Apache HTTP Server vs NGINX
Apache HTTP Server
httpd.apache.org
NGINX
nginx.orgSide by side
| Figure | Apache HTTP Server | NGINX |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Web Server Software | 8.3 (#5) | 7.9 (#13) |
| License | The Apache License 2.0 grants a perpetual, worldwide, no-charge, royalty-free copyright license subject to its terms. | NGINX is distributed under the 2-clause BSD License. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache HTTP Server
Apache HTTP Server has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
NGINX
NGINX is a free, self-hosted HTTP web server and traffic proxy. It can serve web content, cache responses, balance loads, proxy TCP and UDP traffic, and handle mail proxying. Reverse proxying supports caching, load balancing, and fault tolerance, with integrations for FastCGI, uwsgi, SCGI, and memcached servers. Listed HTTP capabilities include SSL/TLS SNI, HTTP/2, and HTTP/3; WebSockets, rate limiting, and TLS termination are also specified. Configuration uses files, and response caching is supported, but no web application firewall is listed. NGINX uses one master process and several worker processes running under an unprivileged user. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, or as a self-hosted deployment. Downloads include mainline, stable, and legacy versions, source code, Windows builds, and Linux packages. The software is distributed under the 2-clause BSD License and maintained by F5.