Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

runc VS nginx

Compare runc VS nginx and see what are their differences

runc logo runc

CLI tool for spawning and running containers according to the OCI specification - opencontainers/runc

nginx logo nginx

A high performance free open source web server powering busiest sites on the Internet.
  • runc Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-21
  • nginx Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-28

runc features and specs

  • Standardization
    runc is part of the Open Containers Initiative (OCI), promoting standardization across container runtimes. This ensures interoperability and broad community support.
  • Lightweight
    As a lightweight and fast CLI tool, runc provides a minimal runtime for environments where resource efficiency is critical.
  • Security
    runc adheres to principles of secure software development and incorporates Linux kernel features like namespaces and cgroups to enhance security.
  • Broad Adoption
    As the reference implementation for OCI, runc is widely adopted and tested in production environments, ensuring reliability.
  • Flexibility
    runc offers the flexibility to handle low-level container configurations, making it suitable for advanced users needing granular control.

Possible disadvantages of runc

  • Complexity for Beginners
    The low-level nature of runc can be daunting for beginners who might prefer higher-level tools like Docker that abstract away complexities.
  • Minimalist Design
    While its simplicity is an advantage, runc lacks some of the advanced features and orchestration capabilities found in other container platforms.
  • Manual Configurations
    Users need to manually handle configurations, which can be error-prone and time-consuming compared to automated solutions.
  • Ecosystem Integration
    runc does not provide direct integration with tools and platforms by default, requiring additional setup for comprehensive ecosystem support.
  • Limited Features
    Compared to complete container platforms, runc offers fewer built-in features, requiring supplementary tools to achieve similar functionalities.

nginx features and specs

  • High Performance
    Nginx is known for its ability to handle a large number of concurrent connections, which makes it an excellent choice for high-traffic websites.
  • Efficiency
    Nginx uses an event-driven architecture that can handle many connections in a single thread, making it resource-efficient.
  • Versatility
    Besides being a web server, Nginx can also function as a reverse proxy, load balancer, and HTTP cache, among other roles.
  • Security
    Nginx has robust security features including SSL/TLS support, which helps in protecting data transmitted between servers and clients.
  • Ease of Configuration
    Nginx's configuration syntax is considered straightforward and easier to understand compared to some alternatives like Apache.
  • Scalability
    Nginx can easily scale out by using multiple servers or CPUs, making it suitable for growing applications.
  • Low Memory Usage
    Its architecture allows for low-memory usage, which is beneficial for systems with limited resources.
  • Support for Multiple Protocols
    Nginx supports a variety of protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, POP3, and IMAP.

Possible disadvantages of nginx

  • Learning Curve
    The configuration syntax, while considered simple by many, can still present a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Less Mature Ecosystem
    Compared to Apache, Nginx has fewer modules available, which can limit functionality for some specific use cases.
  • Less .htaccess Support
    Nginx does not support .htaccess files, which might be an inconvenience for users migrating from Apache who rely on this feature.
  • Error Logging
    Nginx's error logging is sometimes considered less user-friendly, making debugging and issue resolution more challenging.
  • Community Support
    While the community is growing, Nginx's user support community is still not as extensive as that of Apache.
  • Module Management
    Adding or removing modules in Nginx often requires recompiling the software, which can be inconvenient.

runc videos

2/21/19 RunC Vulnerability Gives Root Access on Container Systems| AT&T ThreatTraq

More videos:

  • Review - Demo MONEY,TIME - RunC

nginx videos

Nginx vs Apache Webservers: Main Differences

More videos:

  • Review - Nginx Web Hosting - 5 Best Nginx Reverse Proxy That Support Millions of Web Traffic!
  • Review - NGINX as a Reverse Proxy (listening on port 80)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to runc and nginx)
Web Servers
12 12%
88% 88
Web And Application Servers
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Application Server
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare runc and nginx

runc Reviews

We have no reviews of runc yet.
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nginx Reviews

Top 5 Open Source Load Balancers in 2024
While NGINX is renowned for its prowess as a web server, its load balancing capabilities are equally commendable. NGINX, also known as "engine x," stands as a multifaceted powerhouse, excelling as an HTTP and reverse proxy server, mail proxy server, and a generic TCP/UDP proxy server. Originally crafted by Igor Sysoev, NGINX has a storied history, having long powered...
13 Best XAMPP Alternatives
Nginx is an open-source, high-performance web server used by tech companies, including Pinterest, Airbnb, Cloudflare, and Zendesk. It has been called the new Apache for its ability to scale more efficiently than other web servers, and many developers prefer it because it’s easy to deploy. Nginx also integrates with many programming languages via FastCGI.
Source: thetechtian.com
7 Best Containerization Software Solutions of 2022
If your enterprise is undergoing digital transformation, the NGINX application platform can help you modernize your legacy applications and deliver new microservices‑based applications – with performance, reliability, security, and scale.
Source: techgumb.com
Apache, IIS, NGINX, GWS : What’s Your Choice?
Utilizing a specific type of virtual or physical server determines the type of web server software you use. If you prefer Microsoft, then you will prefer to use IIS (Internet Information Services / Server) by Microsoft as your primary web server application solution. If you use Linux distribution, you have other alternatives like Apache, NGINX and LiteSpeed.
Source: www.milesweb.in
10 Awesome Open Source Load Balancers
Nginx is a battle-tested piece of software written in C and initially introduced in 2004. Since then, it has grown to be an all-in-one reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy, and HTTP cache. It offers L7 load balancing support for HTTP, HTTPS, FastCGI, uWSGI, SCGI, Memcached, and gRPC backends. Nginx’s process worker model is highly scalable and deployed at large scales in...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, nginx should be more popular than runc. It has been mentiond 60 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.

runc mentions (11)

  • Setup multi node kubernetes cluster using kubeadm
    For kubeadm , kubetlet , kubectl should same version package in this lab I used v1.31 to have 1.31.7 References: Https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/networking/ports-and-protocols/ Https://kubernetes.io/docs/setup/production-environment/tools/kubeadm/install-kubeadm/ Https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases/... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Comparing 3 Docker container runtimes - Runc, gVisor and Kata Containers
    Previously I wrote about the multiple variants of Docker and also the dependencies behind the Docker daemon. One of the dependencies was the container runtime called runc. That is what creates the usual containers we are all familiar with. When you use Docker, this is the default runtime, which is understandable since it was started by Docker, Inc. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • You run containers, not dockers - Discussing Docker variants, components and versioning
    Now we have dockerd which uses containerd, but containerd will not create containers directly. It needs a runtime and the default runtime is runc, but that can be changed. Containerd actually doesn't have to know the parameters of the runtime. There is a shim process between containerd and runc, so containerd knows the parameters of the shim, and the shim knows the parameters of runc or other runtimes. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • US Cybersecurity: The Urgent Need for Memory Safety in Software Products
    It's interesting that, in light of things like this, you still see large software companies adding support for new components written in non-memory safe languages (e.g. C) As an example Red Hat OpenShift added support for crun(https://github.com/containers/crun), which is written in C as an alternative to runc, which is written in Go( - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Why did the Krustlet project die?
    Yeah, runtimeClass lets you specify which CRI plugin you want based on what you have available. Here's an example from the containerd documentation - you could have one node that can run containers under standard runc, gvisor, kata containers, or WASM. Without runtimeClass, you'd need either some form of custom solution or four differently configured nodes to run those different runtimes. That's how krustlet did... Source: over 2 years ago
View more

nginx mentions (60)

  • Deploying a Simple Flask API Using Gunicorn, Supervisor & Nginx
    Nginx: A reverse proxy to handle client requests and route them to Gunicorn. - Source: dev.to / 8 days ago
  • Setup K8s cluster on GCP VMs
    Welcome to nginx! If you see this page, the nginx web server is successfully installed and Working. Further configuration is required. For online documentation and support please refer to href="http://nginx.org/">nginx.org. Commercial support is available at href="http://nginx.com/">nginx.com. Thank you for using nginx. - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • How to Set Up a Subdomain with Nginx and SSL on DigitalOcean
    I've always been passionate about contributing to the tech community, and this article is my way of sharing what I've learned. Before diving in, it's beneficial to have a basic understanding of deploying to a DigitalOcean droplet, whether through a CI/CD pipeline or manually uploading your JAR files and running the app on the server. In this guide, I’ll walk you through setting up Nginx, and Certbot, and securing... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Nginx vs Traefik: Which Reverse Proxy is Right for You?
    Before diving into the specifics of Nginx and Traefik, let’s quickly define what a reverse proxy is. A reverse proxy sits between the client (browser or other services) and your backend services (web servers or applications). It handles incoming requests, routes them to the appropriate backend service, and forwards the response to the client. Reverse proxies are typically used for:. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Dev.to on your own domain xyz.com.
    One of the most popular reverse proxies is nginx. Let's see how we can use it as I did in the video at the top. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing runc and nginx, you can also consider the following products

Docker Hub - Docker Hub is a cloud-based registry service

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

Apache Thrift - An interface definition language and communication protocol for creating cross-language services.

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

Eureka - Eureka is a contact center and enterprise performance through speech analytics that immediately reveals insights from automated analysis of communications including calls, chat, email, texts, social media, surveys and more.

Traefik - Load Balancer / Reverse Proxy