Apache vs. LiteSpeed

Posted by Alex on 25 10 2017.

Apache is the most popular as well as the oldest free server. However, it has a competitor named LiteSpeed which has challenged its supremacy. Let us find which one is the better.

Apache

Apache web server was introduced into the market in 1995, by some meddlers, to develop websites. However, within no period of time, those website enthusiasts ended up becoming a true modern powerhouse and thus created a revolution. With the help of regular development and updates, the Apache server was successful in becoming one of the most stable and secured servers present in the current time. It can also be said that the Apache server is the most flexible and versatile server because of its ability to load in components. The most notable feature of Apache web server is that it is available completely free.

LiteSpeed

LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a lightweight web server developed by LiteSpeed Industries Inc. It is comparatively new to the market which was introduced in the year 2002. Within this short period of time, LiteSpeed has become fairly popular and is capable of handling thousands of concurrent connections despite having smaller memory.  The purpose of introducing this web server was to read Apache configuration file. However, according to the company, a single LiteSpeed is capable of handling data equivalent to two Apache servers. LSWS 5.0 is the first popular web server to support HTTP/2. An add-on with the 5.0 version is LiteMage Cache which is a full page caching solution to enhance the speed of Magneto stores. It is available in free version as well as paid version.

Apache vs Litespeed

The specialty of the LiteSpeed server is its ability to handle heavier traffic as compared to Apache. It is also designed to handle DDOS attacks with more efficiency. For instance, in one situation, an Apache server encountering DDOS threats was replaced by LiteSpeed server and the results were worth noting. On one side, the Apache server crashed due to the threats, while on the other side, LiteSpeed server was successful in tackling the threats and functioned smoothly and steadily.

Apache server is completely free while you have to bear costs from $14-$90 per month to enjoy all the features of LiteSpeed.

Winner

LiteSpeed server is the absolute winner. Here, are some of its advantages over Apache that make this possible.

• It is up to six times faster than Apache
• It is three times faster than Apache in SSL
• With its LiteMage cache, LiteSpeed makes Magneto pages to run up to 75 times faster
• It increases PHP performance by 50%

Now you must have a clarity about both the web servers.