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Server Software — Does It Actually Matter?

Origin TTFB comparison across 20,909 WooCommerce stores by detected server software

Server software matters less than you think. The gap between Apache and Nginx is 11%. Your hosting provider and caching strategy matter more.

2,121 additional sites had unidentifiable server software and are excluded

Most Common Server

Cloudflare

7,913 sites

Fastest Server (Median)

Kinsta

857ms median TTFB

Server Types Found

8

7 with 5+ sites

Sites Tested

20,909

WooCommerce with known server

Median Origin TTFB by Server Software

Sorted fastest to slowest. Only servers with 5+ sites shown.

TTFB Distribution by Server Software

Box shows p25–p75 range, whiskers extend to p10 and p90, line marks median

Note: Kinsta and Cloudflare appear in server headers but represent managed platforms, not just server software. Their performance reflects full-stack optimization (or proxy-layer caching), not server choice alone.

Detailed Performance Statistics

Server Count % of Total Median p25 p75 p90
Caddy (n<5) 2 0.0% 635ms 635ms 820ms 820ms
Kinsta 1,004 4.8% 857ms 624ms 1,225ms 1,650ms
Nginx 5,879 28.1% 976ms 610ms 1,615ms 2,376ms
Cloudflare 7,913 37.8% 996ms 656ms 1,536ms 2,319ms
LiteSpeed 1,798 8.6% 1,066ms 637ms 1,814ms 2,858ms
Apache 4,236 20.3% 1,083ms 622ms 1,789ms 2,813ms
Microsoft IIS 34 0.2% 1,180ms 455ms 2,630ms 4,106ms
OpenResty 43 0.2% 2,346ms 995ms 3,407ms 5,186ms

TTFB Pass Rates by Server Software

Server Count % Under 500ms % Under 800ms
Kinsta 1,004 13.4% 44.6%
Nginx 5,879 16.8% 38.9%
Cloudflare 7,913 13.4% 36.4%
LiteSpeed 1,798 15.7% 35.9%
Apache 4,236 18.0% 35.7%
Microsoft IIS 34 26.5% 35.3%
OpenResty 43 7.0% 16.3%

Server software is not the full picture

These numbers reflect the median site running each server software, not the server software itself in isolation. Many factors affect TTFB beyond the web server:

  • Hosting hardware — CPU, RAM, disk speed, and network quality
  • PHP version — PHP 8.x is significantly faster than 7.x
  • Plugin count & quality — bloated plugins add server-side processing time
  • Database optimization — unoptimized queries, missing indexes, large wp_options autoload
  • Object caching — Redis/Memcached vs no persistent object cache

Managed platforms like WP Engine and Kinsta reflect their full stack optimization (custom caching layers, tuned PHP workers, managed databases), not just their choice of web server.

Caching Effectiveness by Server Software

Sites with a confirmed cache HIT on homepage. Shows how much caching reduces TTFB for each server type.

Server Sites w/ Cache Origin Median Cached Median Improvement
Cloudflare 2,098 976ms 123ms 87.0%
Apache 42 998ms 137ms 84.2%
Kinsta 352 883ms 151ms 82.9%
LiteSpeed 537 1,143ms 226ms 81.4%
Nginx 1,418 876ms 215ms 75.9%

Methodology

Server detection is based on the Server HTTP response header, supplemented by platform-specific headers (e.g., x-powered-by) for managed platforms like WP Engine and Kinsta.

LiteSpeed includes both LiteSpeed Enterprise and OpenLiteSpeed — these are indistinguishable from the Server header alone.

Cloudflare appears as the server when it acts as a reverse proxy. The actual origin server behind Cloudflare is hidden, so Cloudflare results reflect the proxy layer, not the origin software.

Origin TTFB is measured with WooCommerce session cookies set (woocommerce_items_in_cart, woocommerce_cart_hash, wp_woocommerce_session_*), which forces the server to bypass page cache and generate a dynamic response. Range: 50–10,000ms.

Sample threshold: Servers with fewer than 5 sites are shown in the detailed table but excluded from charts and pass rate analysis to avoid misleading conclusions from small samples.