How OpenLiteSpeed Improves VPS Performance vs Apache in 2026

Running a VPS comes with one critical decision that affects everything from page load times to monthly hosting bills. Your choice of web server software can make or break your site’s performance. OpenLiteSpeed has emerged as a formidable Apache alternative, delivering speeds that leave traditional setups in the dust.

Here’s the thing. Benchmarks from 2025-2026 show OpenLiteSpeed handling 15,883 requests per second for WordPress sites, while Apache with W3 Total Cache manages just 1,204 requests per second. That’s a 13x performance gap you can’t ignore.

I’ll break down exactly how OpenLiteSpeed improves VPS performance compared to Apache, covering architecture differences, real benchmark data, and practical migration tips for 2026.

Event-Driven vs Process-Based Architecture

The basic difference between OpenLiteSpeed and Apache is in how they handle connections.

In the traditional model, Apache spawns a new process or thread for every connection. This works great for smaller sites. But what happens when there’s a sudden spike in traffic?

Each process consumes memory. More visitors mean more processes and higher consumption of RAM! A simple benchmark test proved this point clearly enough: With just 2,000 concurrent visitors to a site running on eight gigs (8GB) of available memory, Apache completely consumed all that was left free within seconds!

How OpenLiteSpeed Handles Connections

OpenLiteSpeed is built on an event-driven architecture. Instead of creating new processes for each connection, one process or a few processes handle all incoming requests.

That single process remains available waiting to react to any “event” (a new request, response ready), etc. So yes: with the same test of 10k concurrent users OpenLiteSpeed consumed only 1.8GB RAM.

Wait, there’s more. OpenLiteSpeed will handle hundreds of thousands of concurrent connections with virtually no load spikes. CPU overhead remains extremely low even during traffic surges, making it ideal for hosting OpenLiteSpeed Multiple Domains on a single server.

A Short Note on Apache’s Multi-Processing Modules

There are three MPMs (Multi-Processing Modules) in Apache, which help it to manage connections:

• Prefork MPM: Launches a complete copy of Apache for every request. Hefty on resources and slow under load.
• Worker MPM: Applies processes and threads together. More efficient than Prefork.
• Event MPM: Designed for better keep-alive connection handling. Apache’s most efficient option.

Even with Event MPM, Apache can’t match OpenLiteSpeed’s efficiency. The architectural difference runs too deep.

Real-World Benchmark Performance

Let’s look at actual numbers from 2025-2026 benchmarks. These aren’t theoretical maximums. They’re measurements from real server environments.

Static File Serving

For small static files over HTTP/2, OpenLiteSpeed performs:

• 6x faster than NGINX
• 29x faster than Apache

Source: OpenLiteSpeed official benchmarks (openlitespeed.org)

WordPress Performance

WordPress sites see even more dramatic differences:

OpenLiteSpeed is 13x more requests per second than Apache for cached WordPress content.

PHP Processing Speed

Dynamic PHP performance matters for any CMS or web application. According to the same report by MilesWeb on 2025 performance analysis, LiteSpeed servers process PHP code up to 9x faster than NGINX.

In comparison to Apache, the gap becomes even much wider. OpenLiteSpeed is five times faster in delivering static content, three times faster for PHP content, and four times faster when serving HTTPS connections.

Why LiteSpeed Cache Changes Everything

There’s one thing available from within OpenLiteSpeed that has never been, and cannot be, included with Apache: native integration of the LiteSpeed Cache (LSCache) plugin.

This is not simply another caching plugin. LSCache communicates directly with the web server while other caches communicate at the application level, at a necessarily slower speed.

Page Load Time Improvements

Lab and field data confirm that LSCache delivers a near 50% reduction in page load time. In one thoroughly documented case study, the load time dropped from 1.5 seconds to just 275 milliseconds after proper configuration of LSCache.

But here’s what really moves the needle on SEO.

Core Web Vitals Impact

Google’s Core Web Vitals are a direct ranking factor. OpenLiteSpeed with LSCache dominates at:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Up to 40% reduction in Time to First Byte (TTFB)
• First Input Delay (FID): Lower server response times mean faster interactivity
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Efficient resource loading reduces layout shifts

Sites running LSCache scored 92/100 on Google PageSpeed Insights. The same sites with W3 Total Cache on Apache scored 87/100. Sites without caching dropped to 75/100.

Under Extreme Load

Without caching, a standard WordPress site delivers 3.52 pages per second. Enable LiteSpeed Cache, and that jumps to 2,168 pages per second.

That is a 616x improvement in page delivery capacity.

HTTP/3 and QUIC Protocol Support

OpenLiteSpeed was one of the first to implement HTTP/3 and QUIC. This has more effect on VPS performance than most realize.

HTTP/3 runs over QUIC instead of TCP. The advantages are:

Faster Connection Establishment

QUIC merges both cryptographic and transport handshakes. Connections become capable of sending data much earlier. Initial page loads get reduced by hundreds of milliseconds.

No Head-of-Line Blocking

With TCP, a single lost packet blocks all data streams. QUIC’s multiplexed streams fix this. Individual packet loss only impacts specific resources.

Considerably enhanced for users who are on the move and connected through some unreliable network or probably sitting behind an overloaded ISP that drops packets once in a while.

Benchmark Results for HTTP/3

Results from tests for 2025 show OpenLiteSpeed (with cache) delivering about 70,000 requests per second over HTTP/3. NGINX with FastCGI clocked in at 6,025 requests per second. Apache with cache managed only 826 requests per second.

OpenLiteSpeed’s HTTP/3 implementation moves resources quicker on bigger scales while consuming less CPU and memory than NGINX’s HTTP/3 implementation.

Integrated Security Features

Apache needs extra modules for full DDoS protection. OpenLiteSpeed carries these features by default.

Anti-DDoS Protection

OpenLiteSpeed provides built-in protections:

• Connection and bandwidth throttling: Native per-client throttling for Layer 4 attacks
• Server-side reCAPTCHA: Automatically challenges suspicious visitors. Blocks IPs that repeatedly fail.
• ModSecurity integration: Supports OWASP and Comodo rulesets for web application firewall protection

mod_evasive plus mod_security can deliver similar protection on Apache. However, these must be installed, configured, and then maintained as separate components.

Resource Efficiency During Attacks

Something people fail to notice is that OpenLiteSpeed’s event-driven architecture helps in the effects of a DDoS attack. More connections with less memory, attacks simply cannot easily run out of server resources.

In Apache’s process-based model, more resources are consumed per connection. Attacks reach resource limits much faster.

Web Server Market Share in 2026

Market adoption gives a clue as to where the industry is headed. According to W3Techs data for January 2026:

• Apache: 24.4% of all websites (down from previous years)
• LiteSpeed: 14.7% of all websites (growing steadily)
• NGINX: Still the leader for active sites

Share is steadily crawling upwards for LiteSpeed. In a projection report from 6sense on web servers until 2026, it placed LiteSpeed at 15.04% in the web server category, more than 1.5 million sites run using this technology.

What’s causing such big swings? Benchmark results on performance speak louder than any words could say, and there are no cost barriers with OpenLiteSpeed being free and open source.

Apache Compatibility Makes Migration Easy

Concerned about making the move from Apache? OpenLiteSpeed remains highly compatible with Apache configurations.

What Works Without Changes

• .htaccess files: OpenLiteSpeed reads and processes Apache’s .htaccess rules
• mod_rewrite rules: Your URL rewriting continues working
• Standard directory configurations: Most Apache setups transfer directly

As one expert noted on BigRock’s 2025 analysis: OpenLiteSpeed provides “an easy upgrade for Apache users who want better performance and security without starting from scratch.”

Expert Perspectives

As of a May 2025 review on Temok, “If user-friendliness is your top priority together with performance for dynamic content, LiteSpeed shall be the best option.”

The same study found: “LiteSpeed increased WordPress website performance by up to 51% and reduced the time to first byte (TTFB) by up to 40% compared to NGINX.”

Compared to Apache, the gains run even higher.

Memory and CPU Usage Comparison

VPS resources cost money. Less efficient servers mean upgrading to larger (and more expensive) plans sooner.

RAM Consumption Under Load

The benchmark data is clear:

OpenLiteSpeed handles five times more users with less than a quarter of the memory.

CPU Efficiency

Lower CPU usage means better performance on the same hardware. OpenLiteSpeed’s memory usage and server load remain low even as concurrent users increase.

This means direct cost savings for budget VPS users. You can comfortably run OpenLiteSpeed on a 2 vCPU, 2GB RAM server for most use cases. Apache often requires 4GB or more for similar traffic levels.

When Should You Choose Apache Instead?

OpenLiteSpeed isn’t the right choice for every situation. Apache still makes sense in specific scenarios:

Legacy Applications

Certain legacy applications depend on particular Apache modules. If your application needs mod_php or those less mainstream, Apache-only modules, this means a break with compatibility in migration.

Module Support

No one can compete with the ecosystem of modules for Apache that has been built up over the years. If very specific functionality is required and not available within OpenLiteSpeed, more options are available through Apache to achieve it.

Existing Knowledge Base

Some teams have strong skills based around using Apache. It therefore makes sense from their perspective to continue utilizing known technology even though minimal learning time is required when switching over to OpenLiteSpeed.

In the case of most WordPress sites, PHP applications, and general web hosting: OpenLiteSpeed is simply much faster while using far fewer resources. The benchmark results don’t lie.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OpenLiteSpeed free to use on a VPS?

Yes. Completely free. Totally open source under GPLv3. You pay nothing for the software itself. There is a commercial LiteSpeed Enterprise version with extra features that most VPS users do not need.

How many times faster is OpenLiteSpeed than Apache for WordPress?

Benchmarks show OpenLiteSpeed with LSCache handling 15,883 requests per second versus Apache with W3 Total Cache at 1,204 requests per second. That’s approximately 13x faster for cached WordPress content. For uncached dynamic PHP, the improvement is typically 3-5x.

Can I use my existing .htaccess files with OpenLiteSpeed?

Yes. OpenLiteSpeed reads and processes .htaccess files and supports mod_rewrite rules. Most Apache configurations work without modification.

Does OpenLiteSpeed support HTTP/3?

OpenLiteSpeed was one of the very first web servers to support HTTP/3 (since July 2019) and is continuously updated to enable support for the latest versions of QUIC. Most hosting panels (CyberPanel, RunCloud, etc.) automatically enable HTTP/3 on OpenLiteSpeed servers.

What are the minimum VPS specs I need for OLS?

OpenLiteSpeed runs efficiently on modest hardware. A VPS with 2 vCPUs and 2GB RAM handles most small to medium sites. For high-traffic sites, consider 4 vCPUs and 4GB+ RAM. NVMe storage improves performance further.

Is OpenLiteSpeed secure enough for production use?

OpenLiteSpeed ships with anti-DDoS protection, connection throttling plus server-side implementation of reCAPTCHA all bundled in by default. ModSecurity is also supported for WAF functionality. Most hosting providers consider it more than ready for production-use with security levels better than a default install of Apache.

How to Make Your VPS Run Faster in 2026

OpenLiteSpeed has left Apache standing still. That is the new reality since version 1.7 and later of OpenLiteSpeed deliver static files 29 times faster, with a WordPress benchmark showing thirteen-fold better results while consuming minimal memory.

It depends on your situation, of course. Legacy apps with deep dependencies on some Apache modules might need to stay there. The rest should seriously consider making the switch.

Begin by experimenting with OpenLiteSpeed in a staging environment. Install LiteSpeed Cache if you are running WordPress. Note your Core Web Vitals before and after. The numbers will speak for themselves whether migration makes sense or not for your VPS.