No. 10 of 33 ·Reverse Proxy Software

Varnish Cache

Linux · Self-hosted

Freedom report

Two barsScore 6.4

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely1 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Varnish Cache is ranked #10 of 33 in reverse proxy software on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, Self-hosted. There is a free plan.

Varnish Cache plans and pricing

All plans

Varnish Cache Free Linux · self-hosted · BSD-2-Clause varnish.org · 2 Oct 2026

Compared on reverse proxy software

Free plan: Yes

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The record

Purpose: Varnish Cache is a reverse caching proxy that serves cached responses from memory and proxies other requests to origin servers.
Caching policy: Caching policy is written in Varnish Configuration Language (VCL), which compiles to native code.
TLS: The product supports in-process TLS termination and TLS to dynamic origin backends.
HTTP behavior: Cached objects follow standard HTTP cache headers and are evicted when they expire.
Containers: Varnish provides official container images and a Helm chart for Kubernetes.
Logging and metrics: The product includes varnishlog and varnishstat for structured logging and metrics.
Linux packages: The project documents installation on Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and compatible distributions.
Extensions: Varnish modules (VMODs) are shared libraries whose functions can be called from VCL, and the project documents bundled and additional modules.
Security: The security guide describes four control levels: command-line arguments, the CLI interface, VCL programs, and HTTP requests.
Security updates: The release page lists supported versions and says releases not listed there are end-of-life and unsupported.
Support: The project points users to Discord, Stack Overflow, and LinkedIn, and says commercial support is available through Varnish Software.
Notable limit: The users guide says Varnish does not cache data unless it is sure doing so is safe, and notes that applications may need configuration changes to achieve a high cache hit rate.
Company: Varnish Software was founded in 2010 as a spinoff of Redpill Linpro.
Founded: 2010
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Reverse Proxy Software in 2026#10 of 33
Best Caching Software in 2026#10 of 26

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Sources

varnish.org· checked 2 Oct 2026
varnish.org/docs/install-guide/· checked 2 Oct 2026
varnish.org/docs/reference/vmod/· checked 2 Oct 2026
varnish.org/docs/users-guide/run_security.html· checked 2 Oct 2026
varnish.org/releases/· checked 2 Oct 2026
varnish.org/docs/users-guide/increasing-your-hitrat· checked 2 Oct 2026
docs.varnish-software.com/book/what-is-varnish/varnish-cache-and-· checked 2 Oct 2026