Apache and Nginx are the two most common open source web servers in the world. Together, they are responsible for serving over 50% of traffic on the internet. Both solutions are capable of handling diverse workloads and working with other software to provide a complete web stack.

While Apache and Nginx share many qualities, they should not be thought of as entirely interchangeable. Each excels in its own way and it is important to understand the situations where you may need to reevaluate your web server of choice.

Both web servers, in their latest versions, can compete with each other in most areas. For static content NGINX is king, but for dynamic content the performance difference is quite slim. NGINX does shine with some of its more advanced features (media streaming, reverse proxying for non-HTTP protocols), as well as its commercial support and training.

Shared hosting users might prefer the convenience of the Apache .htaccess file, and Apache better supports loading various dynamic modules, a feature that NGINX only recently added. NGINX is mainly used for VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, or cluster containers.

High-traffic website owners that need to serve a lot of static content and/or media streams will probably prefer NGINX (or use a combination of Apache and NGINX). In most other website use cases, either web server will do the job just fine. To get started with either web server, you’ll need a solid Linux hosting provider. Luckily, our team compared the best providers and can point you in the right direction for Linux hosting for shared or virtual servers.