Nginx VS Apache - Choosing The Best Webserver in 2024

Nginx vs Apache is a hard-fought battle! It is an ultimate comparison of performance, compatibility, and security. 

Deciding which one is better and most suited for businesses nowadays is complex but crucial. Considering the intensity of this debate, let us end this battle right here and give you a final verdict in this piece.  

So that your website is in the hands of a safe web server that delivers web content to your users and prospects without any hindrance. For transparency, we will briefly introduce both and then gradually move towards a head-to-head comparison and final results. 

Ngnix vs Apache: Overview

Apache and Ngnix are famous web servers that fuel the Internet today. They are tailored to manage diverse workloads and support various types of software.  

Let’s move toward the brief introduction of both in this battle of  Apache vs. Nginx. 

What Is Nginx?

Nginx is a popular web server known for its performance, stability, and security. It is also a reverse proxy server; below are a few reasons it is popular.

• It’s super lightweight.
• Best for high-traffic sites.
• Great for solutions with microservices that need to scale.
• A good frontend load balancer or proxy for caching apps

Nginx is proficient in handling thousands of people efficiently on the website simultaneously. It is capable of doing many things at once without waiting for each one to finish.

Nginx vs Apache: Pros & Cons Of Nginx

Apache Nginx and Apache are both included in our list, but let’s focus on Nginx's advantages and disadvantages first.

 

The Nginx is a dynamic web server that can be utilized for various website types and web app architectures. 

What Is Apache Server?

Apache is renowned for its versatility and strength as open-source web server software. It is one of the oldest and most widely known web servers.  

Launched in 1995, Apache is a favored choice of developers for countless feature sets.

Nginx vs Apache: Pros & Cons Of Apache

Apache, one of the market's oldest players, is trusted by developers and the web server community worldwide. 

 

Apache is one of the best web servers for hosting websites and apps because of its flexibility and stability.

Nginx vs Apache: Type Of Websites Nginx Is Best For

The Nginx web server is the best for the type of websites given below.

 

Nginx is best for microservices architecture, maintaining the flexibility and efficiency of the solution. Let’s move towards Apache!

Nginx vs Apache: Type Of Websites Apache Is Best For

Nginx and Apache are the best web servers, but Apache is best for certain types of websites, as shown below.

Nginx and Apache have strengths and weaknesses and are suitable for certain websites. Let’s compare them head-to-head.

NGINX vs Apache: Head-To-Head Comparison

Various factors such as architecture, scalability, compatibility, and module system must be considered when selecting a web server. Here’s a quick comparison. 

Both Nginx and Apache are robust web servers, and the choice between them often depends upon factors such as scalability needs or personal preferences of system administrators and developers. Below is a detailed comparison to facilitate your understanding.

Nginx vs Apache: Detailed Comparison

Below is a thorough comparison of Apache vs Nginx based on four things:

• Basic Architecture.
• Modules.
• Performance.
• Flexibility.

Nginx vs Apache: Basic Architecture

In this showdown, let’s examine how Nginx and Apache differ in architecture and how connection requests are handled.

Apache

• The Apache has a process-driven architecture, developing a single thread to manage each connection request.
• Apache offers various multi-processing modules (MPMs) that decide how HTTP requests are handled. The three main MPMs are given below

1. mpm_prefork: In prefork MPM, each child process can only handle a single request. Its performance swiftly degrades after the request increases compared to the number of processes, causing difficulty scaling with this MPM.
2. mpm_worker: In mpm_worker, each worker MPM process builds multiple threads that can handle individual connections. This enables the system to serve multiple requests.
3. Mpm_event: It is like worker MPM but optimized to manage keep-alive connections. To do this, it allocates threads for handling such connections and reserving active requests to other threads. This process assists the event MPM function well despite managing keep-alive requests, leading to low resource consumption.

Nginx 

• Nginx utilizes a different approach with an asynchronous, non-blocking, event-driven architecture. This helps the web server manage multiple connections within a single process.
• With a master process that does privileged operations such as binding to ports, reading and evaluating configuration files, and building child processes. Below are the three types of Nginx child processes.

1. Cache loader process:  It allows the disk-based cache to be loaded into the memory zone. This process consumes the resources of a small server since it runs only once after NGINX starts.
2. Worker process: It manages multiple HTTP connections simultaneously, excluding the requirement to build new processes or threads. In contrast, each process runs independently and contains smaller units called worker connections responsible for handling request threads. In inclusion to communicating with upstream servers, the worker process can write and read stored content.
3. Cache manager process: It retains the amount of cached data within the configured sizes by checking it periodically and eliminating the most less utilized ones.

Nginx vs Apache: Modules

The Apache modules bestow it a high position in contrast to Ngnix. Apache lets users install over 50 official and third-party modules. At the same time, Nginx offers various 3rd party modules too. 

Apache

Below are five modules of Apache.

Mod_rewrite

This module rewrites URLs to allow redirection. It also has a rewrite engine that processes URL rewrite requests.

Mod_cache

The Mod_cache apache module is the standard HTTP web cache utilized to cache proxied and local content. This is employed to speed up the website.

Mod_proxy

Although optional, it can be added to assist the Apache in acting as a reverse proxy server or getaway server. This module can also include the mod_proxy_balancer if load balancing is needed.

Mod_security

This module is responsible for the server's security, using expressions and rule sets. It works as a firewall to stop attacks and is fast at blocking SQL injection attacks.

Next, let’s examine the Ngnix dynamic modules. As stated earlier, Ngnix allows you to add third-party modules.

Ngnix Modules

Ngnix web server allows the installation of Nginx Open Source as either a prebuilt package with all the Ngnix modules or from a flexible source that enables the inclusion of preferred modules from Ngnix or a third party. 

Ngnix modules enhance the functionality of the Nginx web server.

The key modules include HTTP and stream (TCP/UDP) and third-party modules such as GeoIP or RTMP.

Nginx vs Apache: Comparison Of Performance

Nginx and Apache are both efficient, but their performance will be compared here based on static and dynamic content.

Apache

Apache is best for handling dynamic content internally without relying on external components. It processes dynamic content by embedding a processor of suitable programming languages into each worker instance, which users can enable via Apache’s dynamically loadable modules. 

Nginx

Nginx is more efficient than Apache in terms of serving static content because it caches the static files to make them available whenever required. However, it does not have a built-in dynamic content processing capability, so it has to pass requests to external processors like FastCGI Process Manager.

Nginx vs Apache: Configuration & Flexibility

Let’s assess both based on configuration and flexibility to see which one is more efficient and reliable.

Nginx

The differences in architecture also influence the extensibility options. It has a modular design where modules are loaded on startup rather than per request, like Apache. This bestows Nginx efficiency for caching load balancing and reverse proxying.

Apache

Apache’s flexibility is due to its modular architecture, which enables the dynamic loading of modules to customize the server's capabilities. It also provides extensive configuration options via directives in the configuration like httpd.conf and .htaccess, allowing control over server behavior.

Final Words - Nginx vs Apache: Which Is Perfect For Your Project

After giving all these details, it’s time for the final verdict. Let’s break it down for you! 

• If you desire to serve high traffic with static content efficiently, then select Nginx.
• If you want dynamic content with extensive module support, opt for Apache.

Frankly, the Apache vs Nginx decision will boil down to your project's needs; if you are still unsure, consider testing both in a sandbox environment to evaluate performance and compatibility.