Zeroserve
Ranked 4 of 8 web servers by recommenders
Free open-source web server that you can script with eBPF; people like the concept and benchmark results, but it lacks ACME and nginx's module ecosystem.
Free open-source web server that you can script with eBPF; people like the concept and benchmark results, but it lacks ACME and nginx's module ecosystem.
25 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Interesting concept worth watching
“I like the writeup and concept behind this.”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “It's an interesting new concept I like it.”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “I feel like this was made for me”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” - Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency”
Strong benchmark results against nginx
“Very interesting idea and thanks for the no bs benchmarks!”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “Zeroserve already beats Nginx in performance.”
Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No ACME or plugin support
“"Caddy compatible" minus everything that matters, like ACME and plugins.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” “Agree on lack of ACME but the codebase is far cleaner than nginx”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” “it doesn't have the features and module ecosystem of nginx”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” - Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency”
Scripting over config doubted
“I think the bet is misplaced - people prefer configuration over code and long have.”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “Now you're adding a config file separate from the scripts.”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” AI-generated code concerns
“The usual 3400 lines lock file and AGENTS.md raise some questions about the aforementioned security”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” “All you did was ask the slop generator to make it.”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “Another vibe coded, dead in 6 month Rust project.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” Security risk and large attack surface
“The usual 3400 lines lock file and AGENTS.md raise some questions about the aforementioned security”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency” “There's not enough improvement to justify the risk.”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Zeroserve: A zero-config web server you can script with eBPF” “The attack surface here is enormous.”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Caddy compatibility for zeroserve: 3x throughput and 70% lower latency”
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 | — |
| ZeroserveThis page | 17 | 8 | 68% | 1 | — | — |
| FrankenPHP | 15 | 1 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 26 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Ok that's cool, that's rad.”
“Now you're adding a config file separate from the scripts.”
“The attack surface here is enormous.”
“Agree on lack of ACME but the codebase is far cleaner than nginx”
“Another vibe coded, dead in 6 month Rust project.”
“The usual 3400 lines lock file and AGENTS.md raise some questions about the aforementioned security”
“"Caddy compatible" minus everything that matters, like ACME and plugins.”
“it doesn't have the features and module ecosystem of nginx”
“No ACME! That is a dealbreaker”
“If benchmarks are real no need to complicate code before some industry adoption.”
“Its an impressive project. You could get really far by just picking a softer color palette.”
“the UI/UX isn't the strong point”
“Zeroserve already beats Nginx in performance.”
“Very interesting idea and thanks for the no bs benchmarks!”
“All you did was ask the slop generator to make it.”
“I like the writeup and concept behind this.”
“It's an interesting new concept I like it.”
“Very cool! would be interesting to see about combining this with other bpf program types like xdp progs”
“I feel like this was made for me”
“People rarely spin up a server for that these days.”
“I think the bet is misplaced - people prefer configuration over code and long have.”
“Single-threaded? Forking and sharing an incoming connection queue is basically trivial on Linux”
“There's not enough improvement to justify the risk.”
“because it feels too artificial”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.