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NGINX

by F5, Inc. · Application · also known as nginx, NGINX Open Source, NGINX Plus

Event-driven HTTP server, reverse proxy, load balancer and mail proxy, distributed as open source under the 2-clause BSD license with a commercial Plus edition

BSD-2-Clause licenseOpen sourceFreeEnterpriseSelf-hostedSelf-hostable
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Checked Nov 2, 2026

Overview

NGINX is a web server and reverse proxy originally written by Igor Sysoev and now developed by F5, Inc., which acquired NGINX, Inc. in 2019. The open-source edition is released under the 2-clause BSD license and ships as stable and mainline branches; NGINX Plus is a commercial build that adds features such as an API-driven configuration, active health checks and support.

Its asynchronous, event-driven architecture handles many concurrent connections with a small number of worker processes, which made it the default front door for high-traffic sites and the basis for many ingress controllers and API gateways. Typical roles include terminating TLS, serving static assets, proxying to application servers, caching upstream responses, load balancing across backends and acting as a mail proxy. Configuration is a declarative text file organized in server and location blocks, and third-party modules extend it with Lua scripting, Brotli compression and more.

Unlike Caddy or Traefik, NGINX does not obtain certificates itself; operators pair it with certbot or an ACME client and reload after renewal. Dynamic module loading exists, but many extensions still require rebuilding, and configuration errors surface only at reload time.

Editorial note on uncertainty. NGINX Plus is proprietary; no pricing page is recorded because F5 quotes it through sales.

Capabilities

  • HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 serving and reverse proxying
  • Load balancing with several balancing methods and passive health checks
  • Response caching and static file serving
  • TLS termination with SNI and OCSP stapling
  • TCP/UDP stream proxying and mail proxying (IMAP, POP3, SMTP)
  • Extensible with dynamic and compiled-in modules

Typical workflows

  1. Front an application server behind TLS and compression
  2. Load-balance requests across several backend nodes
  3. Serve a static site and cache API responses

Strengths

  • Decades of production use and extensive documentation
  • Permissive BSD license
  • Large body of third-party modules and tutorials

Limitations

  • No built-in ACME certificate automation
  • Many modules require rebuilding from source
  • Advanced features such as the configuration API are reserved for NGINX Plus

Prerequisites

  • Linux, BSD, macOS or Windows host
  • External ACME client for public certificates

Who it is for

  • System administrators
  • Web and platform engineers

Alternatives & comparison

Caddy automates HTTPS and favors a compact configuration, while Traefik discovers routes from container orchestrators. NGINX offers the most mature module set and fine-grained tuning but expects the operator to manage certificates and reloads. Cloudflare can take over the edge role entirely as a hosted service.

  • Caddy

    Go web server and reverse proxy that obtains and renews TLS certificates automatically and is configured with a short Caddyfile or a JSON API

    Open sourceOpen source
  • Cloudflare

    Global network offering authoritative DNS, CDN and reverse-proxy security, a domain registrar, Zero Trust access and the Workers serverless platform

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Traefik Proxy

    Cloud-native reverse proxy and ingress controller that discovers routes from Docker, Kubernetes and other providers and automates TLS through ACME

    MixedOpen source
Compare NGINX with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

  • License
    nginx LICENSE

    https://nginx.org/LICENSE

    Supports: license_spdx

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official documentation
    nginx documentation

    https://nginx.org/en/docs

    Supports: capabilities

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official site
    nginx news

    https://nginx.org/

    Supports: name, summary, vendor, source_model

    Site states nginx was written by Igor Sysoev, is distributed under the 2-clause BSD License, and that commercial support is available from F5, Inc.

    checked Nov 1, 2026
Confidence
High
Reviewed
Nov 1, 2026
Links
Broken · Nov 2, 2026

Spotted an error?

Broken link, outdated license, wrong category, or a tool that no longer exists? Tell us; reports are reviewed by the editor.

Let's Encrypt

Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) · DNS & domains

In-depth entry

Nonprofit certificate authority that issues free, automatically renewable TLS certificates through the ACME protocol

MPL-2.0FreeNov 2, 2026