Regardless of whether you are company or a developer wondering about the differences in Traefik vs NGINX, this guide is for you.
We define both Traefik and NGINX, list their features and compare them on the most prominent features. All of this with the purpose to make your decision easier.
Traefik is a versatile and reliable reverse proxy solution that has a long history of being well-received by the community. It is very extensible with middleware, allowing for flexibility and customizability when it comes to your deployment. In addition, it also has a pretty user interface called the Dashboard, which makes it easy to manage your deployments and see stats in real time.
Traefik handles TLS certificate renewal painlessly, making it easier for you to keep your web server secure. Documentation for Traefik is abundant and covers all aspects of using this framework comprehensively, from setting up your first proxy to handling complicated setups involving multiple providers types. Overall, Traefik is an excellent choice for any complex or sensitive web deployments.
NGINX is a reliable and highly customizable web server that supports SSL/TLS and HTTPS. It is written by Igor Sysoev, which means it's reliable and highly customizable.
According to Netcraft, this software served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.
With its wide range of features, including support for SSL/TLS and HTTPS, you can be sure that your website will be secure with NGINX installed. Additionally, NGINX is compatible with a variety of web servers and operating systems, so you're bound to find a version that works perfectly on your computer or device.
The developers are available 24/7 via chat or email (you can even track their responses via GitHub) if you have any questions or issues.
Let's see how these two compare on some core features:
Overall, Traefik is easier to use than NGINX. This is because Traefik's configuration is simpler and more manageable, and most configuration can be set using Helm values or Kubernetes Ingress annotations. In contrast, NGINX has a complex, confusing configuration syntax. Additionally, activating simple features with Traefik does not require multiple complex settings as it does with NGINX.
NGINX and Traefik are both web servers that can be used to route traffic to different web applications or services. NGINX is faster than Traefik, but Traefik can handle more requests. There are potential improvements that could be made to Traefik's scalability, such as using GO_REUSEPORT and running a separate server instance for each CPU core. Overall, Traefik may be more scalable than NGINX when it comes to handling traffic.
NGINX is difficult to configure and lacks proper documentation. Traefik is much easier to use and has extensive documentation. Unlike NGINX, most settings for Traefik are stored in Helm values or Kubernetes annotations, making configuration much simpler. In addition, compression can be turned on using simple Helm values or annotations in Kubernetes, compared to the more complex NGINX configuration.
The main difference between Traefik and NGINX is that Traefik is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer made to deploy microservices with ease while NGINX is an HTTP and reverse proxy server.
Traefik offers many features that are not available in NGINX, such as automatic service discovery, Let's Encrypt support, built-in dashboards, and much more. Traefik also integrates with popular orchestration platforms like Docker, Kubernetes, and Marathon.
If you're looking for a definite answer to whether Traefik vs NGINX is better, then you should know that the answer depends on your needs. Generally speaking, NGINX is more widely accepted by developers as a high-performance HTTP server, while Traefik is more widely adopted by companies due to its numerous features such as ease of use, automatic and dynamic configuration and Kubernets integration.
A reverse proxy is a server that sits between clients and backend servers in order to intercept requests and forward them to the appropriate server. A load balancer is a device that helps distribute load across multiple servers. Reverse proxies can be used to improve security, hide the IP address of backend servers, and improve performance by caching responses.
Traefik is a popular open-source reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP and TCP-based applications that is easy to use, extensible, and has a great dashboard UI. With active development and excellent documentation with examples, Traefik is a great choice for those looking for a robust solution. Additionally, Traefik handles TLS certificate auto-renewal painlessly, making it one less thing for administrators to worry about.
NGINX is a fast web server that can handle large loads. It is easy to use and understand, and you can combine different instructions without worrying about consequences. NGINX is also easy to set up and maintain. You can use Traefik as a reverse proxy for your docker containers, and the dashboard helps you analyze traffic. NGINX supports HTTPS:// , has low CPU usage, and is customizable to your needs.
