Apache vs LiteSpeed.. Time to switch ??

Apache Web Server logo

Apache has been the leader in web server platform since years. It dominates with over 50% of market share. The key of success for Apache has been the cross platform support along with its open source format.

Every single web host which we use, mostly shared and in some cases VPS, offer us option of Apache only. Every time locally we think of php development, most of the time we use Apache as our web server.

ChotoCheeta.com is no different, since its birth, it is been hosted under Apache, however in last few months my hosting server, which is a managed hybrid located at WiredTree.com Illinois, Chicago facility is facing problem with server load. In a recent reply to one of my support ticket, the server admins of WiredTree.com have suggested to try out a new web server platform.

LiteSpeed Web Server

The LiteSpeed web server is suppose to be more than 6 times faster than Apache while handling heavy traffic and support professionals of WiredTree.com thinks that it is a better option than RAM upgrade. However, compare to Apache, LiteSpeed is a paid product and has limited support for cross platform (in turns of OS).

If you don’t want to try ugprading your RAM we can try out LiteSpeed. It tends to handle massive concurrent connections with PHP much better than Apache.

WiredTree.com would provide LiteSpeed at USD 12 per month only as on demand basis to its customer, that too as a beta offering. Looks impressive.. Isn’t it ?? but the path is totally unknown as, till date, I have not found a single known user using LiteSpeed for a live web site or web project. Therefore if any reader is using LiteSpeed, then I would like to invite you to share your experiance with LiteSpeed.

Although me, my self dont have enough experiance of web server and it would be first time I am trying out LiteSpeed but still I think its time to say bye to Apache and shift to LiteSpeed.

Choto Cheeta on March 6, 2009 | Filed Under Web Development

13 Comments

Gaurish Sharma on March 6th, 2009

why not ask them for a evaluation/demo?
Since its a new product which happens to be in beta stage, you have a right to get a free demo.

Try and post back result

btw, how many daily visits you get on average?

Choto Cheeta on March 6th, 2009

@Gaurish Sharma

WiredTree.com is not willing to provide it for free or trial.. I have tried but they wont..

Gaurish Sharma on March 6th, 2009

LiteSpeed is lot faster than apache, specially the enterprise version. Given the high traffic you get, I think you should make the switch. it totally worth it.

A unbiased review here:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=616249

Also compare rates of other web hosting companies for lightspeed

Choto Cheeta on March 6th, 2009

@Gaurish Sharma

Wen through few more posts of WHT and have found mixed opinion about LiteSpeed..

Gaurish Sharma on March 6th, 2009

did you try to enable Caching in WordPress? by Super Cache plugin.

it should greatly reduce load on server as Static HTML pages would be severed instead of dynamic PHP calls.

Sathya on March 7th, 2009

why not give lighthttpd ( http://www.lighttpd.net/ ) a shot? Its FOSS.

Sathya on March 7th, 2009

BTW I visited your site couple hours ago, it had the old theme, when did you change the theme ?

Choto Cheeta on March 7th, 2009

@Gaurish Sharma

Hi,

Yes, WP Super Cache is already present in this installation..

Choto Cheeta on March 7th, 2009

@Sathya

Hi,

Choto Cheeta Online is running a managed service is the hosting provider (WiredTree.com) doesnt have option for anything else apart from LiteSpeed and Apache

So even if we want, we cant unless we switch our self to a unmanaged service, which would have its own problems

Chris Heney on November 28th, 2009

I’ve been using LS (LightSpeed) web server for almost 3 months and it is spectacular.

It increased server response time dramatically especially on the logic-heavy sites (running a lot of PHP), and our sites with Content Managment Systems.

As we all know, a CMS with a lot of plugins/modules/extensions, or even just the CMS itself can create 15-80 mysql transactions per page load… That’s per “hit”.

Load time for our average CMS page was approximately 60-70% faster, after testing 50 of our sites pages.

Firefox offers a good extension called Firebug that includes a tab labeled ‘net’. It’s really amazing.

joe on March 21st, 2010

I’ve just now moved FROM Litespeed (free) TO Apache2 (with APC) and have seen an improvement in performance. Ask your host about caching.

Joe on August 10th, 2010

I wouldn’t switch to Litespeed yet. Checkout the latest benchmark results and comparison between LSWS and Apache: http://www.unixy.net/apache-vs-litespeed

rick on January 26th, 2011

are you nuts? litespeed is used [and has been used for a couple of years] at least by a dozen of web hosting providers on their shared hosting servers..so much to the fact it is unknown or in beta stage or anything else… etc,.

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