NGINX, already a popular web server, is getting more so, according to new survey numbers from W3techs.com
The web server is now used by more than 1/3 (39.4 percent) of the world's busiest 1000 web sites , up from 37 percent three months ago. And, it helps run 20.8 percent of all websites surveyed, up from 14.8 percent three months ago, according to W3Techs.
The company claims that such big brand customers as Netflix(s nflx), Dropbox, Pinterest, Airbnb, Box, Instagram, GitHub, SoundCloud, Zappos(s amzn), and Yandex use NGINX for at least part of their infrastructure.
Web server ranking by W3Techs
NGINX brought out the commercial version of the open-source web server in August with an eye on displacing Microsoft IIS as the second-most deployed server after perennial favorite Apache. These numbers show it's succeeded there. Apache remains the market leader overall, used by a whopping 60.5 percent of all sites surveyed. But among the biggest sites NGINX has bigger share, 39.4 percent compared to 33.5 percent for Apache
Of course there are different ways to count market share so for more color, check out the most recent Netcraft survey. Netcraft's historical data shows Apache still leading by a lot but with its market share gradually declining over the past few years. NGINX (and Google) show steady growth in that time.