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Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Web Server
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Apache Web Server is 10.5%, up from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 8.9%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NGINX Plus8.9%
Apache Web Server10.5%
Other80.6%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Dimitrios Zigkos - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architect at Smals vzw
Faced limitations with integration and long-term adaptability but benefited from a lightweight architecture for standalone applications
I find valuable and beneficial the independence that comes with Apache Web Server. You can build a small project using a simple application server without bothering too much about how to manage it. The compatibility with multiple operating systems has helped my operations since most of the time we use Linux. Some systems rely on Windows, but they are few; in the past, Windows was the dominant operating system for mainstream PCs and infrastructure, but not for business. All the companies I worked for had 90% Linux and maybe up to 10% Windows. The initial setup of Apache Web Server was straightforward and okay.
Nadeem-Inamdar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced policies and web firewall have strengthened application protection and reduced attack traffic
There were some vulnerabilities in F5. They tried to fix it, but the fixes were not available at the time because they were zero days, so they attempted to fix it, but their support was not proper. Their support should be improved because sometimes features which we need for customization take time, and they are sometimes feasible and sometimes not feasible by the team, so their support and the engineering team should improve their product. I would like to see more features regarding customization which should be built into the application, and the tool optimization should be good, and the dashboard should be more crisp and clear.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is more secure to use Apache and you will have fewer problems than other web services."
"The control panel is very easy to navigate. It's similar to most hosting platforms, so it's user-friendly. Once you get used to it, managing your hosting becomes easy, too."
"The solution offers good security."
"The solution's most valuable feature is reporting."
"I find valuable and beneficial the independence that comes with Apache Web Server; you can build a small project using a simple application server without bothering too much about how to manage it."
"Most of the features I liked were related to the performance during peak hours."
"The product is very cheap and stable."
"Apache Web Server is free of cost."
"Supports IMAP, POP and SMTP protocols for the reverse proxy."
"It's lightweight software that can handle heavy loads efficiently."
"NGINX Plus' most valuable feature is the ingress controller."
"NGINX works much better than HAProxy in our current hardware and architecture for HTTP/HTTPS load balancing. ​​"
"Nginx is simple to configure, very stable in a highly utilized environment and very modular, allowing DevOps to create it's own modules for interactive use with Nginx."
"Using NGINX Plus for web traffic distribution is fantastic. It offers performance similar to physical load balancers but with added flexibility."
"Application Gateway with application-level firewall tool and load distributor and balancer (also serves for A/B testing)."
"It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX."
 

Cons

"There is a security-related problem that depends on the web server's configuration."
"It would be great if technical support for Apache were available in Iran. It is a very important need."
"Its stability could be better."
"Adding a reverse proxy to Apache Web Server would be a significant improvement."
"In future releases, I would like to see better server optimization."
"Lacks integration with some cloud solutions."
"By optimizing the infrastructure to allow the webserver to directly handle queries from memory—particularly by prioritizing the storage of queries in memory and processing them through the web server interface—I could potentially cut down the required instances from five hundred to two hundred."
"The product's initial setup process could be easier for users."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The solution must improve its performance."
"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."
"The drawback is that you must obtain a license for everything."
"I would like to see the Grafana integration in NGINX which is already present in HAProxy. Grafana integration will help the solution visualize all the data analytics on the dashboard which is currently not present."
"The scalability could be improved."
"I would like the configuration process to be more simplified."
"If NGINX brings some features for health check in the open source version, it would be better. ​"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no licensing cost for the product."
"It is an open-source solution."
"The apache software is free, open-source."
"It is a free-of-cost solution."
"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."
"It's an open source solution, so it's free."
"I use the solution's community edition which is free of cost."
"The cost is reasonable."
"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."
"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."
"HAProxy is cheaper than NGINX."
"The price is the cost to contract support with a specialized company, usually during consulting hours.​"
report
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Comparison Review

it_user240036 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Architect at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Apr 10, 2016
Apache vs. Nginx
Originally posted https://zitseng.com/archives/10435 Apache or Nginx. This is a question that many website administrators have considered. It’s a question that I’ve also considered several times, and again just the past week. Apache is the most popular web server on the Internet. Nginx, on the…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache Web Server?
The product's initial setup phase is straightforward.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Web Server?
There are no fees associated with the usage of Apache Web Server in my projects. If you want to have support, then there is some cost, but today I do not know how many companies pay for that servic...
What needs improvement with Apache Web Server?
I would like to see improvements in the functionality and core of Apache Web Server, focusing on building an infrastructure that can be resilient and robust enough to handle resource shortages, and...
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What do you like most about NGINX Plus?
It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.
 

Also Known As

Apache HTTP Server
NGINX
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cisco, Intuit, General Electric, Adobe, VMware, PayPal, HP, EMC, eBay, Apple, SAP, Qualcomm, SanDisk, Allstate, FedEx
Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Web Server vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.