Why nginx is fast

I once worked with a dumb developer who caused over 3, error logs for each page hit. Apache or anything else with Linux 2. Kinsta only available Nginx web server or is there option to change to another web server on your panel? Hello Robi, we only support Nginx at this time. By submitting this form: You agree to the processing of the submitted personal data in accordance with Kinsta's Privacy Policy , including the transfer of data to the United States. You also agree to receive information from Kinsta related to our services, events, and promotions.

You may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions in the communications received. Your current host could be costing you time and money — get them back with Kinsta. Learn more. Kinsta Blog. Tonino Jankov , July 1, Quick stats: Apache was released first in , then came Nginx in Both are used by large Fortune companies around the globe. Nginx market share has been steadily growing for years.

In some instances, Nginx has a competitive edge in terms of performance. Ubuntu default page. Web server usage. Percentage of websites using Nginx.

Google Search Trends: Nginx vs Apache. Sign Up For the Newsletter. Kinsta hosting architecture. Performance impact Nginx vs Apache. Apache HTTP header. Nginx HTTP header. Cloudflare Enterprise integration. Global audience reach with 28 data centers worldwide.

Optimization with our built-in Application Performance Monitoring. Hand-picked related articles Ebook. Driving traffic to your WooCommerce store is important, but it's not much use if it doesn't convert. Learn how to turn traffic into sales in our fr…. If there are threads on four cores, the kernel might need to switch the running threads several hundreds or thousands of times per second, and this can add up to considerable time. But nginx does not require context switching, since a single thread can serve all requests actually we typically configure nginx to run in as many processes as there are CPU cores.

This is the main reason why nginx is faster, meaning it can serve more requests per second than Apache on the same hardware. However, we need to put that in perspective. On that same hardware, your Django app might be able to serve only 50 requests per second. So, if it takes Apache 0. Although dynamic page requests need way more CPU time than static page requests, the static page requests are typically more in number and the responses are usually larger.

Each page visit is typically one dynamic page request plus a number of static file requests CSS, images, and JavaScript. If for each dynamic page request there is an average of 5 static file requests, then, if you get 50 visits per second, the total is requests per second, of which 50 are for Django and for static files.

The files is a very small load for your web server, whether that is Apache or nginx. Memory-wise the difference is more significant. If something happens and the server gets, say, 50 concurrent requests, Apache will create about 25 new threads. If the server gets a sudden flood of requests, nginx will stay at 10 MB.

If you use a content delivery network like Cloudflare, then your static files are being taken care of elsewhere, and your web server receives only dynamic page requests.

In that case, the difference between nginx and Apache is less important. In Apache vs Nginx debate, the method of interpreting requests is an interesting topic for comparison. Both of them process and interpret requests in an entirely different manner. Their different methods make them unique and also make one a bit better than the other. Provides the ability to interpret req. As a physical resource on the file system location that may need more abstract evaluation.

It passes requests as file system locations. Of course, Apache does use URI locations, but they are generally for more abstract resources. And while creating or configuring a Virtual host, Apache use directory blocks under the document root. This preference for file system locations can also be seen in the use of. Nginx was created to be both a web server and a reverse proxy server.

Due to the architecture request for these, Nginx works primarily with your eyes. Translating to the system when necessary. For file system directory, instead passes their URI itself.

Passing requests as URI instead of file system locations allow Nginx to function easily in both web and proxy server. It configures simple by laying out how to respond to diff requests patterns. This very design of interpreting requests as URI locations allows Nginx to easily function as not only a web server but also as a proxy server, load balancer, and HTTP cache. Also, in the Apache vs Nginx contest, NGINX again wins when it comes to the transfer rate the speed at which data was sent from the server to the client.

Both are extensible through module systems. But the way they work is different. Apache server has a rich set of features that can be enabled by installing one of the 60 official modules. There are also many other unofficial modules that can be easily found on the internet. Its module system allows you to dynamically load or unload modules to satisfy your needs.

Its modules can be turned ON or Off to add or remove functionality and to hook into the main server. In short, Apache has several feature modules to meet your need but many of them are not used often. Nginx, on the other hand, is selected and compiled into the course of the 3rd party plugins. Not dynamically loadable. The modules are useful though, they allow you to dictate what you want from your server by only including the functionality you intend to use. It is considered much more secure than Apache server as arbitrary components can be hooked in the server.

Note: Apache is like Microsoft Word and Nginx is like notepad. Apache has a million options but you only need a few. Flexibility is one of the most important concerns when it comes to a web server.

Apache vs Nginx flexibility has some interesting differences. Customizations to the web server can be done through riding modules. Apache has had dynamic module loading for the longest time, so all Apache modules support this. Apache vs Nginx security is again a debated topic. Well, both of these web servers offer great extended security for its C-based code base. Apache makes sure that all the website that runs on its server are safe from any harm and hackers. Talking about security and Apache, you must read our detailed post on cPanel security.

A secured cPanel means a secured website. Structured by Igor Sysoev in , this web server was planned as an approach to sidestep the C10k issue.

It beats other web servers in benchmarks measuring web server performance. However, as the Internet grew into a massive aid for business and connecting people across the web, scaling became one of the main issues that needed to be tackled. The main problem that web servers commonly faced were heavy loads. When more connections are required to be made, the web server slows down.

Although servers are more than equipped to handle that many loads today, the problem that many web servers still come across is handling more requests per second, which reduces the speed of handling requests.

NGINX uses a more scalable, event-driven asynchronous architecture, instead of relying on thread-based request handling system, making it efficient to handle more requests per second without compromising on speed. These are only a couple of the highlights of NGINX, you can look at a total breakdown of its highlights here.