LiteSpeed Web Server Apache Replacement https://www.litespeedtech.com/images/logos/litespeed/litespeed-logo.png 2023-05-11 20:12:55 LiteSpeed Web Server is an Apache alternative that conserves resources without sacrificing performance, security, or convenience. Double the capacity of your current Apache servers! Securely handle thousands of concurrent clients while consuming minimal memory and CPU. Compatible with your favorite control panel.

LiteSpeed Web Server

Double your capacity and eliminate 3rd party caching layers with our Apache alternative.

Securely handle thousands of concurrent clients while consuming minimal memory and CPU.

Install LiteSpeed Web Server and replace Apache in 15 minutes with zero downtime!

Experience the LiteSpeed Difference

Can the software you run make that much of a difference? Yes, it can.

Our lightweight Apache alternative conserves resources without sacrificing performance, security, compatibility, or convenience.

Double the maximum capacity of your current Apache servers with LiteSpeed Web Server's streamlined event-driven architecture, capable of handling thousands of concurrent clients with minimal memory consumption and CPU usage.

Protect your servers with already familiar ModSecurity rules while also taking advantage of a host of built-in anti-DDoS features, such as bandwidth and connection throttling.

Conserve capital by reducing the number of servers needed to support your growing hosting business or online application.

Reduce complexity by eliminating the need for an HTTPS reverse proxy or additional 3rd party caching layers.


Main Features

LiteSpeed Web Server is compatible with all popular Apache features including its Rewrite Engine and ModSecurity, and can load Apache configuration files directly. As a drop-in replacement, LiteSpeed can fully integrate with control panel written for Apache, including cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, and more. Replacing Apache with LiteSpeed Web Server takes less than 15 minutes, and incurs zero downtime. Unlike other solutions that act as frontend proxies, LiteSpeed replaces all Apache functions, simplifying use and making the transition to a new server easy for your team. Move confidently forward with little-to-no retraining!


HTTP/3 Support

LiteSpeed is the first to provide a production-ready implementation of this new Internet protocol, previously known as HTTP-over-QUIC.

Learn more about HTTP/3 and LiteSpeed's pioneering efforts here!


Looking for a new web server? Here's everything you need to know.


control panel plugins

Control Panel Plugins

LiteSpeed Web Server is compatible with all control panels written for Apache. For some of the most popular control panels, we have developed control panel plugins to allow you to handle common LiteSpeed Web Server processes from within the panel.

Our control panel plugins are currently available for cPanel, Plesk, CyberPanel and Direct Admin.

  • Easy Installation

    Easy Installation

    Install and Uninstall LiteSpeed Web Server
  • Version Management

    Version Management

    Upgrade LSWS to latest version, switch between versions
  • Port Offset

    Port Offset

    Fully test web apps by running LSWS on a different port
  • One-Click Switch

    One-Click Switch

    Easily switch between Apache and LSWS with one click
  • PHP LSAPI

    PHP LSAPI

    Build PHP with LSAPI to match your Apache PHP
  • Server Restart

    Server Restart

    Restart your LiteSpeed Web Server
  • License Management

    License Management

    Check license status, migrate licenses, and more
  • WebAdmin Portal

    WebAdmin Portal

    Easy access to LiteSpeed WebAdmin console

server load benchmark

Benchmark

LiteSpeed Web Server's revolutionary architecture delivers more performance from your existing infrastructure, typically cutting server load in half and improving TTFB by 3x.


Frequently Asked Questions

 What is LiteSpeed Web Server?

LiteSpeed Web Server is a drop-in Apache replacement and the leading high-performance, high-scalability server from LiteSpeed Technologies. You can replace your existing Apache server with LiteSpeed without changing your configuration or operating system details. As a drop-in replacement, LiteSpeed allows you to quickly eliminate Apache bottlenecks in 15 minutes with zero downtime. LiteSpeed's expansive range of features and easy-to-use web administration console are an asset to any effective web hosting infrastructure.

Three different types of licenses are available for LiteSpeed Web Server: Free Starter, Site Owner and Web Host. Please visit our LiteSpeed Web Server pricing page to choose the best license for your needs.

 How will my system benefit by using LiteSpeed Web Server?

Depending on specific server setup, each system may benefit differently. Overall, our customers tell us they enjoy significant decreases in server load and measurably faster site loading times. Other benefits include increased security, reduced hardware costs, ease of upgrade from Apache, and increased customer satisfaction. Plus, LiteSpeed’s caching plugins for the major CMS’s (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, PrestaShop, Magento, OpenCart and more) make speeding up your sites a breeze.

 Is LiteSpeed Web Server Secure?

LiteSpeed takes security seriously. The Web Server is mod_security compatible, and comes equipped with cutting-edge anti-DDoS features to stop attackers before they cause serious problems.

 Is LiteSpeed Web Server Cost Effective?

When you switch from Apache to LiteSpeed Web Server, you do incur the cost of a license, but this is typically far below the expense of the hardware upgrade that would be required to get the same performance improvements under Apache.

 How often does LiteSpeed Web Server come out with new versions?

We don’t have a set time between each version, but we do like to keep on top of cutting edge technologies so we release new versions often. Check out our release log.

 Does LSWS work on VPS’s?

Yes, you can use LiteSpeed Web Server on a VPS.

 How does LiteSpeed Web Server compare to Apache and nginx?

LiteSpeed Web Server was built from the ground up to encorporate the best of both worlds: an event-driven architecture like nginx, and Apache .htaccess compatibility.

Being event-driven, LiteSpeed Web Server consumes fewer resources than Apache's process-based model, leading to better performance. LSWS has the ability to serve thousands of clients simultaneously with minimum memory and CPU usage. Sudden traffic spikes are no problem for LiteSpeed Web Server. And because LiteSpeed can read Apache configuration files directly (unlike nginx), LiteSpeed Web Server is thus compatible with control panels written for Apache. Switching from Apache can be done in 15 minutes.

For more info, please visit our Compare LiteSpeed Web Server vs. Apache vs. nginx page.

 Does LiteSpeed Enterprise work with CyberPanel?

LiteSpeed Enterprise does work with CyberPanel, but if you would like to use it you must contact us to enable it (for all licenses other than Free Starter.)

 What control panels is LiteSpeed Web Server compatible with?

LiteSpeed Web Server can be used with any Apache-compatible control panel, such as cPanel, Plesk and Direct Admin.


LiteSpeed Web Server Icon

LiteSpeed Web Server

LiteSpeed Web Server is actively maintained and updated with new features and bug fixes. Check in with us frequently to keep yourself current.

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

LiteSpeed Technologies, Inc. (aka “LiteSpeed”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy ("Privacy Policy" or "Policy") explains our practices for our site, www.litespeedtech.com ("Site"). You can visit most pages of the Site without giving us any information about yourself, but sometimes we do need information to provide services that you request. By using this Site or any products or services provided through the Site, you expressly consent to the use and disclosure of information as described in this Privacy Policy.

LiteSpeed reserves the right to revise, modify, add, or remove provisions to this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will update the Effective Date to note the date of such changes. LiteSpeed encourages you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY OF THE TERMS BELOW, YOU SHOULD NOT USE THIS SITE OR THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OFFERED BY LITESPEED TECHNOLOGIES AT THIS SITE.

Collection of Information

Personal Information.

LiteSpeed will ask you for certain “Personal Information” when you complete registration or product information request forms on the Site, including but not limited to your name, address, telephone number, email address, and credit card information. You can always choose not to provide us with the requested information, however, you may not be able to complete the transaction or use our products or services if you do not provide the information requested.

Non-Personal Information.

LiteSpeed may collect non-personally identifiable information from you such as the type of browser you use, your operating system, the screen resolution of your browser, your ISP, your IP address, which pages you view on the Site and the time and duration of your visits to the Site (collectively, “Non-Personal Information”). LiteSpeed may associate Non-Personal Information with Personal Information if you register with the Site.

User Communications.

If you communicate with us, we may collect information relating to that communication whether it takes the form of email, fax, letter, forum posting, blog comments, testimonials or any other form of communication between you and LiteSpeed or Submitted by you to the Site (collectively, “User Communications”).

Server Information.

If you use one of our software products such as LiteSpeed Web Server or LiteSpeed Web ADC, we may collect certain information concerning such software and concerning the server upon which the software operates. This information includes: (a) the licensed or unlicensed status of the software; (b) the source from which the license for the software was obtained (i.e., LiteSpeed or a LiteSpeed affiliate); or (c) information about the server upon which the software is installed including (i) the public IP address, (ii) the operating system and (iii) the use of any virtualization technologies on such server ((a) through (c) collectively, “Server Information”). Additionally, “Server Information” may also include information collected from you by LiteSpeed in the event that you request technical support services including without limitation, IP addresses, usernames, and passwords necessary to login to SSH, the root directory of the server upon which you installed the LiteSpeed software and any affected accounts including email accounts, control panel accounts, MySQL accounts, CMS accounts and other accounts.

Use and Storage of Collected Information

LiteSpeed may use Personal Information to create and authenticate your account, to respond to your requests, to provide you with customer and technical support, or to provide you with information regarding our products, services, partners, and company. You may update your Personal Information with us at any time, but we may maintain records of any Personal Information you disclose to us indefinitely, unless otherwise requested as outlined below.

We may use User Communications in the same ways we use Personal Information. If you communicate with us for a particular purpose, we may use your User Communications for that purpose. For example, if you contact us for technical support, we may use your communications to provide technical support to you. We may maintain records of User Communications you transmit to us indefinitely, unless otherwise requested as outlined below.

LiteSpeed may use Non-Personal Information to maintain, evaluate, improve and provide our Site, the Services and any other LiteSpeed products and services. We may retain Non-Personal Information indefinitely.

We may use Server Information to provide you with technical support services and to maintain, evaluate, improve and provide LiteSpeed products and services. We may also use such information to investigate unlicensed (and therefore unauthorized) uses of our software. LiteSpeed may maintain Server Information indefinitely, with the exception of usernames, passwords, and other login information given in connection with support service requests. Such login information will be purged when the ticket is closed.

Disclosure of Collected Information

LiteSpeed will only disclose Personal Information to third parties if acting under a good faith belief that such action is necessary, including but not limited to: (a) to resolve disputes, investigate problems, or comply with laws or regulations; (b) to enforce our Terms of Service; (c) to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of our company or our users; or (d) in the event of a merger, acquisition or sale of all or substantially all LiteSpeed assets. Other than this limited activity, we do not share, sell, or rent any personal information to third parties.

You will receive notice in the form of modifications to this Policy when information about you might go to third parties other than as described in this Policy, and you always have the opportunity to contact us as set forth below if you do not wish your information to go to third parties.

LiteSpeed cannot be responsible for protecting your information if you share such information in publicly available sections of the Site such as the user forums, blog comments, or testimonials section. You should use your own judgment in disclosing this information on the Site.

Use of Cookies

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that your browser stores on your computer on behalf of a website that you have visited. Cookies may be used in order to complete transactions on our site. You can always choose not to accept cookies with the settings of your web browser, however, you may not be able to complete these transactions if you do not accept cookies.

Security of Personal Information

We use reasonable security methods to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. No data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be perfectly secure. While we try to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

LiteSpeed uses industry-standard SSL-encryption to protect sensitive data.

In the event that LiteSpeed becomes aware of a security breach, unauthorized disclosure or inadvertent disclosure concerning your information, you agree that LiteSpeed may notify you of such an event using the Personal Information previously provided.

You are responsible for maintaining your account’s security.

GDPR Notice and your Rights as Data Subject

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), in the European Union, LiteSpeed Technologies Inc. is a “data controller” of the Personal Information you provide to us for the primary purposes of providing you or your customers with our services.

For our customers and users in the European Union, by clicking the "I Accept" button or otherwise accepting the terms and conditions of our services through a clickable action or similar action, you hereby acknowledge, agree and unequivocally consent to the collection, processing, management, treatment, transfer and authorization of your Personal Information by LiteSpeed Technologies and/or its affiliates, clients, sub-processors and/or authorized third parties.

If you are a resident of Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here:
https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.

For European Union (EU) customers, please be reminded that the EU has not found the United States and some other countries to have an adequate level of protection of Personal Information under Article 45 of the GDPR.

The sections here below cover certain situations that you, as data subject, and we as a data controller, are most likely to encounter; but you should also carefully review the full list of data subject rights here: https://www.gdpr-info.eu/chapter-3/.

  • Right to be Forgotten: You can request us to be “forgotten”; that is, to have your entire Personal Information removed from our service. If we are asked to do this, in accordance with Article 17 GDPR we will remove any Personal Information that we have collected from you as requester. We will also need to contact any third parties that process your Personal Information on our behalf, such as our cloud service providers using the adequate mechanisms. To ensure that any personal data in LiteSpeed Technologies’ possession can be removed in a timely manner, you can relay any request to be “forgotten” to us by submitting a request.
  • Right to Data Portability: In accordance with Article 20 GDPR our users located in the EU may request LiteSpeed Technologies to send them any Personal Information in our possession. In this case, we will provide you with any Personal Information that you have in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
  • Right to Data Access: As a data subject, in accordance with Article 15 GDPR you can ask LiteSpeed Technologies to confirm how and where your Personal Information is being stored and processed. You also have the right to know how such data is shared with third parties by us.
  • Right to Data Rectification: As a data subject, in accordance with Article 16 GDPR you have the right to obtain from LiteSpeed Technologies, without undue delay, the rectification of inaccurate Personal Information concerning you.
  • Right to be Informed: You have the right to be informed about the Personal Information we collect from you, and how we process it.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: In accordance with Article 7(3) GDPR, you have the right to withdraw your consent given to us at any time.
  • Right to Object: In accordance with Article 18 GDPR you have the right to object to us processing your Personal Information for the following reasons:
    • Processing was not based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling);
    • Direct marketing (including profiling);
    • Processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics; and
    • Rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling.
  • Automated Individual Decision-Making and Profiling: You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.
  • Right to Complain: You have the right to file a complaint with supervisory authorities if your information has not been processed in compliance with the GDPR. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 77 GDPR, if the supervisory authorities fail to address your complaint properly, you may have the right to a judicial remedy.

Privacy Requests

Lastly, you retain the right to access, amend, correct or delete your Personal Information where it is inaccurate at any time. To do so, please contact us as indicated in the Contact Us section. We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee, as permitted by applicable laws and regulations, in order to comply with complex requests or repetitive requests from individual users.

Your privacy request must include, at the least, the following information: (i) your complete name, address and/or e-mail address in order for us to notify you of the response to your request; (ii) attached documents establishing your identity; and (iii) a clear and concise description of the Personal Information with regard to which you seek to enforce any of your privacy rights. If you request rectification, please indicate amendments to be made and attach documentation to back up your request.

Upon receipt of your privacy request, and after due review, we may then edit, deactivate and/or delete your Personal Information from our services for the maximum term allowed by the GDPR for each applicable case. In case of secure databases under our control where deletion is impossible, we will make such information permanently inaccessible.

Notice to California Residents

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), LiteSpeed Technologies and/or its affiliates, clients, sub-processors and/or authorized third parties hereto provide the following Privacy Policy notice regarding the categories of Personal Information that we may collect and/or disclose within the preceding twelve (12) months regarding California residents who are not employees, independent contractors, owners, directors, officers, or job applicants of LiteSpeed Technologies, or emergency contacts or benefits beneficiaries of the foregoing.

Thenceforth, the CCPA provides Californians with the following rights:

  • Requests for Information: you (or your authorized agent) can request a copy of your Personal Information, including how we have collected, used, and shared your Personal Information over the past 12 months (if any), including the categories of Personal Information we collected and our purposes for doing so; the categories of sources for that information; the categories of third parties with whom we shared it for a business purpose and our purposes for doing so.
  • Your Right to Notification: under the CCPA, we cannot collect new categories of Personal Information or use them for materially different purposes without first notifying you.
  • Nondiscrimination for exercising your CCPA Rights: the CCPA prohibits us from discriminating against you for exercising your rights under the law. Such discrimination may include denying services, charging different prices or rates for services, providing a different level or quality of services, or suggesting that you will receive a different level or quality of goods or services as a result of exercising your rights.
  • Your Right to Delete Personal Information: you can request that we delete your Personal Information by contacting us. You also can request that we delete specific information, and we will honor such requests, unless a due exception applies, such as when the information is necessary to complete a transaction, verify a fraud, review a chargeback or contract for which it was collected or when it is being used to detect, prevent, or investigate security incidents, comply with laws, identify and repair bugs or ensure another consumer’s ability to exercise their free speech rights or other rights provided by law.
    • Please take into consideration that we may deny your deletion request if retaining the Personal Information is necessary for us, our affiliates or our service providers in order to:

      • Complete the transaction for which we collected the Personal Information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you;
      • Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities;
      • Debug our products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
      • Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law;
      • Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 seq.);
      • Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us;
      • Comply with a legal obligation that has substantive grounds;
      • Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Overall, we have, may or will collect the following categories of Personal Information from our users, customers and individuals, as necessary to fulfill our legal obligations and operational business purposes:

  • Personal information (as defined in the California Customer Records Law), such as contact information;
  • Identifiers, such as online identifier, IP address and name;
  • Internet or network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our and other websites and systems;
  • Geo-localization data, such as device location and IP location;
  • Audio, electronic, visual and similar information, such as video recordings and multimedia content created in connection with our business activities; and
  • Inferences drawn from any of the Personal Information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics.

International Data Transfer Notice

LiteSpeed Technologies values your users’ privacy. Although our software does not directly collect any personally identifiable information from visitors to your site, LiteSpeed may still be considered a data processor in certain jurisdictions, as user information may be temporarily cached and/or logged, as outlined in this document.

We have our headquarters in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America (USA). Henceforth, your Personal Information may be accessed by us or our affiliates, agents, partners and third-party service providers in the USA and our locations which may or may not be located in your country of residence, and you hereby consent to such access and transfer by simple disclosure.

Servers

LiteSpeed Web Server, OpenLiteSpeed, LiteSpeed Web ADC, and related software may record IP addresses as a part of normal logging. An access log and an error log may record visitor IP addresses and URL visited. The logs are stored locally on the system where LiteSpeed server software is installed and are not transferred to or accessed by LiteSpeed employees in any way, except as necessary in providing routine technical support if you request it. This logging may be turned off through configuration. It is up to individual server administrators to come up with their own schedule for removing such logs from the file system.

Cache Solutions

Our cache plugins potentially store a duplicate copy of every web page on display on your site. The pages are stored locally on the system where LiteSpeed server software is installed and are not transferred to or accessed by LiteSpeed employees in any way, except as necessary in providing routine technical support if you request it. All cache files are temporary, and may easily be purged before their natural expiration, if necessary, via a Purge All command. It is up to individual site administrators to come up with their own cache expiration rules.

LSCache for WordPress

In addition to caching, our WordPress plugin has an Image Optimization feature. When optimization is requested, images are transmitted to a remote LiteSpeed server, processed, and then transmitted back for use on your site. LiteSpeed keeps copies of optimized images for 7 days (in case of network stability issues) and then permanently deletes them.

Similarly, the WordPress plugin has a Reporting feature whereby a site owner can transmit an environment report to our server so that we may better provide technical support.

Neither of these features collects any visitor data. Only server and site data is involved.

Support Services

Sometimes, when you request technical support, LiteSpeed may ask for login credentials to various areas of your site. You may refuse to share such credentials, however refusal may impact LiteSpeed’s ability to provide the requested support services.

Upon completion of a support ticket, LiteSpeed immediately deletes all login credentials you may have shared.

Any user data encountered by LiteSpeed is kept strictly confidential. We never provide your support ticket information to any third party without your explicit consent.

Contact Us

If you would like to update information that you have voluntarily provided to us, stop receiving information from us, or exercise any of the rights granted to you under Privacy Laws, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, please e-mail info@litespeedtech.com.