Apache vs. NGINX: Which Web Server Is Better?

Apache and NGINX are two of the most popular open-source web servers on the Internet. Choosing between Apache and NGINX can be difficult, as both web servers have their strengths and weaknesses.

In this comprehensive guide, I’ll compare Apache vs. NGINX across several factors to help you decide which is the best web server for your needs.

By the end, you’ll know:

• What Apache and NGINX web servers are
• The key differences between Apache and NGINX
• When to choose Apache or NGINX for your web server
• How to choose between Apache and NGINX for WordPress sites
• Which web server is most widely used (hint: Apache is still #1!)

Let’s start by looking at what exactly Apache and NGINX are before we compare them.

What Is Apache Web Server?

The Apache HTTP Server, also known as Apache web server, is open-source server software maintained by the Apache Software Foundation.

Apache web server is the most popular web server software on the Internet, powering over 37% of the top 10 million websites globally. This open-source server platform is maintained by the Apache Software Foundation.

Some key things to know about Apache:

• Open-source web server software maintained by the Apache Software Foundation
• The most popular web server – powers over 37% of the top 10 million websites globally as of February 2023, according to W3Techs web technology survey data
• Used on many high-traffic sites requiring reliable performance
• Offers complete LAMP/LEMP stack for hosting web apps like WordPress
• Mature technology with widespread community developer support

Overall, Apache web server is tried, tested, and trusted to deliver web content fast and efficiently.

Now let’s look at NGINX web server and how it compares.

What Is NGINX Web Server?

NGINX (pronounced “engine-x”) is also an open-source web server software, just like Apache. It runs on many of the same operating systems as Apache and can serve web content and apps.

However, NGINX takes a different approach to handling web requests compared to Apache:

• Asynchronous and event-driven to handle more requests with fewer resources
• Specializes in serving static files, reverse proxying, load balancing, API management, and more
• Often used with other servers like Apache rather than standalone

With its lightweight and modular architecture, NGINX excels at serving modern sites and apps with dynamic content, APIs, global traffic management, and more complex needs.

Now let’s dig into the key differences between Apache and NGINX web servers.

Apache vs NGINX: 5 Key Differences

Apache and NGINX take different architectural approaches to serving web content and handling requests. Let’s explore these key technical and architectural differences between the two popular open-source web servers:

1. Processing Model

The biggest difference lies in how Apache and NGINX process incoming HTTP requests.

Apache uses a threaded processing model where each request is handled by a separate thread. This can consume more RAM with a large number of concurrent connections.

Meanwhile, NGINX uses an asynchronous event-driven model to handle requests in a non-blocking way. This event-driven approach allows NGINX to scale better with fewer server resources.

2. Performance

Thanks to its lightweight asynchronous architecture, NGINX can generally handle more concurrent connections and deliver better performance than Apache.

For example, benchmark tests show NGINX can handle 2.5x more requests per second compared to Apache in a straightforward static file serving scenario.

However, both servers can be optimized and tuned for better efficiency. Performance depends on your architecture, OS, hardware specs and various configurations.

3. Features

Apache comes bundled with many built-in modules and rich feature set out of the box. This includes SSL, virtual hosting, authentication, URL rewriting, and more.

NGINX has a barebones default install and follows a modular architecture. Optional NGINX modules must be installed separately to add advanced functionality like rewriting, geolocation, HTTP push, JavaScript handling, and more.

4. Scalability

NGINX scales better to support more concurrent connections and content serving out of the box. Its event-driven model handles more requests with fewer system resources.

Apache relies on loading modules and spawning extra threads/processes to scale up. However, tuning and optimization can improve Apache’s efficiency as well.

5. Configuration

Apache uses XML-style hierarchical configuration files. NGINX configurations follow a simpler script-style format that’s more readable and allows complex logic.

In the end, both servers have rich capabilities and customization options. But out of the box, NGINX configs are often easier for getting started.

Now let’s look at common use cases and when to choose between NGINX vs Apache.

NGINX vs Apache: When To Use Each Web Server

The choice between NGINX and Apache depends on your use case and web server needs:

As a quick rule of thumb based on their strengths:

• Use Apache when you need a fully-featured web server and ecosystem
• Use NGINX when you need performance, scalability and proxy capabilities

However, let’s take a more in-depth look at common scenarios for using NGINX and Apache web servers:

1. Static Content Serving

NGINX excels at directly serving static files and web content, including HTML, images, JavaScript, stylesheets, audio, video and more.

NGINX delivers static content faster than Apache thanks to its event-driven asynchronous architecture. It also caches files aggressively to further speed up performance.

This makes NGINX ideal for blazing fast content delivery networks (CDN) and media streaming platforms.

2. Reverse Proxy & Load Balancing

NGINX is often deployed as a front-end reverse proxy server to balance traffic across backend origin servers and application servers.

For WordPress sites, you can run Apache on the backend with NGINX as a fast reverse caching proxy server to handle requests first.

NGINX proxy server capabilities also help enhance security, performance optimization, load balancing efficiency and more.

3. API Serving & Microservices

Modern web and mobile apps rely on backend JSON APIs and microservices. NGINX excels at serving APIs – it can handle a large volume of concurrent API requests efficiently.

Developers often deploy NGINX as a gateway in front of application servers like Node, Python/Django, Ruby/Rails apps and databases like MongoDB. This offloads static file serving, caching, load balancing, DDoS protection, JWT authentication, API management, and more.

4. WordPress and PHP Apps

For traditional LEMP/LAMP app stacks that run PHP code to generate dynamic HTML pages, Apache paired with PHP is a tried and robust platform. This includes serving WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento and more.

Apache can run PHP efficiently via mpm_prefork or php-fpm modules. However, NGINX can also serve PHP apps if needed – it has php-fpm support as well.

In many cases, the best WordPress performance is achieved by having NGINX in front of Apache server. This allows NGINX to handle caching, compression, SSL offloading and reverse proxy while Apache PHP processes handle WordPress app code.

5. Python & Ruby Apps

Apps written in Python/Django and Ruby/Rails can run on either Apache or NGINX web servers.

However, the asynchronous event-driven architecture of NGINX can often handle more concurrent requests for these apps compared to Apache.

So NGINX may be the preferred choice if you’re expecting a high volume of traffic. But Apache works perfectly fine too.

6. Other Content Management Systems

Managed hosting providers often use Apache servers to serve content management systems (CMS) like:

• WordPress
• Drupal
• Joomla
• Magento

These systems run PHP code to dynamically generate web pages.

Apache has modules like mod_php that allow it to run PHP seamlessly. NGINX can also run PHP via php-fpm but Apache is sometimes more common.

So, When To Choose NGINX or Apache

Choose NGINX when you need:

• Maximum performance and scalability
• To serve modern apps, APIs and microservices
• Reverse proxying, load balancing capabilities
• Lightweight, modular architecture

Choose Apache when you need:

• Battle-tested server for traditional web apps
• Serve dynamic content like CMS and PHP apps
• Full LAMP/LEMP stack
• Rich feature set out of the box

You don’t necessarily have to choose only one either. Many sites run NGINX and Apache together to utilize both their strengths.

NGINX vs Apache for WordPress: Which Is Best?

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites, making it the most widely used CMS globally.

Both Apache and NGINX servers can run WordPress efficiently. But which offers the best WordPress performance?

Let’s compare NGINX and Apache for hosting WordPress sites:

Apache

• Works “out of the box” to serve WordPress via LAMP/LEMP stack
• Supports mod_pagespeed, mod_deflate, mod_expires for optimizations
• Handles WordPress and PHP app code efficiently
• Allows .htaccess for handy redirects, rewrites, etc

NGINX

• Delivers static files like CSS, JS faster, more efficiently
• Easy reverse proxy setup in front of Apache backend
• Allows server blocks for easier configuration
• Handles more traffic and concurrent users out of the box

The above shows that both servers have something to offer WordPress sites.

Many expert WordPress developers choose NGINX as a reverse caching proxy in front of Apache web server.

This allows you to get the best of both worlds – Apache processes WordPress PHP code while NGINX accelerates static files delivery. NGINX also offloads TLS encryption and other tasks from Apache allowing it to focus on WordPress functionality.

Some popular WordPress specific hosting providers like WPEngine use NGINX with Apache for maximum performance and scale.

So in most cases, the ideal setup is NGINX IN FRONT OF Apache rather than choosing only one.

But you can achieve great WordPress performance with either web server if configured properly.

Next, let’s look at which server is more widely used overall – Apache vs NGINX market share.

Apache vs NGINX Market Share: Which Is More Popular?

Both Apache and NGINX dominate the web server market share:

• Apache – 44% market share
• NGINX – Over 30% market share

This makes Apache and NGINX the #1 and #2 most used web servers globally.

Apache is still more popular overall – it powers close to half the world’s website domains. This is due to Apache’s widespread use since the early days of the Internet.

However, many modern websites use NGINX, either standalone or with Apache.

NGINX adoption is growing faster recently as its used to proxy and load balance traffic across server clusters, especially in cloud architectures.

So while Apache usage is still higher, NGINX is gaining ground for modern infrastructure needs. Often you’ll find both servers used together rather than as an either-or choice.

Now let’s summarize everything we’ve covered…

Apache vs NGINX: Key Takeaways

Which web server should you choose? Here are some key takeaways from my in-depth NGINX vs Apache comparison:

The choice depends on your specific needs. In many cases, using both NGINX and Apache together gives you the flexibility to utilize each technology’s advantages.

Hopefully this comprehensive guide has helped you compare NGINX vs Apache servers. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Neil Beckett

Neil is an accomplished web, designer and developer with over 15 years of experience in creating and optimizing websites for small businesses and online entrepreneurs. Read full bio

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