Varnish Cache
Hacker ApprovedHTTP cache in Hosting & cloud
Free HTTP cache and reverse proxy that people use to absorb traffic spikes and scale sites simply. Critics say TLS setup is confusing.
Free HTTP cache and reverse proxy that people use to absorb traffic spikes and scale sites simply. Critics say TLS setup is confusing.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Absorbs traffic spikes and scales HTTP
“I've had good luck scaling git, specially doing clones, in the HTTP layer, using Varnish.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “An Update on GitHub Availability” “I had to use varnish to set up a reverse proxy cache to properly handle the influx.”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Slashdot effect” “varnish (vinyl these days) in front of the website should dramatically reduce this”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Creepy Crawlies” - Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “We architected an edge caching layer to eliminate cold starts”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “What just happened to TheNumbers.com should worry us all”
Simpler than heavier caching setups
“You could do the same with varnish/nginx or wp-cache with 10% of the complexity”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “We architected an edge caching layer to eliminate cold starts” “this problem was solved 20 years ago with Varnish cache”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “What just happened to TheNumbers.com should worry us all” “just use the tool that does the job.”
Comment from 11 Apr 2026 in “Vinyl Cache and Varnish Cache” Works well in practice
“I've had good luck scaling git, specially doing clones, in the HTTP layer, using Varnish.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “An Update on GitHub Availability” “Varnish works great for that.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Micro.blog launches new 'Studio' tier with video hosting”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
TLS setup is confusing or painful
“the docs on varnish and tls are hella confusing”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Vinyl Cache and Varnish Cache” “A bit of a pain but eminently doable”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “EmDash: A Fresh Take on CMS”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varnish CacheThis page | 11 | 3 | 79% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Vinyl Cache | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“varnish (vinyl these days) in front of the website should dramatically reduce this”
“this problem was solved 20 years ago with Varnish cache”
“running a few instances of Varnish/Vynil and call it a day”
“As it looks now, they'll be developing upstream but "everyone" will be using fork.”
“I've had good luck scaling git, specially doing clones, in the HTTP layer, using Varnish.”
“Having varnish lose visibility into the transport means ACLs are gone, JA3 and similar are gone and the opportunity to defend from DoS are much more limited.”
“the docs on varnish and tls are hella confusing”
“just use the tool that does the job.”
“A bit of a pain but eminently doable”
“Termination is handled natively by the engine process. No sidecars required.”
“A varnish cache won't help you if you're running something like a code forge”
“You could do the same with varnish/nginx or wp-cache with 10% of the complexity”
“I had to use varnish to set up a reverse proxy cache to properly handle the influx.”
“Varnish works great for that.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.