If time is money and you want easy configuration, spend the $200 on a VPS license for Litespeed. Since it can use the existing .htaccess and httpd.conf from apache, it really does take only 5 minutes to "upgrade" in most situations (and their support is 2nd to none).

But litespeed can get expensive for large installs so I don't blame people looking for free/opensource alternatives. All depends how much time you have and if you are building from scratch vs. upgrading an existing Apache install.

The great thing is, we have so MANY choices today compared to just 5-6 years ago, it's awesome.

Proprietary vs free software isn't just about money. It's about freedom, control and security.

I've often found myself needing to patch the software I use to get it to work just right. Even when a proprietary software vendor gives you source code the build system often sucks and the code is not hacker friendly.

Also the licensing would restrict you from doing all sorts of things you wouldn't have to think twice about with an open source web server (e.g., auto-scaling in a cloud configuration)

Unless you need the backwards compatibility with Apache don't use LiteSpeed. There are excellent open source alternatives which are just as good and perhaps superior. Minus the Apache compatibility.

Never used Litespeed, but wonder if you should just buy more VPS for the $200.

True, if more hardware is cheaper it's always a better upgrade.

But litespeed will certainly double the capacity of any Apache install, no exaggeration, and it's ddos resistance is second to none. I just wish it wasn't so expensive.

> +1 for lighttpd. nginx is nice too but its configuration system is much more primitive by comparison.

http://agentzh.org/misc/slides/nginx-conf-scripting/nginx-co... disagrees with your assessment of the nginx configuration system.

-1 for lighttpd, it's fcgi handler has an old, unresolved bug in it that causes it crash under very high loads, use nginx