# What Is Nginx? A Basic Look at What It Is and How It Works
URL:: https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/what-is-nginx/
Author:: kinsta.com
## Highlights
> Nginx, pronounced like “engine-ex”, is an open-source web server that, since its initial success as a web server, is now also used as a reverse proxy, HTTP cache, and load balancer.
> Nginx was originally created by Igor Sysoev, with its first public release in October 2004. Igor initially conceived the software as an answer to the C10k problem, which is a problem regarding the performance issue of handling 10,000 concurrent connections.
> Nginx is built to offer low memory usage and high concurrency. Rather than creating new processes for each web request, Nginx uses an asynchronous, event-driven approach where requests are handled in a single thread. With Nginx, one master process can control multiple worker processes. The master maintains the worker processes, while the workers do the actual processing. Because Nginx is asynchronous, each request can be executed by the worker concurrently without blocking other requests. Some common features seen in Nginx include: Reverse proxy with caching IPv6 Load balancing FastCGI support with caching WebSockets Handling of static files, index files, and auto-indexing TLS/SSL with SNI
> Apache is another popular open-source web server. In terms of raw numbers, Apache is the most popular web server in existence and is used by 43.6% (down from 47% in 2018) of all websites with a known web server, according to W3Techs. Nginx comes in a close second at 41.8%.
> While Apache is the most popular overall option, Nginx is actually the most popular web server among high-traffic websites. When you break down usage rates by traffic, Nginx powers: 60.9% of the 100,000 most popular sites (up from 56.1% in 2018) 67.1% of the 10,000 most popular sites (up from 63.2% in 2018) 62.1% of the 1,000 most popular sites (up from 57% in 2018)
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Title: What Is Nginx? A Basic Look at What It Is and How It Works
Author: kinsta.com
Tags: readwise, articles
date: 2024-01-30
---
# What Is Nginx? A Basic Look at What It Is and How It Works
URL:: https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/what-is-nginx/
Author:: kinsta.com
## AI-Generated Summary
None
## Highlights
> Nginx, pronounced like “engine-ex”, is an open-source web server that, since its initial success as a web server, is now also used as a reverse proxy, HTTP cache, and load balancer.
> Nginx was originally created by Igor Sysoev, with its first public release in October 2004. Igor initially conceived the software as an answer to the C10k problem, which is a problem regarding the performance issue of handling 10,000 concurrent connections.
> Nginx is built to offer low memory usage and high concurrency. Rather than creating new processes for each web request, Nginx uses an asynchronous, event-driven approach where requests are handled in a single thread. With Nginx, one master process can control multiple worker processes. The master maintains the worker processes, while the workers do the actual processing. Because Nginx is asynchronous, each request can be executed by the worker concurrently without blocking other requests. Some common features seen in Nginx include: Reverse proxy with caching IPv6 Load balancing FastCGI support with caching WebSockets Handling of static files, index files, and auto-indexing TLS/SSL with SNI
> Apache is another popular open-source web server. In terms of raw numbers, Apache is the most popular web server in existence and is used by 43.6% (down from 47% in 2018) of all websites with a known web server, according to W3Techs. Nginx comes in a close second at 41.8%.
> While Apache is the most popular overall option, Nginx is actually the most popular web server among high-traffic websites. When you break down usage rates by traffic, Nginx powers: 60.9% of the 100,000 most popular sites (up from 56.1% in 2018) 67.1% of the 10,000 most popular sites (up from 63.2% in 2018) 62.1% of the 1,000 most popular sites (up from 57% in 2018)