Express Gateway vs NGINX

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Express Gateway

58
167
+ 1
10
NGINX

112K
59.9K
+ 1
5.5K
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Express Gateway vs nginx: What are the differences?

Introduction: In the realm of web servers and API gateways, Express Gateway and nginx both play crucial roles. However, there are key differences between the two that cater to different needs and preferences.

  1. Architecture and Extensibility: Express Gateway is designed with a modular architecture that allows developers to easily extend its functionality through plugins. On the other hand, nginx follows a monolithic architecture, where functionalities are tightly packed within the core server without easy extensibility options.

  2. Configurability and Ease of Use: Express Gateway follows a user-friendly, declarative configuration approach using YAML files, making it easier for developers to set up and maintain the API gateway. In contrast, nginx requires a more complex and intricate configuration through its nginx.conf file, which may not be as intuitive for beginners.

  3. Community Support and Ecosystem: nginx has a larger and more established community compared to Express Gateway, leading to a wider range of resources, tutorials, and third-party modules readily available. However, Express Gateway's ecosystem is rapidly growing, offering newer features and improvements at a quicker pace.

  4. Scalability and Performance: nginx is renowned for its high performance and scalability, making it a preferred choice for handling heavy loads and high-traffic websites. Express Gateway, while capable of handling substantial workloads, may not have the same level of optimized performance as nginx in extreme conditions.

  5. Purpose and Use Case: nginx is primarily a web server that can also function as a reverse proxy and load balancer, suited for a wide range of web hosting needs. Express Gateway, on the other hand, is specifically tailored as an API gateway, focusing on managing and securing API traffic effectively.

  6. Documentation and Learning Curve: nginx has extensive documentation and a wealth of online resources, but due to its versatile nature and complexity, it may have a steeper learning curve for beginners. Express Gateway, with its more streamlined focus and user-friendly approach, may present a gentler learning curve for those new to API gateways.

In Summary, the key differences between Express Gateway and nginx lie in their architectural design, configurability, community support, scalability, target use case, and ease of learning, catering to various preferences and requirements in the world of web servers and API gateways.

Advice on Express Gateway and NGINX

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!

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Replies (1)
Simon Aronsson
Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact · | 4 upvotes · 634.9K views
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I would pick nginx over both IIS and Apace HTTP Server any day. Combine it with docker, and as you grow maybe even traefik, and you'll have a really flexible solution for serving http content where you can take sites and projects up and down without effort, easily move it between systems and dont have to handle any dependencies on your actual local machine.

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Needs advice
on
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP Server
and
NGINXNGINX

From a StackShare Community member: "We are a LAMP shop currently focused on improving web performance for our customers. We have made many front-end optimizations and now we are considering replacing Apache with nginx. I was wondering if others saw a noticeable performance gain or any other benefits by switching."

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Replies (3)
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I use nginx because it is very light weight. Where Apache tries to include everything in the web server, nginx opts to have external programs/facilities take care of that so the web server can focus on efficiently serving web pages. While this can seem inefficient, it limits the number of new bugs found in the web server, which is the element that faces the client most directly.

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Leandro Barral
Recommends
on
NGINXNGINX

I use nginx because its more flexible and easy to configure

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Christian Cwienk
Software Developer at SAP · | 1 upvotes · 604.1K views
Recommends
on
Apache HTTP ServerApache HTTP Server

I use Apache HTTP Server because it's intuitive, comprehensive, well-documented, and just works

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Pros of Express Gateway
Pros of NGINX
  • 4
    Microservices, Body manipulation
  • 3
    Amazing api gwy. Easy and powerful configuration
  • 3
    Custom Plugins
  • 1.4K
    High-performance http server
  • 893
    Performance
  • 730
    Easy to configure
  • 607
    Open source
  • 530
    Load balancer
  • 288
    Free
  • 288
    Scalability
  • 225
    Web server
  • 175
    Simplicity
  • 136
    Easy setup
  • 30
    Content caching
  • 21
    Web Accelerator
  • 15
    Capability
  • 14
    Fast
  • 12
    High-latency
  • 12
    Predictability
  • 8
    Reverse Proxy
  • 7
    The best of them
  • 7
    Supports http/2
  • 5
    Great Community
  • 5
    Lots of Modules
  • 5
    Enterprise version
  • 4
    High perfomance proxy server
  • 3
    Reversy Proxy
  • 3
    Streaming media delivery
  • 3
    Streaming media
  • 3
    Embedded Lua scripting
  • 2
    GRPC-Web
  • 2
    Blash
  • 2
    Lightweight
  • 2
    Fast and easy to set up
  • 2
    Slim
  • 2
    saltstack
  • 1
    Virtual hosting
  • 1
    Narrow focus. Easy to configure. Fast
  • 1
    Along with Redis Cache its the Most superior
  • 1
    Ingress controller

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Cons of Express Gateway
Cons of NGINX
  • 2
    Deprecated
  • 10
    Advanced features require subscription

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- No public GitHub repository available -

What is Express Gateway?

A cloud-native microservices gateway completely configurable and extensible through JavaScript/Node.js built for ALL platforms and languages. Enterprise features are FREE thanks to the power of 3K+ ExpressJS battle hardened modules.

What is 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.

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What companies use Express Gateway?
What companies use NGINX?
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What are some alternatives to Express Gateway and NGINX?
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Zuul
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Istio
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