Apache HTTP Server vs Gunicorn vs Pow

Overview

Apache HTTP Server

Stacks64.5K

Followers22.8K

Votes1.4K

GitHub Stars3.8K

Forks1.2K

Gunicorn

Stacks1.3K

Followers908

Votes78

GitHub Stars10.3K

Forks1.8K

Pow

Stacks6

Followers8

Votes0

GitHub Stars3.4K

Forks256

Apache HTTP Server vs Gunicorn vs Pow: What are the differences?

Architecture: Apache HTTP Server follows a multi-process, multi-threaded architecture where each client connection is handled by a new process or thread. On the other hand, Gunicorn uses a pre-fork worker model where a master process manages multiple worker processes to handle client requests. Pow operates as a pre-built server, simplifying the setup process for developers.
Language Support: Apache HTTP Server supports various programming languages such as PHP, Python, and Perl through modules. Gunicorn, being a Python-specific server, is tailored for running Python WSGI applications. Pow specializes in hosting Ruby on Rails web applications.
Performance: Gunicorn is known for its ability to handle high loads efficiently due to its pre-fork worker model. Apache HTTP Server offers good performance and is highly configurable for various use cases. Pow, while efficient for local development, may not be ideal for high-traffic production environments.
Configuration Complexity: Apache HTTP Server is highly configurable with numerous settings and modules available for customization. Gunicorn simplifies configuration by providing sensible defaults, making it easier to set up and use. Pow requires minimal configuration, making it suitable for quick local development setups.
Community and Support: Apache HTTP Server has a large and active community with extensive documentation and support resources available. Gunicorn also has a supportive community but is more Python-centric. Pow, being a niche server for Mac OS X, has a smaller user base and community support compared to Apache and Gunicorn.
Use Cases: Apache HTTP Server is suitable for a wide range of use cases from small personal websites to large enterprise applications. Gunicorn is well-suited for deploying Python web applications, especially in production environments. Pow is convenient for developers working on Ruby on Rails applications on Mac OS X.

In Summary, Apache HTTP Server, Gunicorn, and Pow differ in their architecture, language support, performance, configuration complexity, community support, and target use cases.

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Advice on Apache HTTP Server, Gunicorn, Pow

Daniel

Co-Founder at Polpo Data Analytics & Software Development

May 25, 2021

Decided

For us, NGINX is a lite HTTP server easy to configure. On our research, we found a well-documented software we a lot of support from the community.

We have been using it alongside tools like certbot and it has been a total success.

We can easily configure our sites and have a folder for available vs enabled sites, and with the nginx -t command we can easily check everything is running fine.

289k views289k

Comments

Hari

Mar 3, 2020

Needs advice

I was in a situation where I have to configure 40 RHEL servers 20 each for Apache HTTP Server and Tomcat server. My task was to

configure LVM with required logical volumes, format and mount for HTTP and Tomcat servers accordingly.
Install apache and tomcat.
Generate and apply selfsigned certs to http server.
Modify default ports on Tomcat to different ports.
Create users on RHEL for application support team.
other administrative tasks like, start, stop and restart HTTP and Tomcat services.

I have utilized the power of ansible for all these tasks, which made it easy and manageable.

419k views419k

Comments

greg00m

Mar 9, 2020

Needs advice

I am diving into web development, both front and back end. I feel comfortable with administration, scripting and moderate coding in bash, Python and C++, but I am also a Windows fan (i love inner conflict). What are the votes on web servers? IIS is expensive and restrictive (has Windows adoption of open source changed this?) Apache has the history but seems to be at the root of most of my Infosec issues, and I know nothing about nginx (is it too new to rely on?). And no, I don't know what I want to do on the web explicitly, but hosting and data storage (both cloud and tape) are possibilities.
Ready, aim fire!

766k views766k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Apache HTTP Server	Gunicorn	Pow
The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful and flexible HTTP/1.1 compliant web server. Originally designed as a replacement for the NCSA HTTP Server, it has grown to be the most popular web server on the Internet.	Gunicorn is a pre-fork worker model ported from Ruby's Unicorn project. The Gunicorn server is broadly compatible with various web frameworks, simply implemented, light on server resources, and fairly speedy.	Pow is a zero-configuration Rack server for Mac OS X. It makes developing Rails and Rack applications as frictionless as possible. You can install it in ten seconds and have your first app up and running in under a minute. No mucking around with /etc/hosts, no compiling Apache modules, no editing configuration files or installing preference panes. And running multiple apps with multiple versions of Ruby is trivial.
Statistics
GitHub Stars 3.8K	GitHub Stars 10.3K	GitHub Stars 3.4K
GitHub Forks 1.2K	GitHub Forks 1.8K	GitHub Forks 256
Stacks 64.5K	Stacks 1.3K	Stacks 6
Followers 22.8K	Followers 908	Followers 8
Votes 1.4K	Votes 78	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 479 Web server 305 Most widely-used web server 217 Virtual hosting 148 Fast 138 Ssl support Cons 4 Hard to set up	Pros 34 Python 30 Easy setup 8 Reliable 3 Fast 3 Light	No community feedback yet
Integrations
No integrations available	No integrations available	Ruby

What are some alternatives to Apache HTTP Server, Gunicorn, Pow?

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.

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.

Microsoft IIS

Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server is a flexible, secure and manageable Web server for hosting anything on the Web. From media streaming to web applications, IIS's scalable and open architecture is ready to handle the most demanding tasks.

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations.

Passenger

Phusion Passenger is a web server and application server, designed to be fast, robust and lightweight. It takes a lot of complexity out of deploying web apps, adds powerful enterprise-grade features that are useful in production, and makes administration much easier and less complex.

Jetty

Jetty is used in a wide variety of projects and products, both in development and production. Jetty can be easily embedded in devices, tools, frameworks, application servers, and clusters. See the Jetty Powered page for more uses of Jetty.

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.

Swoole

It is an open source high-performance network framework using an event-driven, asynchronous, non-blocking I/O model which makes it scalable and efficient.

Puma

Unlike other Ruby Webservers, Puma was built for speed and parallelism. Puma is a small library that provides a very fast and concurrent HTTP 1.1 server for Ruby web applications.

Caddy

Caddy 2 is a powerful, enterprise-ready, open source web server with automatic HTTPS written in Go.

Related Comparisons

Apache HTTP Server vs Gunicorn vs Pow: What are the differences?

Architecture: Apache HTTP Server follows a multi-process, multi-threaded architecture where each client connection is handled by a new process or thread. On the other hand, Gunicorn uses a pre-fork worker model where a master process manages multiple worker processes to handle client requests. Pow operates as a pre-built server, simplifying the setup process for developers.
Language Support: Apache HTTP Server supports various programming languages such as PHP, Python, and Perl through modules. Gunicorn, being a Python-specific server, is tailored for running Python WSGI applications. Pow specializes in hosting Ruby on Rails web applications.
Performance: Gunicorn is known for its ability to handle high loads efficiently due to its pre-fork worker model. Apache HTTP Server offers good performance and is highly configurable for various use cases. Pow, while efficient for local development, may not be ideal for high-traffic production environments.
Configuration Complexity: Apache HTTP Server is highly configurable with numerous settings and modules available for customization. Gunicorn simplifies configuration by providing sensible defaults, making it easier to set up and use. Pow requires minimal configuration, making it suitable for quick local development setups.
Community and Support: Apache HTTP Server has a large and active community with extensive documentation and support resources available. Gunicorn also has a supportive community but is more Python-centric. Pow, being a niche server for Mac OS X, has a smaller user base and community support compared to Apache and Gunicorn.
Use Cases: Apache HTTP Server is suitable for a wide range of use cases from small personal websites to large enterprise applications. Gunicorn is well-suited for deploying Python web applications, especially in production environments. Pow is convenient for developers working on Ruby on Rails applications on Mac OS X.

In Summary, Apache HTTP Server, Gunicorn, and Pow differ in their architecture, language support, performance, configuration complexity, community support, and target use cases.

Apache HTTP Server vs Gunicorn vs Pow

Overview