What are the best web servers?

Question

DevelopmentServersWeb Development

What are the best web servers?

14

Options
Considered

292

User
Recs.

Dec 3, 2023

Last
Updated

14 Options Considered

Best web servers	Price	Platforms	License
75 Nginx	Free / paid	Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD	-
-- Caddy	Free	Windows, Linux, Mac, Docker etc.	Apache 2.0
-- Lighttpd	Free	-	-
49 Apache	-	-	-
-- Apache Tomcat	-	-	-

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score 100 · Answer 1

Nginx

Top Pro

Free and open source

DependablePoena's Experience

I don't have very much experience But I Think Its the best from my researches See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD

Top Pro

Fast and built for scalability

Nginx is event-driven, asynchronous, non-blocking and single threaded (one master process + worker processes). This allows nginx to be manage resources more efficiently compared to thread-based models (like Apache). See More

Top Pro

Lightweight

Nginx offers a more basic set of functions out of the box compared most web servers. Extra functionality can be added via modules. See More

Top Pro

Highly efficient memory use

Top Pro

Highly efficient CPU use

Top Pro

Advanced load balancing and caching

Top Pro

Event Based Request Handling

Does not fork/thread per request. See More

Top Pro

Easily configurable

Configuration files are concise and simple. See More

See All

score 20 · Answer 2

Caddy

Top Pro

Automatic HTTPS

KnowledgeableHeka's Experience

I liked it, but some things are different than on other web servers See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, Docker etc.

License:Apache 2.0

Top Pro

A lot of plugins

RickZeeland's Experience

Now free and open source again after a paid intermezzo. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Top Pro

Multiplatform

Top Pro

Easy to use

See All

score 19 · Answer 3

Lighttpd

Top Pro

Simple setup for static content

RespectfulLoviatar's Experience

Quiet easy to setup and configure See More

Top Pro

Fast and built for scalability

Lighttpd is event-driven, asynchronous, non-blocking and single threaded. This allows lighttpd to be manage resources more efficiently compared to thread-based models (like Apache). See More

ImpartialPyroeis's Experience

great stability and fast See More

Top Pro

Highly efficient memory use

With a small memory footprint compared to other web-servers, effective management of the cpu-load. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Pro

Lightweight

Lighttpd offers a more basic set of functions out of the box compared most web servers. Extra functionality can be added via modules. See More

Top Pro

Quite easy to setup and configure

See All

score 29 · Answer 4

Apache

Top Pro

Free and open source

Top Con

Arcane configuration format

Configuration is as good as the manuals go. As soon as you have to configure it by yourself, it becomes a lot more difficult due to a rather obtuse system of configuration with long and confusing variable names, which has become infamous among web developers. See More

Top Pro

Powerful

Apache has a lot of features and functionality. See More

Top Con

Process Based Request Handling

Each request opens a new process/fork to handle just that request (ver memory inefficient) See More

Top Pro

Excellent OS support

Top Con

Extremely inneficient

Opens a new thread for each request. In practice this means that unless you use a proxy (nginx) you can only have a certain number of people on your site at a time, and is extremely inefficient on the server side. See More

Top Pro

Easy solutions for complex configurations

Due to it's maturity, Apache has a lot of features to cover a wide range of situations. See More

Top Pro

Great documentation

Apache has thorough documentation. See More

See All

score 10 · Answer 5

Apache Tomcat

Top Pro

Free use

Erich Gehrsitz's Experience

Deployment of the Application Apache Tomcat over 20 years. See More

Top Pro

Very stable

See All

score 6 · Answer 6

Traefik

Top Pro

Auto-discovery

You just add labels to your Docker, Swarm or K8s containers and they get proxied automagically, If you set up everything correctly. See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux

License:MIT

score 22 · Answer 7

LiteSpeed Web Server

Top Pro

Can handle thousands of concurrent clients with minimal memory and CPU usage

Top Con

Free version is limited

There is a RAM limit and a domain limit See More

IndependentSraosha's Experience

Its been 3 years I am using LiteSpeed and I haven't find any other alternative. I have used NGINX as well but when it comes to multiple customers on the same server they are great. See More

Top Pro

Great support

From my personal experience, the support is great. See More

10Meisterbälle's Experience

Great support! See More

Top Pro

Fastest Cache System for Wordpress - Litespeed Cache

Litespeed Cache for WordPress is faster than any other cache mechanism available for WordPress, coupled with additional Optimization options provided for free by Litespeed with quic.cloud allows you to keep your WordPress websites fastest. See More

ImaginativeAdroa's Experience

My WordPress websites run the fastest possible with Litespeed, Thank youuuuu! See More

Top Pro

Native Fast Cache Plugins for all major CMS'es

Litespeed has great cache plugins for Prestashop, Magento, Cscart and because of its caching implementation, it is the fastest way to speed up your CMS'es. See More

HarmoniousMihr's Experience

Litespeed is by far the best Webserver hands-down. When it comes to Web-Serving, nothing even comes close. See More

Top Pro

HTTP/3 Support with Maximum Browsers

Litespeed's HTTP/3 Implementation supports most vast range of browsers. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 8

OpenLiteSpeed

Top Pro

GUI

OpenLiteSpeed has a GUI for easier setup. See More

Top Con

Multiple steps

Some things require multiple steps, like creating a listener and a virtual host or a reverse proxy. See More

10Meisterbälle's Experience

It was a bit annoying to set up See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, Docker

Top Pro

Open Source

OpenLiteSpeed is the open source version of the LiteSpeed web server. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 9

Abyss Web Server

Top Pro

Simple but powerful

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux

score 8 · Answer 10

H2O

Top Pro

Fast

C implementation, server is optimised for speed. Claims to be significantly faster than Nginx according to some benchmarks (details on GitHub homepage). See More

Top Pro

HTTP/2 ready

Written ground-up to support HTTP/2 as well as 1.0 and 1.1 See More

score 6 · Answer 11

Witch Server

Top Pro

Nice desktop app

score 3 · Answer 12

Cherokee

Top Pro

User friendly

Top Pro

Administration GUI

score 11 · Answer 13

IIS

Top Pro

PHP spport

PHP applications can be run using IIS. Simple to install and configure. See More

Top Con

1 website limit per server (also pre-7.0 client os limit)

SuperKamekArea's Experience

I use a windows 10 desktop pc and windows 7 laptop, and WOW is it fast, its barely any slower than XAMPP's php 5 implementation of Apache See More

Specs

Dev platforms:Windows

Top Pro

.NET and ASPX script support

Top Con

10 simultaneous connection limit on versions before 7.0 on client operating systems

Top Pro

Supported by Microsoft

Top Con

Only runs on Windows

This Microsoft-proprietary web server software, can only run in the Windows operating systems for full support of it and all of its features. It is not capable of being run in a non-Windows environment without sacrificing some functionality and of course the support. See More

Top Pro

Authentication (Anonymous, Basic, Digest, Integrated Windows Auth, UNC, .NET Passport (<6), Certificate)

Top Con

Proprietary

Top Pro

IPv6 support (IIS 6+)

Top Pro

Multiple websites can be run on 1 server

Top Pro

HTTP/2, HTTP/2, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NNTP support

Top Pro

Runs on literal NT 3.51

So you can boot up that ancient work computer and get IIS (Free addon at the time) for that computer See More

Top Pro

Very fast

If you want a quick web server, use this, because i mean like, on my laptop, the first request is 1 or 2 seconds, after that, it becomes a split second! See More

Top Pro

In-depth diagnostic tools

See All

14 Options Considered

My Recommendation for Nginx

My Recommendation for Nginx

Free and open source

Fast and built for scalability

Lightweight

Highly efficient memory use

Highly efficient CPU use

Advanced load balancing and caching

Event Based Request Handling

Easily configurable

My Recommendation for Caddy

My Recommendation for Caddy

Automatic HTTPS

A lot of plugins

Open source

Multiplatform

Easy to use

My Recommendation for Lighttpd

My Recommendation for Lighttpd

Simple setup for static content

Fast and built for scalability

Highly efficient memory use

Free and open source

Lightweight

Quite easy to setup and configure

My Recommendation for Apache

My Recommendation for Apache

Free and open source

Arcane configuration format

Powerful

Process Based Request Handling

Excellent OS support

Extremely inneficient

Easy solutions for complex configurations

Great documentation

My Recommendation for Apache Tomcat

My Recommendation for Apache Tomcat

Free use

Very stable

My Recommendation for Traefik

My Recommendation for Traefik

Auto-discovery

My Recommendation for LiteSpeed Web Server

My Recommendation for LiteSpeed Web Server

Can handle thousands of concurrent clients with minimal memory and CPU usage

Free version is limited

Great support

Fastest Cache System for Wordpress - Litespeed Cache

Native Fast Cache Plugins for all major CMS'es

HTTP/3 Support with Maximum Browsers

My Recommendation for OpenLiteSpeed

My Recommendation for OpenLiteSpeed

GUI

Multiple steps

Open Source

My Recommendation for Abyss Web Server

My Recommendation for Abyss Web Server

Simple but powerful

My Recommendation for H2O

My Recommendation for H2O

Fast

HTTP/2 ready

My Recommendation for Witch Server

My Recommendation for Witch Server

Nice desktop app

My Recommendation for Cherokee

My Recommendation for Cherokee

User friendly

Administration GUI

My Recommendation for IIS

My Recommendation for IIS

PHP spport

1 website limit per server (also pre-7.0 client os limit)

.NET and ASPX script support

10 simultaneous connection limit on versions before 7.0 on client operating systems

Supported by Microsoft

Only runs on Windows

Authentication (Anonymous, Basic, Digest, Integrated Windows Auth, UNC, .NET Passport (<6), Certificate)

Proprietary