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NGINX Plus vs Squid Proxy Cache Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.5
NGINX Plus boosts website speed and reduces costs, offering superior flexibility and scalability, ensuring significant returns for organizations.
Sentiment score
3.3
Squid Proxy Cache Server offers mixed ROI perceptions with potential cost savings and efficiency, but lacks uniform financial benefits.
I have seen a return on investment with Squid Proxy Cache Server because money is definitely saved.
Owner For Data Center Operations Dns Cache at Proximus S.A.
With Squid Proxy Cache Server, you can save money because you don't need to pay for more bandwidth as you concentrate the web access in Squid Proxy Cache Server.
Cybersecurity Tenure Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Technically, if I think about the implementation cost, the cost of use, of adjustments, over time, and maintenance, it has certainly already paid for itself.
Analista de Segurança Senio at Optanet
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
NGINX Plus offers robust support with responsive engineers, though some lower-tier licenses experience delayed responses; documentation often suffices.
Sentiment score
3.9
Squid Proxy Cache Server requires minimal support due to strong community resources, documentation, and Linux-based user familiarity.
Response time is good because they have assigned and dedicated support engineers to us, and we have weekly cadence calls.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
It would be great to have support similar to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Security Infrastructure Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
We were managing it on our own, and it was totally open-source.
Microsoft System Administrator at National Bank of Pakistan
There is an open-source community available on the internet, or the manual pages themselves are very helpful.
Dev Ops Technical Lead at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
NGINX Plus is highly scalable and flexible, easily adapting to various enterprise needs and supporting multiple users and websites.
Sentiment score
5.4
Squid Proxy Cache Server provides robust scalability, efficiently managing traffic, configurable IP ranges, and easy deployment on Linux.
While some people use NGINX for web servers, my current use case focuses on networking and tunneling, which does not necessitate much scaling.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
Scalability-wise, it is stateless, so it could be scaled.
Senior Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Scalability of Squid Proxy Cache Server is extremely high.
Analista de Segurança Senio at Optanet
We can increase the number of end users without the limitations found in other proxies, simply by configuring Squid Proxy Cache Server to allow specific users and IP ranges.
Linux System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
NGINX Plus is highly stable and reliable, praised for connectivity and performance, despite some scalability challenges in clustering.
Sentiment score
8.0
Squid Proxy Cache Server is stable and reliable, with exceptional logging, though users occasionally face crashes and connection issues.
I require ninety-nine point nine percent uptime, and NGINX has been pivotal in helping me achieve this along with our other DNS services.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
Importantly, there has been no major outage in the 10 years I have used Squid Proxy Cache Server.
Linux System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It sometimes crashes, and it cannot handle too many connections.
Senior Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Squid Proxy Cache Server is stable; I have been using it for twenty years, and it has remained stable throughout that time.
Works at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

NGINX Plus users seek improved scalability, user-friendly interface, better integration, cost-effectiveness, advanced features, and enhanced support services.
Squid Proxy could enhance usability with a user interface, AI features, better security, and optimized caching for broader adoption.
NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
As with any application, there were initial issues, however, after receiving support, everything was rectified.
Executive Director at Geojit
There were some vulnerabilities in F5.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Control of information is needed so that sensitive actions are not cached, which would violate local security laws, such as in Brazil with LGPD, and in other places around the world as well.
Analista de Segurança Senio at Optanet
With the rise of cloud systems and OpenShift, enabling such features in Squid Proxy Cache Server would be very beneficial for customers, allowing for better management.
Linux System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
By default, Squid cannot see inside HTTPS traffic. It only sees the destination domain name, which poses a risk as users can bypass URL filters or download malware over encrypted connections.
System Auxiliary at Base Camp Data Solutions
 

Setup Cost

NGINX Plus has a modular licensing model with varying costs, offering value but can be expensive compared to alternatives.
Squid Proxy Cache Server is open-source, offering cost savings with support through Red Hat or community resources.
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
Senior Software Engineer at Checkit
The solution offers a cost advantage.
Executive Director at Geojit
The costs are low because it is open-source software.
Works at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I have seen a cost saving since implementing Squid Proxy Cache Server because then I don't have to really go for something such as a Blue Coat proxy.
Owner For Data Center Operations Dns Cache at Proximus S.A.
For our environment, we are using the free open source Squid Proxy Cache Server, so there is no licensing cost.
Security Infrastructure Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

NGINX Plus excels in load balancing, security, and integration, praised for simplicity, efficiency, and superior traffic management features.
Squid Proxy Cache Server is valued for its easy installation, open-source nature, compatibility, and comprehensive caching, security, and management features.
For API management, the WebSocket, and the WebServer, NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support.
Executive Director at Geojit
The web application firewall feature has helped enhance security for our applications because most of the attacks which are performed on our website are being blocked by it.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Squid Proxy Cache Server is very good in hiding your IP address and exposing the IP address list that it has, which is very good for the scraping use case.
Senior Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Squid Proxy Cache Server has positively impacted my organization because I can filter internet access, which protects my company from users accessing malicious sites.
Data Engineer at Ericsson
Squid Proxy Cache Server has had a considerable positive impact on my organization, since a large part of internet traffic needs to be filtered to remain within the company's policies, as well as to reduce the amount of necessary traffic.
Analista de Segurança Senio at Optanet
 

Categories and Ranking

NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
3rd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (10th)
Squid Proxy Cache Server
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of NGINX Plus is 8.0%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Squid Proxy Cache Server is 0.0%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NGINX Plus8.0%
Squid Proxy Cache Server0.0%
Other92.0%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Mayashankar Mishra - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner For Data Center Operations Dns Cache at Proximus S.A.
Caching and reverse proxy have boosted performance and improved secure web and mail access
I think Squid Proxy Cache Server can be improved by having a nice front-end, one similar to Blue Coat for access management, view management, and direct configuration instead of doing it all through the CLI. It's best to have everything done through the GUI, which is what I think can improve the product. I don't want to implement third-party GUIs on Squid Proxy Cache Server. So that's what would be on my wish list—that Squid Proxy Cache Server by itself provides a GUI, which will give more confidence to users. I haven't actually used AI with Squid Proxy Cache Server, but I think it might be very interesting to have the AI capability built-in. However, I do think we need some GPU or something to boost the performance on Squid Proxy Cache Server as natively running. I think we need to add some GPU cards so that it works more natively with AI. I don't have experience using AI features yet, but I think it would be great if it could do some live scanning of the websites that are getting blocked on a daily basis and perform some sampling analysis. Especially in the case of reverse proxy, if there are any attacks happening, it would be beneficial if it scrapes through its own log files and provides some nice dashboards showing where the attacks are coming from. That would be really great to have as a handy troubleshooting tool. One more feature I would ask for is if AI can provide the best possible configuration and do a review of Squid Proxy Cache Server just to make sure that no other ports or anything by default are missed in configuration. It would also be great if the proxy server acts as a load balancer in a cluster mode that shares the cache, and the configuration is best set.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
23%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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 needs improvement with NGINX Plus?
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....
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Squid Proxy Cache Server?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involves using an open-source Squid Proxy product, so the costs are low because it is open-source software.
What needs improvement with Squid Proxy Cache Server?
I believe that Squid Proxy Cache Server could see improvements with updates to incorporate the latest kernel. Nowadays, there are many competitors available, but I want to emphasize that Squid Prox...
What is your primary use case for Squid Proxy Cache Server?
My main use case for Squid Proxy Cache Server is that it's an open source application implementation, with a frontend being an Apache server and a backend using MySQL databases. Squid Proxy Cache S...
 

Also Known As

NGINX, F5 NGINX Plus
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about NGINX Plus vs. Squid Proxy Cache Server and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.