lighttpd
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 8 web servers by recommenders
Recommended as a solid, low-attack-surface C web server that runs with little fuss. One critic found it slower than nginx in a Django stack.
Recommended as a solid, low-attack-surface C web server that runs with little fuss. One critic found it slower than nginx in a Django stack.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable, trouble-free, nearly invisible operation
“The big three C-based servers: Apache, Nginx, and lighttpd are all pretty solid”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “New Nginx Exploit” “Works so well that it's easy to forget they're running.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “I run multiple $10K MRR companies on a $20/month tech stack” “I don't have any issues with lighttpd”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “Why use OpenBSD?” - Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Linux Sandboxes and Fil-C”
Other web servers people recommend
The four most recommended other web servers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nginx | 130 | 44 | 75% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Caddy | 114 | 10 | 92% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Apache HTTP Server | 52 | 32 | 62% | 12 | 10 yrs5 owners | — |
| Zeroserve | 17 | 8 | 68% | 1 | — | — |
| lighttpdThis page | 10 | 1 | 91% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
6 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The big three C-based servers: Apache, Nginx, and lighttpd are all pretty solid”
“I'd initially setup my startup's stack as HTTP -> Lighttpd -> FastCGI -> Django, but it was way slower than just using nginx.”
“Works so well that it's easy to forget they're running.”
“Lighttpd works well though!”
“Makes for an attack surface that gets delightfully close to zero.”
“I don't have any issues with lighttpd”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.