LAMP vs LEMP Stack – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons)
LAMP vs LEMP Stack – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons). In this blog post, we will talk about the details of each server and which one is better suited for your requirements.
When it comes to Web Servers, Apache and Nginx are the most popular. While these two provide phenomenal level of performance and durability, they both have some distinctive features that make them different.
Like I said above, whether you’re looking for a quick and light weight server or need extra software modules/features, you might choose one of these two.
Let’s start with LAMP vs LEMP Stack – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons).
What is LAMP Stack?
The acronym LAMP stands for Linux operating system, Apache server, MySQL database and PHP. These are all parts of the same bundle that are used to create a dynamic web application.
The acronym comes from the fact that they are all free and open source components that can be used to develop applications with an interactive web interface.
The best way to explain how these components work together is to look at an example:
Say you want to build an online store where people can buy products from each other online.
Your website would also have an eCommerce plugin installed so users could purchase items from your site by clicking on them or entering their credit card information into a form within the page itself so they don’t have to leave your site in order.
Working of LAMP Stack
- Apache: Web Server – It is currently the most widely used and mature web server in the world. It processes user requests with web resources to respond to them. If the request is for a PHP file, it passes it to PHP.
- PHP: Scripting language – As mentioned, PHP is a server side language that communicates with the database based on the user’s request and presents Apache with a result, which in turn responds based on the written request and code logic.
- Linux: operating system – The safest and most reliable operating system. All the architecture mentioned above is possible thanks to an operating system running on a server based on this architecture.
Pros of LAMP
- Thanks to LAMP it is the essential framework for web servers, operating frameworks and the like. It stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
- These are the four fundamental components of LAMP. They make up a total internet infrastructure, which can be utilized to deliver internet applications and services.
- Additionally LAMP gives a steady infrastructure for internet utility advancement.
- It keeps running on Linux OS, which is open source and free from any kind of restriction or cost.
- It has an entire server administration system that is open source as well and free from any type of cost or restriction.
- MySQL database is used for storing data in a relational format that can be accessed by different applications at any point of time.
- PHP is utilized for application development purposes by making use of HTML/CSS/JavaScript structures as per requirement of application development.
Cons of LAMP
- LAMP stack is popular for its simplicity and effectiveness, but it’s also been the go to choice for many developers over the years. As such, it’s become the most common web development stack in use today.
- The problem with LAMP is that it’s not actually a real stack. It’s really just a collection of components that work together to form a usable web server. The acronym comes from Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
- The problem with this is that these components are widely available and easy to install on pretty much any operating system or platform out there. So, if you want to run your own server for your website or app, you can pretty much do so with little effort at all.
- However, as with everything else in life, there are drawbacks to this approach.
- For one thing, it requires quite a bit more technical know how than what most people have at their disposal nowadays — especially when it comes to setting up an actual database like MySQL or PostgreSQL.
What is LEMP Stack?
The LEMP stack is a collection of Linux OS, Nginx Server, MySQL Database, and PHP. LEMP is also open source and is used to build dynamic web applications.
The LEMP stack has been around for quite some time now but only recently have we seen it become more popular among web developers.
This is because it’s easier to set up than some other options and you can achieve similar results with less effort. But what exactly does this mean?
Working of LEMP Stack
- Nginx: Web Server – Apache like work in the LAMP Nginx stack for LEMP, processing user requests and responses with proper output.
- PHP: scripting language – Query processing, database communication, user authentication, etc.
- MySQL: Database – Work similar to the LAMP stack.
- Linux: operating system – Linux runs at the base of this stack.
Pros of LEMP
- Firstly LEMP is the most popular Linux web server, which is maintained by the Linux Foundation. It is a lightweight web server that uses an open source framework called LEMP (Linux, Nginx and MySQL). Well the LEMP is an acronym of Linux, Nginx, MySQL.
- LEMP stands for Linux, Nginx, MySQL and PHP. This means that it combines all of these technologies in one package so that you can build your own website without having to worry about any other software or services required for its operation.
- The advantage of using a LEMP stack instead of just one technology like Apache or Nginx is that it gives you more control over each individual technology and how they interact with each other.
- For example, if you want to change how PHP works with your database then there will be changes made to both PHP and MySQL as well as Nginx – this makes it easier to manage since you don’t have to tune each individual part separately while still being able to customize them in exactly what way you want them
Cons of LEMP
- Worth nothing that Nginx has the tendency to be a lot more bendy than Apache. This implies that if configurations are taken into account, Nginx does now no longer permit extra configurations that’s a disadvantage in contrast to Apache as it’s much less bendy on this case.
- Not bendy sufficient to guide dynamic modules and loading. In the event you wish to use dynamic modules, or load them from CDNs in your nginx server, then this arrangement can’t help you.
- It does not support operating systems other than Linux.
- Nginx does not allow additional configurations compared to Apache.
LAMP vs LEMP: Which Is Better?
Speed & Performance
LAMP
On one hand LAMP is most likely the greatest open supply web server on this earth. It has been around for a very long time, with a strong history of being updated and modified.
For example, in case you need to run many web sites on a unmarried server, LAMP is the better option. It makes up for its age by offering a powerful set of tools that assist you in creating your personal customized web server.
LEMP
On the other hand LEMP is good at serving static content material greater efficaciously and quickly. But in terms of scaling LEMP is an excellent choice if you want to serve dynamic content material and handle SSL certificates on your own server.
You can use Nginx as your default web server and then install PHP or other languages on top of it so that you can extend it with features that make it great for serving websites.
Ease of Use
LAMP
LAMP is a very powerful server and it is widely used by the developers. The main advantage of Apache is that it can be installed on almost any operating system.
It is highly flexible and is maintained by an open community of developers.
LEMP
But LEMP is a lightweight server that works well with hosts with limited resources.
Additionally LEMP comes with an Nginx web server that is an open source reverse proxy server which serves web pages using proxy connections. It comes in a variety of configurations, each tailored to different applications and domains.
Community & Market Share
LAMP
In LAMP stack, Apache is the most well known open source software in the world. It is known as one of the most stable and secure web servers available.
Apache is used by over 50% of all websites on the internet, which means that if you use a server that doesn’t run Apache, your website may not be accessible to many people.
Although Apache changed into added in advance than Nginx, It has a more marketplace percentage and network of developers. But the wonderful overall performance of Nginx has attracted the bulk of developers.
LEMP
In LEMP stack, Nginx is a much newer Unix like HTTP web server, written by Igor Sysoev, Shan Huang and others at Arbor Networks (now part of Huawei).
Also Nginx was created with high performance in mind, but it also has other features such as load balancing, SSL offloading and more. Because it’s written in C++ rather than pure JavaScript it has better performance than Apache.
Component
LAMP
LAMP stack is made from four components:
- L stands for Linux operating system.
- A stands for Apache web server.
- M stands for MySQL, MariaDB database server.
- P stands for PHP, Perl, Python programming language.
LEMP
LEMP stack is made from four components:
- L stands for Linux operating system.
- E stands for Nginx web server.
- M stands for MySQL, MariaDB database server.
- P stands for PHP, Perl, Python programming language.
Platform Support
LAMP
LAMP stack is a cross platform and you can install it on many operating systems including, Linux, macOS and Windows.
LEMP
The LEMP stack is also support multiple operating systems. You can install it on all major operating systems including, Linux, macOS and Windows.
Thank you for your time and to read this article until the end LAMP vs LEMP Stack – What’s the Difference? (Pros and Cons).
LAMP vs LEMP Stack - What's the Difference? Conclusion
In this LAMP vs LEMP post, we explained pros and cons of each server stack. Both Apache and Nginx have advantages and disadvantages. Which one you should choose is depending upon your requirements. In reality, It is not necessarily easy to select the best one, because it will rely upon your necessities.
The most important thing, they will work well with linux on high effective VPS hosting services. Some providers even provide managed Linux hosting utilizing Apache instead of Nginx.
