Although they compete head-to-head for 5% of all internet web traffic, Apache and NGINX are two different web server platforms.
“Apache HTTP Server” is Apache. It is a high-performance, open-source web server programme created and supported by the Apache Software Foundation. As long as it adheres to the most recent HTTP standards, Apache is intended to produce a secure, reliable, and effective commercial-grade web server.
Because of its adaptability, architectural simplicity, power compatibility, and multi-platform support, Apache continues to be the top choice among server administrators. It is compatible with practically any operating system, including Windows, UNIX, OS X, NetWare, and others. But Linux and it are frequently combined.
As the foundation of the World Wide Web, Apache was at the top of its game. However, when NGINX entered the market, the server administrator’s preference was altered.
Yes, there are many areas where NGINX cannot compete with the feature-rich Apache, but its single-threaded design and asynchronous status make it a wise alternative to Apache.
Let’s examine how Apache and NGINX differ from one another:
- While Nginx is an open-source, high-performance asynchronous web server and reverse proxy server, Apache is an open-source HTTP server.
- Nginx is handled by a business with the same name that was established in 2011 while the Apache HTTP server is managed and maintained by a community of users from across the world and coordinated by the Apache Software Foundation.
- The way the two approaches the client request is the main distinction between them. Nginx is built to manage numerous client requests at once while utilising the least amount of hardware resources, in contrast to Apache, which offers a wide range of multiprocessing modules to handle client requests and web traffic.
- While a single thread in Nginx can manage numerous connections, a single thread in Apache is only connected to one connection. All of the processes are managed asynchronously and are placed in an event loop with other connections. Performance is improved because of this procedure’ reduced memory usage.
- The multi-threaded architecture of Apache HTTP Server is not scalable. Nginx, on the other side, uses an asynchronous event-driven strategy to handle numerous client requests. Its event-driven architecture is built to support greater performance even in high traffic environments.
- The Apache web server processes dynamic content natively within the web server and uses conventional techniques to provide static information. On the other side, Nginx is unable to internally process dynamic material. Its execution is dependent on outside procedures.
Apache vs. NGINX
| Apache | NGINX |
|---|---|
| Apache runs on all Unix like systems such as Linux, BSD, etc. as well as completely supports Windows. | Nginx runs on modern Unix like systems; however it has limited support for Windows. |
| Apache uses a multi-threaded approach to process client requests. | Nginx follows an event-driven approach to serve client requests. |
| Apache cannot handle multiple requests concurrently with heavy web traffic. | Nginx can handle multiple client requests concurrently and efficiently with limited hardware resources. |
| Apache processes dynamic content within the web server itself. | Nginx can’t process dynamic content natively. |
| Apache is designed to be a web server. | Nginx is both a web server and a proxy server. |
| Modules are dynamically loaded or unloaded, making it more flexible. | Since modules cannot be loaded dynamically, they must be compiled within the core software itself. |
| A single thread can only process one connection. | A single thread can handle multiple connections. |
| The performance of Apache for static content is lower than Nginx. | Nginx can simultaneously run thousands of connections of static content two times faster than Apache and uses little less memory. |
