Great lightweight web server.
February 15, 2019
Great lightweight web server.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Nginx
Nginx is the main competitor to Apache. It provides stable service. I have been using Nginx for the last four years and it has never gone down even once, which is critical for a web server. I also like the flexibility and compatibility Nginx has with other components in web development. I switched from LAMP to LEMP, which works great as an environment for WordPress and other PHP software. Overall, it is a great choice for a web server.
- Stability. It runs quietly and never goes down.
- Flexibility. It can run in all the Linux distro.
- Compatibility. It works with PHP and MYSQL well.
- It's free.
- Community. Compare to Apache, Nginx has much smaller community support. You do not have lots of resources you can use when you encounter a problem accept digging into it and trying to figure it out yourself.
- Lacks Large Scale Experience. Nginx is not the first choice for enterprise level architecture. Most large companies will use Apache instead of Nginx when it comes to large scale architecture. Here is where Nginx's lightweight advantage becomes their con.
- Lack of multiple modules compatibility. Because Nginx is a lightweight focused server, it cannot be used with some other modules. That also makes Nginx favorable for people with small websites.
- The first phase of implementing Nginx is nearly zero cost. It is easy to deploy and easy to maintain. But as your business grows, you will consider a more enterprise-size server to have better cluster/scaling ability. Therefore, you need to figure out the right point for switching from Nginx to others.
I selected Nginx because it is easy to learn, use, and maintain. I almost never have to troubleshoot it ever since I deploy it. It just meets my need for a personal learning experience. It works well with PHP and MySQL on Linux. That is why I chose it at first.