Nginx

, W3Tech's web server count of all web sites ranked Nginx first with 33.8%. Apache was second at 26.4% and Cloudflare Server third at 23.4%. == Features ==

Nginx may be configured to serve static web content or to act as a proxy server. • Load balancing with in-band health checks • Name- and IP address-based virtual servers • IPv6-compatible • WebSockets since 1.3.13, including acting as a reverse proxy and load balancing of WebSocket applications • HTTP/1.1 Upgrade (101 Switching Protocols) • URL rewriting and redirection Mail proxy features • TLS/SSL support • STARTTLS support • SMTP, POP3, and IMAP proxy • Requires authentication using an external HTTP server or by an authentication script Other features include upgrading executable and configuration without client connections loss, and a module-based architecture with both core and third-party module support. The paid Plus product includes additional features such as advanced load balancing and access to an expanded suite of metrics for performance monitoring. == Nginx in comparison to Apache ==

Nginx was written with an explicit goal being faster than the Apache web server. This former performance boost came at a cost of decreased flexibility, such as the ability to override system-wide access settings on a per-file basis (Apache accomplishes this with an .htaccess file, while Nginx has no such feature built in). Formerly, adding third-party modules to Nginx required recompiling the application from source with the modules statically linked. This was partially overcome in version 1.9.11 in February 2016, with the addition of dynamic module loading. However, the modules still must be compiled at the same time as Nginx, and not all modules are compatible with this system; some require the older static linking process. == Nginx Unit ==

Nginx Unit is an open-source web application server, released in 2017 by NGINX, Inc. to target multi-language microservices-based applications. The initial release supported applications written in Go, PHP, and Python. By version 1.11.0, the support was extended to Java, Node.js, Perl, and Ruby applications; other features include dynamic configuration, request routing, and load balancing. Nginx Unit was archived by its maintainers in October of 2025 and is no longer receiving any updates. == History ==

2000s Igor Sysoev began development of Nginx in 2002. to provide commercial products and support for the software. In October 2017, Nginx, Inc. announced general available Nginx Amplify SaaS providing monitoring and analytics capabilities for Nginx. On 11 March 2019, F5 acquired Nginx, Inc. for US$670 million. On 12 December 2019, it was reported that the Moscow offices of Nginx Inc. had been raided by police, and that Sysoev and Konovalov had been detained. The raid was conducted under a search warrant connected to a copyright claim over Nginx by Rambler—which asserts that it owns all rights to the code because it was written while Sysoev was an employee of the company. On 16 December 2019, Russian state lender Sberbank, which owns 46.5 percent of Rambler, called an extraordinary meeting of Rambler's board of directors asking Rambler's management team to request Russian law enforcement agencies cease pursuit of the criminal case, and begin talks with Nginx and with F5. 2020s On 18 January 2022, F5 announced that Igor Sysoev was leaving Nginx and F5. In late 2022, Angie, an open source fork of Nginx, was released by some of the former Nginx developers. Igor Sysoev is not actively involved in this project. In February 2024, Maxim Dounin, one of Nginx's core developers, created a Nginx fork called freenginx. In the open letter announcing the creation, Maxim Dounin criticised F5's interference with Nginx's development. == See also ==