SHSelfHostIndex

OpenResty vs Tengine

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted reverse proxy & gateways options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
OP OpenResty Scalable web platform extending Nginx with Lua VS TE Tengine Nginx-derived web server with extra features
FeatureOpenRestyTengine
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score87 · Excellent75 · Good
CategoryReverse Proxy & GatewaysReverse Proxy & Gateways
LicenseBSD-2-ClauseBSD-2-Clause
LanguageCC
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker, binary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 14,045★ 13,373
First released20112011
ReplacesNginxNginx

What are OpenResty and Tengine?

OpenResty

OpenResty is a full-fledged web platform that bundles Nginx with LuaJIT and many libraries, enabling powerful programmable proxies and gateways. It is the foundation for several API gateways.

  • Nginx plus LuaJIT scripting
  • Programmable request handling
  • Foundation for API gateways
  • High performance

Tengine

Tengine is a web server originated by Taobao based on Nginx, adding advanced features for high-traffic websites such as dynamic module loading and enhanced load balancing. It is fully Nginx compatible.

  • Nginx-compatible server
  • Dynamic module loading
  • Enhanced load balancing
  • Proven at large scale

OpenResty vs Tengine: key differences

Both projects are written in C.

Why pick each one

Choose OpenResty if…

  • Very high performance
  • Programmable with Lua
  • Battle-tested Nginx core

Watch out for

  • Lua knowledge required
  • Config more complex than Nginx
OpenResty details

Choose Tengine if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 13.4k GitHub stars
  • Written in C
Tengine details

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenResty or Tengine better?

Neither is universally better. OpenResty has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are OpenResty and Tengine free and open-source?

Yes. OpenResty is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Tengine under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OpenResty and Tengine with Docker?

OpenResty: yes. Tengine: yes.

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