infrastructure components and configures itself automatically and dynamically.

    What is Varnish?

    Varnish Cache is a web application accelerator also known as a caching HTTP reverse proxy. You install it in front of any server that speaks HTTP and configure it to cache the contents. Varnish Cache is really, really fast. It typically speeds up delivery with a factor of 300 - 1000x, depending on your architecture.

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    What companies use Traefik?
    What companies use Varnish?
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    What tools integrate with Traefik?
    What tools integrate with Varnish?

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    Blog Posts

    May 6 2020 at 6:34AM

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    What are some alternatives to Traefik and Varnish?
    HAProxy
    HAProxy (High Availability Proxy) is a free, very fast and reliable solution offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP-based applications.
    Kong
    Kong is a scalable, open source API Layer (also known as an API Gateway, or API Middleware). Kong controls layer 4 and 7 traffic and is extended through Plugins, which provide extra functionality and services beyond the core platform.
    NGINX
    nginx [engine x] is an HTTP and reverse proxy server, as well as a mail proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft nginx served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.
    Istio
    Istio is an open platform for providing a uniform way to integrate microservices, manage traffic flow across microservices, enforce policies and aggregate telemetry data. Istio's control plane provides an abstraction layer over the underlying cluster management platform, such as Kubernetes, Mesos, etc.
    Envoy
    Originally built at Lyft, Envoy is a high performance C++ distributed proxy designed for single services and applications, as well as a communication bus and “universal data plane” designed for large microservice “service mesh” architectures.
    See all alternatives