Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Unicorn VS LiteSpeed Web Server

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

Unicorn logo Unicorn

Unicorn is an HTTP server for Rack applications designed to only serve fast clients on low-latency, high-bandwidth connections.

LiteSpeed Web Server logo LiteSpeed Web Server

LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a high-performance Apache drop-in replacement.
  • Unicorn Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • LiteSpeed Web Server Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-31

Unicorn features and specs

  • Performance
    Unicorn is designed to handle multiple concurrent connections and efficiently manage resources, providing improved performance for Ruby applications.
  • Concurrency
    With its multi-process architecture, Unicorn can handle multiple client requests simultaneously, which is ideal for multi-threaded or concurrent applications.
  • Robust Process Management
    Unicorn automatically manages process worker pools and can gracefully handle worker crashes, leading to more robust and reliable server performance.
  • Compatibility
    Unicorn works seamlessly with Rack applications and is compliant with popular web server standards, making it easy to integrate with existing Ruby on Rails applications.
  • Simplicity
    Unicorn's straightforward design focuses on simplicity and minimalistic architecture, reducing the need for extensive configuration.

Possible disadvantages of Unicorn

  • Memory Usage
    Unicorn uses a multi-process model, which can lead to higher memory consumption compared to multi-threaded servers, potentially increasing costs on memory-bound systems.
  • Non-Windows Platform
    Unicorn is designed to work primarily on Unix-like systems. It is not natively supported on Windows, limiting its use in cross-platform environments.
  • Limited Scalability
    Unicorn does not easily scale across multiple machines. It is best suited for applications running on a single server, as scaling out horizontally requires external tools and configurations.
  • Blocking I/O
    Since Unicorn uses a preforking model with blocking I/O, it may not be suitable for applications that require non-blocking, event-driven I/O operations.
  • Graceful Restart
    While Unicorn supports zero-downtime deployments, managing graceful restarts can be complex and might require additional configuration and handling.

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.

Unicorn videos

War Thunder: Tiger H1 Super Unicorn Review

More videos:

  • Review - War Thunder: OTOMATIC Super Unicorn Review
  • Review - M4A3 (76) HVSS Wannabe Unicorn Review

LiteSpeed Web Server videos

What Is LiteSpeed Web Server?

More videos:

  • Review - What Is LiteSpeed Web Server?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Unicorn and LiteSpeed Web Server)
Web And Application Servers
Application Server
26 26%
74% 74
Web Servers
23 23%
77% 77
Health And Fitness
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Unicorn Reviews

Unicorn vs. Puma vs. Passenger: which app server is right for you?
Puma and Passenger are equipped to handle slow clients. Unicorn cannot help with slow clients by itself: requests go directly to a worker process. Unicorn doesn't hide this. The Unicorn docs clearly state: "You should not allow unicorn to serve clients outside of your local network". However, you can get around by using Nginx as a reverse proxy and letting it buffer client...
Source: scoutapm.com

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Unicorn seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time 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.

Unicorn mentions (1)

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.

What are some alternatives?

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

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

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

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

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

Forge - Static web hosting made simple

Eclipse Jetty - Jetty is a highly scalable modular servlet engine and http server that natively supports many modern protocols like SPDY and WebSockets.