Comparison of web server software

Short description: None

Web server software allows computers to act as web servers. The first web servers supported only static files, such as HTML (and images), but now they commonly allow embedding of server side applications.

Some web application frameworks include simple HTTP servers. For example the Django framework provides `runserver`, and PHP has a built-in server. These are generally intended only for use during initial development. A production server will require a more robust HTTP front-end such as one of the servers listed here.

## Contents

* 1 Overview
* 2 Features
* 3 Operating system support
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Overview

Server  | Developed by  | Software license | Last stable version  | Latest release date

|
|
|
|

AOLserver | NaviSoft  | Mozilla | 4.5.2  | 2012-09-19 (discontinued)
Apache HTTP Server | Apache Software Foundation  | Apache | 2.4.65  | 2025-07-23
Apache Tomcat | Apache Software Foundation | Apache | 11.0.14  | 2025-11-05
Boa | Jon Nelson and Larry Doolittle  | GNU GPL  | 0.94.13  | 2002-07-30 (discontinued)
BusyBox httpd | Glenn Engel, Vladimir Oleynik, BusyBox Team  | GNU GPL  | 1.36.1  | 2023-05-18
Caddy | Matt Holt  | Apache |  | 2026-07-07
Caudium | The Caudium Group  | GNU GPL  | 1.4.18  | 2012-02-24
CERN httpd | CERN, W3C, Tim Berners-Lee, Ari Luotonen and Henrik Frystyk Nielsen | MIT Copyright Statement with acknowledgement to CERN  | 3.0A  | 1996-07-15

(discontinued)

Cherokee HTTP Server  | Álvaro López Ortega  | GNU GPL  | 1.2.103  | 2013-04-21
GlassFish | Sun Microsystems, Oracle Corporation, since 2019 Eclipse Foundation | Eclipse Public License & GNU General Public License | 6.2.5  | 2022-02-13
Hiawatha | Hugo Leisink  | GNU GPLv2  |  | 2026-07-07
HFS | Rejetto  | GNU GPL  | 2.3m  | 2018-08-16
IBM HTTP Server | IBM | Non-free proprietary | 9.0.5.17  | 2023-09-19
Internet Information Services | Microsoft | Non-free proprietary  | 10.0.17763.1  | 2018-10-02
Jetty | Eclipse Foundation | Apache | 12.0.2  | 2023-10-10
Jexus  | Bing Liu  | Non-free proprietary  | 6.2.x  | 2020
lighttpd | Jan Kneschke (Incremental)  | BSD variant  |  | 2026-07-07
LiteSpeed Web Server | LiteSpeed Technologies  | GNU GPLv3 / proprietary license  | 6.1.2  | 2023-05-24
Mongoose | Cesanta Software  | GNU GPLv2 / proprietary license  | 7.20  | 2025-11-19
Monkey HTTP Server | Monkey Software  | Apache | 1.6.9  | 2016-06-04
NaviServer | Various  | Mozilla 1.1  | 4.99.25  | 2023-05-01
NCSA HTTPd | Robert McCool  | Non-free proprietary  | 1.5.2a  | 1996-10-08 (discontinued)
Nginx | NGINX, Inc.  | BSD variant  |  | 2026-07-07
OpenBSD httpd  | Reyk Floeter  | ISC | 7.4  | 2023-10-16
OpenLink Virtuoso | OpenLink Software  | GNU GPL and proprietary versions  | 8.3.3329  | 2023-09-01
Oracle HTTP Server | Oracle Corporation | Non-free proprietary  | 12cR2 (12.2.1.4)[1] | 2021-02-??[2]
Oracle iPlanet Web Server | Oracle Corporation | BSD | 7.0.27  | 2017-10-01
Oracle WebLogic Server | Oracle Corporation
(formerly BEA Systems)  | Non-free proprietary  | 14c (14.1.1.0) [1] | 2020-03-30
Resin Open Source  | Caucho Technology  | GNU GPLv3 / proprietary license  | 4.0.66  | 2021-12-08
Resin Professional  | Caucho Technology  | Non-free proprietary  | 4.0.66  | 2021-12-08
Tengine  | Taobao (Alibaba Group)  | BSD | 3.1.0  | 2023-10-27
thttpd | Jef Poskanzer for ACME Laboratories  | BSD variant  | 2.29  | 2018-05-24
TUX web server | Ingo Molnár  | GNU GPL  | 3.2.6.18  | 2006-09-20 (discontinued)
WEBrick | Ruby Community  | BSD 2-clause  | 1.8.1  | 2023-01-27
Xitami | iMatix Corporation  | BSD | 5.0a0  | 2009-02-19 (discontinued)
Yaws | Claes Wikström  | BSD 3 clause  | 2.1.1  | 2022-02-02
Zeus Web Server | Zeus Technology  | Non-free proprietary  | 4.3r5  | 2010-01-13 (discontinued)
Zope | Zope Corporation  | Zope | 2.13.30  | 2020-02-14
Server  | Developed by  | Software license  | Last stable version  | Latest release date

## Features

Some features may be intentionally not included to web server to avoid featuritis. For example:

* TLS/HTTPS may be enabled with a separate stunnel daemon that terminates TLS and redirects raw HTTP packets to http daemon.
* NGINX and OpenBSD httpd authors decided not to include CGI interpretation but instead use FastCGI. For OpenBSD was developed a slowcgi gateway.
* BusyBox httpd doesn't have automatically generated directory listing but it may be implemented as a CGI script

Server  | Security  | Virtual
hosting | Dynamic content[lower-alpha 1] | Runs in user
or kernel space  | Administration console  | Additional protocol support

|
|
|
|
|
|

Basic access
authenti-
cation | Digest access
authenti-
cation | SSL/TLS
https  | CGI | FCGI | SCGI | WSGI | Java
Servlets  | SSI | ISAPI | SSJS | IPv6  | HTTP/2  | QUIC | HTTP/3
AOLserver | Yes  | No  | Yes[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4][3] | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | user  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Apache HTTP Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 3][4][lower-alpha 6][5] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 5] | No[lower-alpha 7] | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 8] | Unknown  | user  | Yes[lower-alpha 9] | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
Apache Tomcat | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 10][6] | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No[lower-alpha 11] | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 12] | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown
Boa | No  | No  | Yes[lower-alpha 13] | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | user  | Unknown  | Yes  | No  | No  | No
BusyBox httpd | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No[lower-alpha 14] | No  | No  | user  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No
Caddy | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Partial[lower-alpha 15] | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No[lower-alpha 16] | No  | No  | user  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 17]
Caucho Resin Server  | Yes  | Yes  | paid version[lower-alpha 3] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Caudium | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 18] | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Cherokee HTTP Server  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes[8] | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
HFS | Yes  | No  | No[9] | No  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown  | user  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Hiawatha HTTP Server  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 19][10] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | No[11] | No[11] | No[11]
IBM HTTP Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Internet Information Services | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No[lower-alpha 20] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | kernel and user[12] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown
Jetty | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Yes  | user  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown
Jexus  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | user  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
lighttpd | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[lower-alpha 3][13] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No[lower-alpha 7] | Yes  | No  | No  | user  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
LiteSpeed Web Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No[lower-alpha 7] | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes[14]
Mongoose | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Monkey HTTP Server | Yes  | No  | Yes[lower-alpha 19] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | user  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
NaviServer | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
NCSA HTTPd | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Partial[lower-alpha 21] | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | user  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
nginx | Yes  | Yes (module)  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No[15] | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | No  | Yes[16] | Yes[17] | Yes  | Yes
OpenBSD httpd  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | user  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No
OpenLink Virtuoso | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | user  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
Oracle HTTP Server[18] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Yes[lower-alpha 22] | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Oracle iPlanet Web Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | user  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
thttpd | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Unknown  | user  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
TUX web server | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Unknown  | kernel  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Xitami | Yes  | Unknown  | paid version  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | user  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Yaws | Yes  | Unknown  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | user  | Unknown  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Zeus Web Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No[lower-alpha 7] | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | user  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown

1. ↑ The "dynamic content" columns indicate whether the server itself implements the given feature. Other features may be available by delegation (e.g. Apache HTTP Server can delegate to Apache Tomcat for Servlet support).
2. ↑ support for using RSA BSAFE
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 support for using openSSL
4. ↑ support for using Network Security Services
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 via modules
6. ↑ support for using GnuTLS
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 This server implements AJP; compatible third-party Servlet containers can be integrated to provide seamless Servlet support.
8. ↑ This server can use the mod_isapi module for this support.
9. ↑ via Geronimo
10. ↑ support for using Java Secure Socket Extension
11. ↑ While Tomcat does not implement ISAPI directly, it integrates well with Apache mod_jk which contains an ISAPI module for this purpose.
12. ↑ Requires a JVM and OS that support IPv6.
13. ↑ with external patch
14. ↑ Implemented as CGI script httpd_ssi
15. ↑ CGI implemented for WebSocket connections
16. ↑ Same capabilities as SSI available with templates
17. ↑ The experimental_http3 option "enables experimental draft HTTP/3 support...This option will go away in the future".[7]
18. ↑ Version 1.4.8 of Caudium mentions IPv6 support but this is not explicitly specified on the official website. Maintainers have been sent a Documentation Update Query; please remove this warning notice when they update their website
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 support for using PolarSSL
20. ↑ Servlet Engines are supported via isapi_redirect.
21. ↑ Due to lack of support for HTTP/1.1, name based virtual hosts are not fully implemented.
22. ↑ via Enterprise Manager

## Operating system support

Server  | Windows  | Linux  | macOS  | BSD  | Solaris  | eComStation  | OpenVMS  | AIX  | IBM i  | z/OS  | HP-UX

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

AOLserver | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
Apache HTTP Server | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Apache Tomcat | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Boa | Unknown  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
BusyBox httpd | No[19] | Yes  | Unknown  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Caddy | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Unknown
Caucho Resin Server  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Caudium[20] | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
Cherokee HTTP Server  | No[21] | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
HFS | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Hiawatha | with Cygwin[22] | Yes[22] | Yes[22] | Yes[22] | Yes[22] | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
IBM HTTP Server | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Internet Information Services | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Jetty (Java) | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Yes  | Unknown
Jexus  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Unknown  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
lighttpd | Yes
(Cygwin)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes
LiteSpeed Web Server | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
Mongoose | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes
Monkey HTTP Server | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
NaviServer | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Unknown  | Unknown  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
NCSA HTTPd | Unknown  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Yes
nginx | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes
OpenLink Virtuoso | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes
Oracle HTTP Server | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
Oracle iPlanet Web Server | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes
thttpd | Yes
(Cygwin)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Unknown  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown
TUX web server | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Xitami | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Yes
Yaws | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Unknown  | Unknown

## See also

* Comparison of application servers
* Embedded HTTP server
* Gunicorn (HTTP server)
* Helicon Ape

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Oracle Web Tier Downloads". Oracle. https://www.oracle.com/middleware/technologies/webtier-downloads.html#server3.
2. ↑ "Release Notes for Oracle HTTP Server" (in en-us). https://docs.oracle.com/en/middleware/fusion-middleware/web-tier/12.2.1.4/releasenotes-ohs/index.html.
3. ↑ "Nsssl - AOLserver Wiki". https://panoptic.com/wiki/aolserver/Nsssl.
4. ↑ "Apache Module mod_ssl". https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_ssl.html.
5. ↑ "mod_gnutls". https://mod.gnutls.org/.
6. ↑ "Apache Tomcat 6.0 - SSL Configuration HOW-TO". https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/ssl-howto.html.
7. ↑ "Global options". https://caddyserver.com/docs/caddyfile/options/.
8. ↑ "Cherokee Web Server | Man pages cherokee-admin | Cherokee Documentation". https://cherokee-project.com/doc/other_bundle_cherokee-admin.html.
9. ↑ "HFS: Secure your server - rejetto wiki". https://www.rejetto.com/wiki/index.php?title=HFS:_Secure_your_server.
10. ↑ Leisink, Hugo. "Features - Hiawatha webserver". https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/features.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Scaling down the project". https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/weblog/132.
12. ↑ "States that the HTTP protocol stack http.sys runs in kernel space, while the rest of the software runs in user space". Technet2.microsoft.com. http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/975bb1da-4bcf-4064-b0c7-723e45106bf51033.mspx?mfr=true.
13. ↑ "Secure HTTP". https://redmine.lighttpd.net/projects/lighttpd/wiki/Docs_SSL.
14. ↑ ""LiteSpeed Web Server v5.4 is Here!"". 24 July 2019. https://blog.litespeedtech.com/2019/07/24/litespeed-web-server-v5-4-is-here/.
15. ↑ "JavaServers". Wiki.nginx.org. https://wiki.nginx.org/JavaServers.
16. ↑ Ghosh, Soumik (2010-09-05). "Enable IPv6 support". Nginx Library. https://nginxlibrary.com/enable-ipv6-support/.
17. ↑ "nginx changelog". 2015-09-22. https://nginx.org/en/CHANGES.
18. ↑ "Feature Overview - 10g R2 (10.1.2)". Oracle.com. 2010-09-07. https://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/ohs/htdocs/ohs-10.1.2.0.2-fov_0.pdf.
19. ↑ "BusyBox on Windows". https://frippery.org/busybox/. "The Windows native build is currently broken."
20. ↑ "Webserver FAQs". Caudium. http://caudium.net/server/faqs.rxml.
21. ↑ John Poole. "Installation on Windows". http://cherokee-project.com/doc/basics_installation_windows.html. "The Windows native build is currently broken."
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Hugo Leisink. "About - Hiawatha webserver". https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/about.

## External links

* Netcraft Web Server Survey
* Usage Statistics and Market Share of Web Servers for Websites

* v
* t
* e

Web server software

Comparisons

Most popular|

* Apache
* Nginx
* IIS
* IIS Express
* LiteSpeed Web Server

Other|

* Cherokee
* Hiawatha
* iPlanet
* Lighttpd
* Mongoose
* Mongrel2
* Monkey
* POCO
* Traffic Server
* Jexus
* Yaws
* Caddy
* GlassFish
* Jetty
* JOnAS
* NetWeaver
* Resin
* thttpd
* Tomcat
* WebLogic
* WebSphere
* WildFly
* Caudium
* Roxen
* Gunicorn
* Paste
* Puma
* Tornado
* Twisted
* PyGopherd
* Zope
* WEBrick
* Passenger
* AOLserver
* NaviServer
* JEUS

Retired|

* Boa
* CERN httpd
* NCSA HTTPd
* Xitami
* Zeus
* Mongrel

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison of web server software. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:Comparison_of_web_server_software&oldid=4218246"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template