Comparing PHP Application Servers in 2025: Performance, Scalability and Modern Options

Programming
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As PHP continues to power a significant portion of the web, choosing the right application server setup is crucial for performance and scalability. In this post, we’ll compare traditional options like Apache and Nginx alongside modern alternatives to help you make an informed decision for your PHP deployments.

Traditional Champions: Apache vs Nginx

Apache

Pros:

  • Battle-tested with decades of production use
  • Excellent documentation and community support
  • .htaccess files provide flexible configuration
  • Built-in PHP module (mod_php)

Cons:

  • Higher memory usage per connection
  • Slower performance compared to modern alternatives
  • Process-based architecture can be less efficient

Nginx

Pros:

  • Event-driven architecture handles concurrent connections efficiently
  • Lower memory footprint
  • Excellent static file serving
  • Modern configuration approach
  • Better performance under high load

Cons:

  • No direct PHP processing (requires PHP-FPM)
  • Steeper learning curve for configuration
  • No .htaccess support by default

PHP-FPM: The Process Manager

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) has become the de-facto standard for PHP processing in modern deployments.

Pros:

  • Separate PHP processes from web server
  • Fine-grained process management
  • Better resource utilization
  • Works well with both Nginx and Apache
  • Process pool management for scaling

Cons:

  • Additional configuration layer
  • Requires proper tuning for optimal performance

Modern Alternatives

FrankenPHP

A newer entrant built with Go, FrankenPHP offers interesting capabilities:

Pros:

  • Built-in HTTP/3 support
  • Native PHP integration
  • Early hints support
  • Excellent performance metrics
  • Modern architecture

Cons:

  • Relatively new and less battle-tested
  • Smaller community compared to traditional options

RoadRunner

A high-performance PHP application server:

Pros:

  • Written in Go for better performance
  • Persistent worker pool
  • Lower memory usage
  • Modern architecture
  • Great for long-running processes

Cons:

  • Requires code adaptation
  • Some PHP extensions may not work

OpenSwoole

Previously known as Swoole, this event-driven async PHP server:

Pros:

  • Extremely high performance
  • Built-in async capabilities
  • WebSocket support
  • Coroutine support
  • Great for real-time applications

Cons:

  • Requires specific PHP compilation
  • Steeper learning curve
  • May require code modifications

Source: Comparing PHP Application Servers in 2025: Performance, Scalability and Modern Options

This article also provides performances comparisons along with benchmarks.

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