The Lens

Nginx Proxy Manager puts a web UI in front of Nginx so you stop configuring reverse proxies by hand. Point-and-click reverse proxy setup, automatic SSL via Let's Encrypt, and access controls, all without touching a config file.

This is the gateway drug of self-hosting. You run it in Docker, open the web UI, add your domains, point them at your Docker containers, and it handles SSL certificates automatically. For people who self-host a dozen services (Nextcloud, Gitea, Home Assistant), this makes routing and HTTPS dead simple.

MIT. Fully free, no paid tier.

The catch: you're adding a layer of abstraction over Nginx. When something breaks, you need to debug both the UI configuration AND the underlying Nginx config it generates. Advanced Nginx features (custom headers, complex rewrites, WebSocket tuning) sometimes require dropping into the "Advanced" config field and writing raw Nginx directives anyway. If you're comfortable with Nginx configs, Caddy might be a better choice. It auto-provisions SSL with zero config and is simpler without the UI overhead.