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Apache Tomcat vs Unicorn vs nginx: What are the differences?
# Apache Tomcat vs Unicorn and Nginx: Key Differences
Apache Tomcat, Unicorn, and Nginx are popular web servers and application servers used in web development. Understanding their key differences can help developers choose the right tool for their projects.
1. **Architecture**: Apache Tomcat is a Java-based application server primarily used to host Java Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP), while Unicorn is a Ruby web server that supports Rack applications. Nginx, on the other hand, is a lightweight web server known for its high performance and scalability.
2. **Support for Languages**: Apache Tomcat is specialized for Java-based applications, while Unicorn is tailored for Ruby applications. Nginx, however, supports a wider range of programming languages and can be used as a reverse proxy server for various applications.
3. **Resource Usage**: Apache Tomcat tends to consume more system resources due to its Java-based architecture, while Unicorn and Nginx are known for their efficiency and low resource consumption. This makes Unicorn and Nginx ideal choices for high-traffic websites or applications.
4. **Load Balancing**: Nginx is well-known for its advanced load balancing capabilities, making it a preferred choice for distributing incoming traffic across multiple servers. Apache Tomcat and Unicorn also support load balancing, but Nginx offers more sophisticated features in this area.
5. **Configuration**: Apache Tomcat has a more complex configuration process compared to Unicorn and Nginx, which have simpler and more intuitive configuration settings. Nginx, in particular, has a reputation for its easy configuration syntax and flexibility in setting up server blocks.
6. **Community and Support**: Apache Tomcat has a large and active community support due to its popularity among Java developers. Unicorn and Nginx also have dedicated communities, but Apache Tomcat stands out for its extensive documentation and resources available online.
In Summary, Apache Tomcat, Unicorn, and Nginx differ in terms of architecture, language support, resource usage, load balancing capabilities, configuration complexity, and community support, making them suitable for different types of web development projects.
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Learn MorePros of NGINX
Pros of Apache Tomcat
Pros of Unicorn
Pros of NGINX
- High-performance http server1.4K
- Performance894
- Easy to configure730
- Open source607
- Load balancer530
- Free289
- Scalability288
- Web server226
- Simplicity175
- Easy setup136
- Content caching30
- Web Accelerator21
- Capability15
- Fast14
- High-latency12
- Predictability12
- Reverse Proxy8
- Supports http/27
- The best of them7
- Great Community5
- Lots of Modules5
- Enterprise version5
- High perfomance proxy server4
- Embedded Lua scripting3
- Streaming media delivery3
- Streaming media3
- Reversy Proxy3
- Blash2
- GRPC-Web2
- Lightweight2
- Fast and easy to set up2
- Slim2
- saltstack2
- Virtual hosting1
- Narrow focus. Easy to configure. Fast1
- Along with Redis Cache its the Most superior1
- Ingress controller1
Pros of Apache Tomcat
- Easy79
- Java72
- Popular49
- Spring web1
Pros of Unicorn
- Fast81
- Performance59
- Web server36
- Very light30
- Open Source30
- Rack http server27
- Load balancing18
- Great process management14
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Cons of NGINX
Cons of Apache Tomcat
Cons of Unicorn
Cons of NGINX
- Advanced features require subscription10
Cons of Apache Tomcat
- Blocking - each http request block a thread3
- Easy to set up2
Cons of Unicorn
- Not multithreaded4
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What is NGINX?
nginx [engine x] is an HTTP and reverse proxy server, as well as a mail proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft nginx served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.
What is Apache Tomcat?
Apache Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations.
What is Unicorn?
Unicorn is an HTTP server for Rack applications designed to only serve fast clients on low-latency, high-bandwidth connections and take advantage of features in Unix/Unix-like kernels. Slow clients should only be served by placing a reverse proxy capable of fully buffering both the the request and response in between Unicorn and slow clients.
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What tools integrate with NGINX?
What tools integrate with Apache Tomcat?
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What are some alternatives to NGINX, Apache Tomcat, and Unicorn?
HAProxy
HAProxy (High Availability Proxy) is a free, very fast and reliable solution offering high availability, load balancing, and proxying for TCP and HTTP-based applications.
lighttpd
lighttpd has a very low memory footprint compared to other webservers and takes care of cpu-load. Its advanced feature-set (FastCGI, CGI, Auth, Output-Compression, URL-Rewriting and many more) make lighttpd the perfect webserver-software for every server that suffers load problems.
Traefik
A modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy. Traefik integrates with your existing infrastructure components and configures itself automatically and dynamically.
Caddy
Caddy 2 is a powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS written in Go.
Envoy
Originally built at Lyft, Envoy is a high performance C++ distributed proxy designed for single services and applications, as well as a communication bus and “universal data plane” designed for large microservice “service mesh” architectures.