Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

LiteSpeed Web Server VS OpenResty

Compare LiteSpeed Web Server VS OpenResty and see what are their differences

LiteSpeed Web Server logo LiteSpeed Web Server

LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a high-performance Apache drop-in replacement.

OpenResty logo OpenResty

Turning Nginx into a Full-fledged Web App Server
  • LiteSpeed Web Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-31
  • OpenResty Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-16

LiteSpeed Web Server features and specs

  • Performance
    LiteSpeed is known for its high performance, handling more traffic with fewer resources compared to traditional web servers like Apache.
  • Built-in Caching
    It comes with LSCache, which provides advanced server-side caching, significantly boosting loading times for web applications.
  • Security
    LiteSpeed includes built-in anti-DDoS features, application-level distributed defense, and the ability to mitigate different kinds of attacks effectively.
  • Easy Apache Replacement
    LiteSpeed is compatible with Apache's htaccess, mod_rewrite, and mod_security, making it easy to switch from Apache without changing configurations.
  • HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 Support
    LiteSpeed supports modern protocols such as HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, making it suitable for the latest website requirements and performance enhancements.

Possible disadvantages of LiteSpeed Web Server

  • Cost
    LiteSpeed is a commercial solution, and its licensing fees can be a disadvantage for smaller businesses or individual developers.
  • Proprietary Software
    Being a proprietary solution, it doesn’t offer the transparency and community support advantages of open-source web servers like Apache and Nginx.
  • Learning Curve
    Switching to LiteSpeed may involve a learning curve, especially for those accustomed to other web server technologies.
  • Limited Customization
    It may not offer the same level of customization and flexibility as some other web servers, particularly in specialized or highly unique environments.

OpenResty features and specs

  • High Performance
    Built on NGINX, OpenResty benefits from high-performance HTTP server capabilities, capable of handling a large number of simultaneous connections efficiently.
  • Extensibility
    Integrates seamlessly with the LuaJIT scripting language, allowing for powerful customizations and extending the server's functionality without the need to modify core code.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Supports a wide range of third-party modules for various functionalities such as caching, security, request manipulation, and more, fostering a comprehensive and versatile ecosystem.
  • Asynchronous Processing
    Capable of non-blocking processing, which is essential for real-time web applications, ensuring lower latency and higher throughput.
  • Active Community and Support
    Backed by an active community and commercial support options, providing ample resources for troubleshooting, enhancing functionality, and keeping up with the latest best practices.

Possible disadvantages of OpenResty

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Requires proficiency in Lua scripting and understanding of NGINX configuration, which might be challenging for those new to these technologies.
  • Complex Debugging
    Debugging Lua code within OpenResty can be complex, lacking some of the more advanced debugging tools available for other languages.
  • Limited Documentation
    While there is documentation available, it may not be as comprehensive or beginner-friendly compared to other more mature web server ecosystems.
  • Niche Use Case
    Primarily suited for high-performance applications requiring custom HTTP server behavior, which might not be necessary for simpler web applications or APIs.
  • Resource Intensive
    Depending on the complexity of the Lua scripts and modules used, OpenResty can become resource-intensive, requiring careful optimization and resource management.

LiteSpeed Web Server videos

What Is LiteSpeed Web Server?

More videos:

  • Review - What Is LiteSpeed Web Server?

OpenResty videos

Why and how I built my CMS based on ArangoDB & openresty

More videos:

  • Review - OpenResty Edge 2 Admin Intro: Episode 3: Applications - Cache & Req Rewrite

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to LiteSpeed Web Server and OpenResty)
Web And Application Servers
Web Servers
61 61%
39% 39
Application Server
58 58%
42% 42
Development Tools
85 85%
15% 15

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare LiteSpeed Web Server and OpenResty

LiteSpeed Web Server Reviews

Litespeed vs Nginx vs Apache: Web Server Showdown
LiteSpeed Web Server, abbreviated as LSWS, is almost a newcomer to the webserver ‘scene’. It has gained a huge, perhaps even cult-like following in the last few years among web hosting companies due to its efficiency. With its streamlined architecture, companies running LiteSpeed Web Server could (theoretically) double the maximum capacity of websites their servers, assuming...
Source: chemicloud.com
Top Linux Web Servers: Pros and Cons
LiteSpeed comes in two versions: a free one known as OpenLiteSpeed and a paid enterprise version with extended functionality.
Source: bigstep.com
Alternative web servers compared: Lighttpd, Nginx, LiteSpeed and Zeus
Brief info: LiteSpeed is a commercial web server designed specifically for large websites. One of LiteSpeed’s advantages is that it can read Apache configurations directly which makes it easy to integrate with existing products to replace Apache. The server is lightweight and as the name implies very fast.
Source: www.pingdom.com

OpenResty Reviews

We have no reviews of OpenResty yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OpenResty seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 21 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

LiteSpeed Web Server mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of LiteSpeed Web Server yet. Tracking of LiteSpeed Web Server recommendations started around Mar 2021.

OpenResty mentions (21)

  • Scriptable Operating Systems with Lua [pdf]
    It's maybe deprecated by the official Nginx support, but there are other projects and organizations that are offering Lua scripting with Nginx with all kinds of extensions and libraries. See OpenResty website[0] and Github repo[1]. [0] - https://openresty.org/en/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: The C10M Problem
    Have you seen https://openresty.org/en/ before? To share a quote directly taken from their website: > By taking advantage of various well-designed Nginx modules (most of which are developed by the OpenResty team themselves), OpenResty® effectively turns the nginx server into a powerful web app server, in which the web developers can use the Lua programming language to script various existing nginx C modules and... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Show HN: Lockbox: forward proxy for making third party API calls
    Nginx is quite extendable, there are tons of nginx plugins to help you add more customizations. There is OpenResty, a version of nginx [0]. It allows you to script all sorts of stuff with Lua inside nginx itself. Tools like lockbox are not necessary, nginx, caddy, etc or heck even a normal 70 line python3 fastapi based script works just fine and should be more extendable than lockbox. [0](https://openresty.org/en/). - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Five Apache projects you probably didn't know about
    APISIX is an API Gateway. It builds upon OpenResty, a Lua layer built on top of the famous nginx reverse-proxy. APISIX adds abstractions to the mix, e.g., Route, Service, Upstream, and offers a plugin-based architecture. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Apache APISIX plugin priority, a leaky abstraction?
    Apache APISIX is an API Gateway, which builds upon the OpenResty reverse-proxy to offer a plugin-based architecture. The main benefit of such an architecture is that it brings structure to the configuration of routes. It's a help at scale, when managing hundreds or thousands of routes. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing LiteSpeed Web Server and OpenResty, you can also consider the following products

Apache Tomcat - An open source software implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies

Microsoft IIS - Internet Information Services is a web server for Microsoft Windows

Apache HTTP Server - Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996

Forge - Static web hosting made simple

Phusion Passenger - Phusion Passenger is a multi-language (Ruby, Python, Node) web & app server which can integrate into Apache and Nginx

XAMPP - XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server that is primarily used when locally developing web applications.