Utilly vs. self-hosted nginx.
nginx has been the honest workhorse of reverse proxying for decades, and a well-kept config can serve subfolders perfectly. This page is an honest look at what running it yourself involves.
When self-hosting is the right call
You already run servers
Your team operates infrastructure daily, and one more nginx is genuinely marginal.
The routing is simple
One site, one route, and a config that rarely changes once it works.
Compliance requires it
Policy says traffic stays on infrastructure you control, full stop.
What you take on, side by side
Initial setup
self-hosted nginx:Provision a server, write the nginx config: proxy_pass, rewrites, headers, error pages. Then test every origin behind it.
with utilly:Four guided steps in the dashboard. No server to provision.
TLS certificates
self-hosted nginx:Issue certificates, automate renewal, and notice before they expire. The proxy is down if you miss.
with utilly:TLS is handled on every route, including renewal.
Running it
self-hosted nginx:The proxy is now infrastructure you operate: OS patches, nginx upgrades, monitoring, and capacity when traffic spikes.
with utilly:A managed service. There is nothing for your team to operate.
SEO edge cases
self-hosted nginx:Trailing slashes, redirect chains, canonical mismatches, asset paths: each one is yours to find in Search Console and fix in config.
with utilly:Handled by default. Internal pages and links are mapped to subfolder paths automatically.
Ongoing changes
self-hosted nginx:Every new route is a config edit and a reload on a live server, done carefully.
with utilly:Add or edit a route in the dashboard without touching a server.
Cost
self-hosted nginx:A server bill plus the hours of whoever maintains the config, the certificates, and the pager.
with utilly:From $29/mo, with no server and no pager.
Curious what the managed side looks like in practice? Read how Utilly works, from the request lifecycle to rollback.
Fair questions
We already run nginx and it works. Why switch?
If it works and someone genuinely owns it, you may not need to. Teams usually switch when the config owner leaves, the file grows too risky to touch, or nobody wants to carry the pager for marketing routing.
Is Utilly just hosted nginx?
We keep our architecture private on purpose. What we publish is the behavior you can verify from the outside: routing, caching, TLS, and rollback with a single DNS change.
Can I migrate from an existing nginx proxy?
Yes. Point Utilly at the same origins, recreate your route map in the dashboard, preview the result, and switch DNS when it looks right.
What about performance?
Utilly adds a caching layer in front of your origins, so cached pages are served without a round trip to the origin. Everything else passes straight through at the HTTP level.