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What is Nginx? Nginx is a high-performance web server, reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache that first appeared over 20 years ago. Available both as an open source edition and a commercial product (NGINX Plus), Nginx runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It was designed to overcome the scalability and concurrency limits of legacy web servers (for example, the process-per-connection model used by older Apache configurations) and is widely used today for handling large numbers of simultaneous connections with low memory and CPU overhead.
A slide titled "Nginx – Introduction" showing a central blue server icon connected by dotted arrows to five orange user-avatar circles below, illustrating multiple clients connecting to a single server (load balancing/reverse proxy).
Key capabilities
  • Reverse proxy and load balancing for HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, and UDP.
  • Fast and efficient serving of static content (HTML, CSS, images, audio, video).
  • HTTP caching, connection multiplexing, and TLS termination.
  • Extensible via modules and third-party distributions like OpenResty for advanced scripting.
Serving static content One of Nginx’s core strengths is serving static files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, audio, and video) with minimal overhead. Its event-driven I/O model and efficient file handling let it deliver static assets with low latency and high throughput, which is why it’s commonly used as the frontend for web applications and CDNs.
A presentation slide titled "Serving Static Content With Nginx" with the subtitle "Effortless handling of various file types." A pink panel shows icons for HTML5, CSS3 and Node.js alongside labeled boxes for "Frontend Software" and "Videos."
Event-driven, asynchronous architecture Nginx uses a small number of worker processes combined with non-blocking I/O and an event loop to handle many connections concurrently. Unlike process-per-connection servers, this event-driven approach reduces memory and CPU costs and maintains responsiveness under heavy load. Real-world benchmarks frequently show Nginx serving more concurrent connections at lower latency than traditional process-based servers.
A slide titled "Limitations" showing a comparison between Apache and NGINX: the left side depicts Apache spawning separate processes for each user request, while the right side shows NGINX consolidating multiple requests into a single worker/process.
Distributions and where to get them There are two primary Nginx distributions:
If you plan to use the open source edition, visit nginx.org. If you need enterprise features, support, or licensing, consider NGINX Plus at nginx.com. The two projects are related but distinct.
Adoption and ecosystem Nginx has broad adoption across the web. It commonly appears in surveys and market analyses alongside related distributions such as OpenResty. Because it performs well as a web server, reverse proxy, load balancer, and API gateway—and because it’s extensible via modules—Nginx is a frequent choice for high-traffic sites and cloud infrastructure.
A presentation slide titled "NGINX Metrics" showing blue text panels summarizing a June 2024 web server survey and a Netcraft line chart and table of historical market share for web servers (nginx, Apache, Cloudflare, OpenResty, etc.).
Who uses Nginx? Many major companies and services—including GitHub, Cloudflare, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Netflix—use Nginx in production. Its combination of performance, stability, and extensibility (via modules and integrations such as OpenResty) makes it ideal for:
  • High-performance web hosting
  • Reverse proxying and TLS termination
  • HTTP caching and CDN front-ends
  • Load balancing for microservices and API backends
  • Edge scripting and request transformation with Lua/OpenResty
Next steps Next, the article covers the Nginx overview and architecture, including worker/process models, configuration layout, common directives, and practical examples for setting up Nginx as a web server, reverse proxy, or load balancer. Links and references

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