Reverse proxy
Server sitting between the internet and one or more backend services that accepts requests, forwards them and caches, compresses or encrypts responses.
A reverse proxy (as opposed to a classic forward proxy) accepts incoming client requests on behalf of one or more backend services. Typical jobs: TLS termination (central SSL handling), load balancing across multiple app instances, static asset caching, gzip/brotli compression, HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 upgrade of older backends, URL routing by hostname/path and protection against direct backend attacks. Well-known implementations: nginx, Caddy, HAProxy, Traefik, Envoy. In typical VPS setups the reverse proxy listens on ports 80/443 and forwards requests internally to application containers on higher ports — letting you host multiple apps under one IP, all with automatic HTTPS.
Also known as
Reverse-proxy server
Related terms
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Updated: 16.05.2026