Nginx is an open-source web server initially used as a web server but now also functions as a load balancer, HTTP cache, and reverse proxy. Many high-profile companies, including Microsoft, DuckDuckGo, Atlassian, Cisco, and Xerox, rely on Nginx. It is also used by industry giants such as Intel, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
Origins of Nginx
Nginx was first released in 2004 by Igor Sysoev to solve the C10k problem, which refers to performance issues when managing 10,000 concurrent connections. Designed to optimize performance on a large scale, Nginx consistently outperforms other web servers, especially when handling simultaneous requests or static content.
How Nginx Works
Nginx was built to ensure high concurrency while minimizing memory usage. Unlike traditional web servers, it doesn’t create new processes for each web request. Instead, it uses an asynchronous, event-driven approach, handling requests within a single thread.
A master process manages multiple worker processes, which handle the actual request processing. Since Nginx is asynchronous, worker processes can handle multiple requests simultaneously without blocking others. Its ability to handle load balancing and serve static files efficiently makes it comparable to Apache.
Nginx vs. Apache
While Apache is one of the most popular open-source web servers, powering nearly half of all known websites, Nginx is gaining traction. According to W3Techs, Nginx powers around 42% of websites, while Apache is slightly higher. A survey by Netcraft of over 230 million domains showed Nginx usage at 26% compared to Apache’s 31%.
However, when considering high-traffic sites, Nginx is the preferred choice:
- Over 62% of the top 1,000 sites
- Over 67% of the top 10,000 sites
- Nearly 61% of the top 100,000 sites
In contrast, Apache powers less than 17% of the top 1,000 sites and around 19% of the top 10,000 sites. Major sites like WordPress, NASA, and Netflix use Nginx due to its efficiency with resource-heavy traffic.
Nginx or Apache: Everything You Need to Know
To determine if your website runs on Apache or Nginx, you can check the HTTP server headers using Chrome Devtools or tools like GTmetrix and Pingdom. However, sites behind proxies (e.g., Cloudflare) may not reveal the underlying server.
When comparing Google search trends since 2004, Apache has seen a steady decline, while Nginx has experienced slight growth. Since 2018, Apache has also lost ground among popular sites.
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