BenchRank
#34 in Hosting & ComputeUpdated 2026-08

nginx

by nginx · HTTP server, reverse proxy, content cache and load balancer

32.7 — BenchRank score out of 100

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Overview

nginx is an HTTP web server that also acts as a reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy and mail proxy. It was originally written by Igor Sysoev and is distributed under the 2-clause BSD License. Releases ship in parallel stable and mainline lines, and F5, Inc. sells enterprise distributions, commercial support and training separately.

Best for
Teams self-hosting a web server, reverse proxy, cache and load balancer under a BSD licence
Pricing
No prices are shown; nginx itself is distributed under the 2-clause BSD License, with enterprise distributions, commercial support and training available from F5, Inc. at unstated cost.

Strengths and trade-offs

Strengths

  • One server covers HTTP, reverse proxy, cache and load balancing
  • Also handles TCP/UDP proxying and mail proxying
  • Distributed under the 2-clause BSD License
  • Commercial support and training available from F5, Inc.

Trade-offs

  • Recent releases patched several CVEs; needs prompt updating
  • Stable and mainline release lines run in parallel; you must pick one
  • njs deprecates its own engine in favour of QuickJS, a migration cost
  • No published figures for the F5 enterprise distributions or support

How this score is made up

Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.

MCP support
0 out of 100
Documentation
25 out of 100
Agent friendliness
48 out of 100
Changelog
100 out of 100
Marketing site structure
45 out of 100
Operational trust
0 out of 100

Measured, but not part of the score

Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.

Openness
60 out of 100
Maintenance
100 out of 100

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