Both G-WAN (freeware) and Nginx (open-source) are HTTP servers for Linux and Windows. Both intend to be "light" and "fast". The Nginx project started in 2004 while G-WAN started in 2009. G-WAN runs as a single process with a thread per physical CPU (or Core). Nginx runs as a master process and several worker processes. Nginx's age is less flexible as compared to G-Wan.
G-WAN runs as a single process with a thread per physical CPU (or Core). Nginx runs as a master process and several worker processes.
G-WAN aims at being super-fast without configuration, while offering "edit & play" scripts in Asm, C, C++, C#, D, Go, Java, JavaScript, Lua, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and Scala (and a Key-Value store, email client, GIF I/O, 2D drawing, charts and sparklines, crypto, RNGs...) that may look a bit too developer-oriented for Web designers but which will please programmers - the audience targeted by G-WAN.In contrast, Nginx has many traditional Web server features (like different sorts of configuration files and complex modules) which are more targeting Web Masters than Web developers.
Nginx supports HTTP 1.1 and SPDY and the draft HTTP 2.0 implementation via Nginx-specific modules.
Nginx, which is twice older than G-WAN, has quickly increased its marketshare after the founder of DELL Computers invested in the commercial company "Nginx Inc". While statistics differ depending on the companies measuring marketshares, Nginx is now used by approximately 37.7% of the websites according to the April 2014 Web Server Survey
G-WAN also supports HTTP 1.1, but its protocol handlers being more flexible and making it far easier to plug third-party libraries, a larger number of protocols have been implemented, such as SCGI, DNS (TCP and UDP), SMTP and POP3, several database and key/value servers, and even a VPN.
Using a different design based on threads and events, G-WAN is lighter and faster than the mainstream servers, a fact independently verified by several third-party benchmarks over the years.
G-WAN's marketshare is unknown but likely far below 1%, which is consistent with Nginx's marketshare at the same age (the web site and the documentation Nginx were translated after 5 years of "confidential" usage limited to the Russian market).
Nginx, despite its age is less flexible as compared to G-Wan.
G-WAN runs C, C# or Java with less CPU and less RAM while handling more requests than other servers. Other languages (Go, PHP, Python, Ruby, JS…) benefit from G-WAN’s multicore architecture. G-WAN supports HTTP 1.1, but its protocol handlers being more flexible and making it far easier to plug third-party libraries, a larger number of protocols have been implemented, such as SCGI, DNS (TCP and UDP), SMTP and POP3, several database and key/value servers, and even a VPN.
NGINX is the secret heart of the modern web, powering 1 in 3 of the world’s busiest sites and applications. The NGINX open source project started in 2002 and has grown exponentially during the past 10 years. Today, millions of innovators choose NGINX for delivering their sites and applications with performance, reliability, security, and scale.
