Node.js vs Nginx

Difference Between Node.js vs Nginx

Node.js is open-source server software that supports cross-platform applications and provides a JavaScript runtime environment to run the server-side JavaScript code. It was developed by Joyent and was licensed under the MIT License. It was initially released in the year 2009. It was primarily written using the C, C++ and JavaScript programming languages. The original author for the development of Node.js is Ryan Dahl. JavaScript language was initially used to run the programs on the client-side. The Node.js project was governed and supported by the Node.js foundation.

Nginx is a free and open-source web server software based on an event-driven architecture developed by Nginx Inc. The original author of Nginx is Igor Sysoev. It was primarily written in the C programming language. It supports various operating systems such as BSD variants, Windows, IBM AIX, HP-UX, macOS, Linux, Solaris, and few others, etc.; nginx can also be used as a load balancer, HTTP cache, mail proxy, or reverse proxy in a server. It was licensed under a 2-clause BSD License. Nginx was initially released in the year 2004.

Node.js introduces event-driven programming into web servers, which enables the development of fast web servers in JavaScript programs. Nginx is a powerful non-threaded and even driven programming architecture that performs very well if configured correctly. Nginx outperforms the Apache webserver, which was the primary goal when it was developed. Most of the web servers use Nginx as a load balancer.

Head to Head Comparison Between Node.js and Nginx (Infographics)

Below is the top 8 difference between Node.js and Nginx:

Key Differences between Node.js and Nginx

Both Node.js vs Nginx are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Differences Between Nginx and Node.js:

1. In Node.js, a simple model of event-driven programming exists to finish the task using call back functions, whereas Nginx uses an event-driven mechanism rather than threads to handle multiple requests.
2. In Node.js, vertical scaling is not supported to increase the number of CPU cores in a machine, whereas Nginx is able to handle a very large number of concurrent user requests with a very low memory capacity of around 2.5MB.
3. In Node.js, package management exists to use the different packages hosted on the npm site to use it by importing in applications projects, whereas Nginx can handle static files, auto-indexing, index files, reverse proxy with caching.
4. In Node.js, the server runtime environment can be combined with a browser that supports a different kind of JSON databases, whereas Nginx supports load balancing, including health checks, virtual servers based on Name and IP addresses.
5. In Node.js, the runtime environment is registered with the existing operating system, which notifies in case of any failure in call back functions, whereas in Nginx has upgradable features without any connection loss with the client and also supports the mailing features like SMTP, POP3, IMAP, and TSL/SSL support and also IPv6 compatible.
6. In Node.js, the performance is an issue in terms of concurrent users where the response rate will be low in case of heavy load or concurrent user requests whereas Nginx’s main goal is to outperform the Apache web server in terms of performance, especially in the case of heavy load and large concurrent user requests.
7. In Node.js, its design itself is single-threaded, which allows only a single thread to handle concurrent requests, and it is unable to make synchronous calls, whereas in Nginx is a high-performance load balancer which is being used in most of the busiest websites over the world.
8. In Node.js, when making the requests to remote servers, the server requests and responses will be compressed using gzip, whereas, in Nginx processes, the chains and filters that change the content are similar to that of gzip process, which is efficient and secure.
9. In Node.js, a file’s serving content over a web page consumes a lot of CPU memory compared to the same file in Nginx. In Nginx, the CPU memory consumption is very less for the same file in Node.js, which clearly indicates the saver in terms of memory.
10. In Node.js, a unified API exists which support the development of JavaScript stack applications using different server-side architectural patterns such as MVP, VMS, MT, MVVM etc., which allows it to reuse across both client-side and server-side environment whereas in Nginx all these features will be supported including the extra features such as firewall support, upgrading and configuring the applications at runtime without any client connection losses.

Node.js and Nginx Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison between Node.js and Nginx.

Conclusion

Node.js is a JS runtime environment that is also an HTTP server with some event-driven features and has many drawbacks in terms of concurrency and high load or user requests to handle a large number of users concurrently. Nginx has the best performance in this case, and it provides the best performance. Nginx is a fast web server that supports routing, static content, etc., in an objectively faster time to provide a greater user experience.

Nginx should be preferred in terms of high response rate, especially in large concurrent users where a large number of applications run on the same system. Also, multiple numbers of domains on a single system instance can be handled easily by using Nginx.

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