When it comes to web servers, most developers think of Apache or Nginx. And rightly so — both are extremely popular and powerful. But there’s a third player, less talked about, that deserves attention: Lighttpd (or simply Lighty).
What is Lighttpd?
Lighttpd is a web server designed with a focus on low resource usage and high performance. Created by Jan Kneschke in 2003, it was born to solve a classic problem: how to handle a large number of simultaneous connections without consuming too much memory and CPU.
The idea is simple: to be a lightweight, fast, and stable server, ideal for scenarios where every megabyte of RAM counts.
Why use Lighttpd?
During my tests in a Docker container, I was surprised: Lighttpd used only 700KB of RAM running a simple application. That’s much less than Nginx or Apache in similar situations.
Some points that stood out to me:
- 🔹 Extremely lightweight – perfect for cheap VPS, embedded devices, and low-resource environments.
- 🔹 Supports FastCGI, SCGI, and CGI – works very well with PHP, Python, or other backends.
- 🔹 Security and simplicity – configuration is straightforward, without the complexity of other servers.
- 🔹 Good scalability – although minimalist, it can handle significant traffic.
Use cases
Lighttpd won’t replace Nginx in large infrastructures (even though it can handle heavy traffic), but it does very well in scenarios like:
- Hosting static websites;
- Lightweight APIs in containers;
- Servers for IoT or limited hardware;
- Quick prototypes and test environments;
Quick example
To run Lighttpd in a Docker container, you can use:
services:
lighttpd:
image: sebp/lighttpd
ports:
- "8080:80"
volumes:
- ./site:/var/www/localhost/htdocs
This is enough to serve static files on port 8080.
Conclusion
Lighttpd is one of those tools that often goes unnoticed but can be exactly what you need for certain projects.
Sometimes, less is more — and Lighttpd is living proof of that. 😉
Have you ever used or considered using Lighttpd in one of your projects?