Apache and NGINX are undoubtedly the top two web servers for handling website traffic. While NGINX excels in speed and handling high-traffic sites with its event-driven architecture, Apache offers more flexibility and better dynamic content handling. Choosing between them depends on your website’s traffic, performance needs, and configuration preferences.

Whether you are running a blog or an online store, here’s a guide on Apache and NGINX to help you make the right choice.

NGINX vs. Apache: Overview

Apache and NGINX are two leading web server applications. Apache is process-driven, meaning it creates a new process (or thread) for each new connection request. NGINX, on the other hand, uses an event-driven system, which means it can handle many requests at the same time more efficiently.

What is Apache web server?

Apache was discovered in 1995. It is known for supporting many different operating systems, like Windows and macOS. It can also be customized with add-ons, making it a powerful option for many developers.

Here are the benefits of Apache: 

  • Free and open-source
  • Supports multiple add-ons to boost functionality
  • Strong community support
  • Ideal for shared hosting environments

Here are the challenges of using Apache: 

  • Uses more CPU and memory compared to NGINX
  • Slower when delivering static content
  • Complex configuration settings

What is NGINX web server?

NGINX, pronounced as Engine-X, was created in 2002 and launched in 2004 to solve what’s known as the C10K problem—the challenge of serving 10,000 or more simultaneous connections. It became popular due to its efficiency and scalability, and its capability to handle many connections without consuming too many resources.

Here are the benefits of NGINX:

  • Can manage many requests simultaneously
  • Great for high-traffic websites
  • Low resource consumption (CPU and memory)
  • Easy to configure for beginners

Here are the challenges of NGINX:

  • Not ideal for dynamic content processing
  • Limited support for Windows
  • Depends heavily on third-party modules for extra features

ALSO READ: What is a Web Server? Features and How it Works

Key Differences Between Apache and NGINX

1. Architecture

Web server architecture refers to how a server manages web requests, connections, and traffic. This structure plays a key role when deciding which web server to use.

Here’s a comparison of the basic architecture of Apache and NGINX:

Apache

As mentioned before, Apache uses a process-driven design, where each connection is handled by a separate thread. However, this method can use a lot of resources when dealing with many requests at once, slowing down the server and causing issues like slow load times and downtime.

To address this, Apache offers different Multi-processing Modules (MPMs), which let users choose how requests are processed. There are three main MPMs:

  1. mpm_prefork:The prefork mpm is not threaded, which means each process handles only one request. As more requests come in, performance worsens, making it harder to scale.
  2. mpm_worker:This worker MPM can create multiple threads in each process, allowing it to handle many requests at once, using fewer resources and improving scalability.
  3. mpm_event: Similar to the worker MPM but designed to manage “keep-alive” connections better, reducing resource use while handling lots of requests.

If your project requires stability, opt for Prefork. Meanwhile, if your project requires excellent traffic management, choose a worker or event MPMs as they can handle high traffic efficiently.

NGINX

Unlike Apache servers, which use a threaded architecture, NGINX is event-driven. This means it can handle many connections efficiently within a single process, making it faster and lighter on resources.

NGINX has a master process that handles important tasks like reading configuration files and creating child processes. There are three main types of child processes in the master process. Here are the three child processes:

  1. Cache loader:Loads cache from the disk into memory when NGINX starts.
  2. Cache manager:Keeps track of cached data and removes older, less-used items to save space.
  3. Worker processes:It can handle many connections at once, reading, writing, and communicating with upstream servers. These processes are efficient and help NGINX manage high traffic smoothly.

Because of its event-driven design, NGINX can manage thousands of requests with minimal resources, making it a great choice for high-traffic sites like e-commerce platforms or cloud services.

In conclusion, NGINX is better for high-traffic websites due to its efficient resource use, while Apache offers more flexibility for smaller or dynamic websites.

2. Performance

Here, we will compare how Apache and NGINX handle static and dynamic content.

Static Content

Static content refers to files like HTML, images, or JavaScript that don’t change based on user interaction. These files remain the same for everyone and are usually stored on a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

  • Apache:When serving static content, Apache uses its file-based approach, and the performance largely depends on which Multi-Processing Module (MPM) is in use.
  • NGINX:NGINX is typically faster at serving static content because it can cache static files, making them instantly available for future requests without needing to reload them from the server.

Dynamic Content

Dynamic content changes depending on user actions or preferences, such as personalized web pages or search results.

  • Apache:Apache has an advantage when it comes to handling dynamic content. It can process dynamic files internally by integrating the necessary language processor (like PHP) directly into each worker instance. This is done through Apache’s loadable modules, making dynamic content delivery seamless.
  • NGINX:Unlike Apache, NGINX doesn’t handle dynamic content natively. Instead, it forwards dynamic requests to an external processor, such as PHP-FastCGI Process Manager (PHP-FPM). The external processor generates the dynamic content and sends it back to NGINX, which then delivers it to the user. While this adds an extra step, NGINX still manages dynamic content efficiently with the help of external services.

In summary, NGINX excels in serving static content quickly through caching, while Apache handles dynamic content more smoothly with its built-in processors.

So:

  • NGINX performs better with static content. It’s faster and uses fewer resources when serving static files like images or HTML pages.
  • Apache performs better with dynamic content, but it needs external support to handle this.

3. Security

Choosing a secure web server is vital to protect your website’s data and stay updated with the latest security patches. Here’s a comparison of the security features of Apache and NGINX.

Apache

Apache provides several configuration options to guard against Denial-of-Service (DoS) or other attacks. Here are the security configurations offered with Apache:

  1. TimeOut:Limits how long Apache will wait for a request before it times out, useful for preventing DoS attacks.
  2. RequestReadTimeout:Closes connections from slow clients, reducing the chance of malicious requests overloading the server.
  3. KeepAliveTimeout:Specifies how long Apache will keep a connection open for new requests, minimizing the server’s exposure to attacks.

NGINX

NGINX provides built-in security controls, including:

  1. Rate-limiting:Helps prevent Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks by capping the rate of incoming requests to a manageable level, protecting both the server and upstream applications.
  2. IP-based access controls:Lets you “allow or block” traffic based on IP addresses, improving server security.
  3. TLS Support: NGINX supports the latest versions of Transport Layer Security (TLS), ensuring secure data encryption.

In conclusion, both Apache and NGINX offer robust security measures, but proper configuration is key to fully leveraging their potential.

4. Directory-Level Configuration

If you need to give other users control over specific parts of your website, it’s important to choose a web server that allows directory-level configuration. Here’s how Apache and NGINX handle directory-level configuration:

Apache

Apache allows for directory-level configuration using `.htaccess` files. This feature is useful for shared hosting environments where non-privileged users can manage certain aspects of a website without changing the main configuration files.

For the unversed, ‘.htaccess’ files are easy to use and allow immediate changes without needing to restart the server. Many hosting providers use this to give users control over specific directories.

NGINX

NGINX does not support directory-level configuration like Apache. So, only users with root access can modify configuration settings, which limits flexibility but enhances security by restricting who can alter server settings. However, this lack of `.htaccess` files boosts performance since NGINX doesn’t need to search for extra files when processing requests. As a result, it’s faster and more efficient.

In summary, Apache provides more flexibility for directory-level control, while NGINX prioritizes performance and security by limiting configuration to root-level access.

5. Support

When choosing a web server, having strong user support is crucial for resolving any software-related issues. Here’s the kind of support you can expect from Apache and NGINX:

 Apache

  1. Documentation:Apache offers comprehensive guides on a wide range of topics, making it easier to find solutions.
  2. Community Support:Users can get help through email lists, Stack Overflow, and the #httpd channel on Freenode IRC.
  3. Third-Party Support:While Apache doesn’t have direct customer support, there are numerous third-party companies and hosting providers offering assistance, often included in hosting plans.

NGINX

  1. Community Forums:NGINX has a community-operated mailing list and support forum where users can ask questions and share solutions.
  2. Learning Resources:There are plenty of tutorials, blogs, eBooks, and webinars to help users better understand NGINX.
  3. Premium Support: Unlike Apache, NGINX offers paid, direct support from its team through the premium version (NGINX Plus), which covers server installation and troubleshooting.

In summary, Apache provides vast community-driven support with many free resources and third-party options, while NGINX offers a blend of community assistance and dedicated support for premium users.

ALSO READ: What is a Bare Metal Server? A Comprehensive Guide

NGINX vs. Apache: Final Thoughts

When deciding between Apache and NGINX, it’s essential to consider what type of website you’re running. Apache is excellent for handling dynamic content and is highly flexible, especially in shared hosting environments. On the other hand, NGINX is ideal for static content and high-traffic sites due to its efficient use of resources.

Meanwhile, for large projects, you can use both servers together to bring the best of both worlds. NGINX can handle static content, while Apache manages dynamic requests. Together, they provide a robust solution for growing websites.