NGINX
High-performance web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer
31.5k stars 8.3k forks last commit first released BSD-2-Clause
Actively maintained
Last commit 29 Mar 2026.
NGINX is a high-performance HTTP web server that also acts as a reverse proxy, content cache, and load balancer. It is widely used to serve static content, terminate TLS, and front application services with efficient, event-driven networking.
Key Features
- HTTP web serving for static and index files, with virtual host support
- Reverse proxying with caching for upstream services (including FastCGI and other backends)
- Layer 7 and Layer 4 load balancing with health/fault-tolerance capabilities
- TLS/SSL support including SNI, and modern protocol support such as HTTP/2 and HTTP/3
- Rate limiting and connection limiting for basic traffic control
- Detailed access logging with buffering, rotation options, and syslog support
- Modular architecture supporting built-in and dynamically loadable modules
Use Cases
- Reverse proxy and TLS termination in front of web applications and APIs
- Load balancing traffic across multiple backend services for resilience and performance
- Serving static sites and cached assets to reduce application load
NGINX combines efficient resource usage with flexible configuration, making it a common foundation component for web infrastructure, edge proxying, and traffic management in small deployments through large-scale production environments.
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