# litespeedtech/openlitespeed

Our high-performance, lightweight, open source HTTP server

Repository: https://github.com/litespeedtech/openlitespeed
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/openlitespeed
Homepage: https://openlitespeed.org
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: c-plus-plus, webservers, servers, openlitespeed, http2-server, http3, quic
Last push: 2026-08-20T20:31:36+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 89/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 72, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4801, "days_push": 13, "days_rel": 27, "gap_med": 108.5, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1470, forks 232 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:49.143538+00:00)

## What it is
OpenLiteSpeed is a high-performance, lightweight, open source HTTP web server developed by LiteSpeed Technologies under GPLv3. It uses an event-driven architecture with HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (QUIC) support, built-in page caching, a WebAdmin GUI, and native LSAPI for accelerated PHP, Ruby, Python, Perl, and Java applications.

## Use cases
- serve high-traffic websites with low CPU and RAM overhead
- host WordPress with built-in full-page cache acceleration
- serve PHP applications faster via LiteSpeed SAPI
- enable HTTP/3 and QUIC on a web server
- reuse existing Apache mod_rewrite rules without changes
- self-host a web server with a friendly admin GUI
- export server metrics to Prometheus and Grafana
- protect sites with anti-DDoS throttling and ModSecurity v3

## When to choose
- you need an Apache alternative with better performance for static content, PHP, or HTTPS
- you want built-in caching and WordPress acceleration without extra plugins
- you need modern protocol support like HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and QUIC
- you prefer a web server with a built-in admin console and one-click WordPress stacks
- you want to run PHP, Ruby, Python, Perl, or Java backends efficiently via LSAPI

## When to avoid
- you need the full commercial feature set of LiteSpeed Enterprise (some features are enterprise-only)
- you require Windows or macOS production hosting - OLS targets Linux distributions
- your stack depends on Apache-specific modules beyond mod_rewrite
- you prefer a config-file-only workflow and dislike GUI-based administration

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, caching, proxy, monitoring, security, middleware
- domain: web-development, backend, self-hosted, performance
- platform: self-hosted, cloud
- tags: http2, http3, quic, event-driven, wordpress, php, lsapi, webadmin, mod-rewrite-compatible, anti-ddos, prometheus-exporter, gplv3, devops, linux, web-server, docker

## Member repositories
- litespeedtech/openlitespeed (main) score 89

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:49.143538+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:34:50.070328+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/litespeedtech/openlitespeed (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:49.143538+00:00, sha abfdc98bb129)
  - homepage: https://openlitespeed.org (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.987297+00:00, sha fb382a21e5e7)
  - site_page: https://openlitespeed.org/openlitespeed-features (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.992508+00:00, sha ce07cf0cc9a0)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation/repo (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.994470+00:00, sha 2ccafcb8a32b)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation/binary (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.996171+00:00, sha f30a525abeb9)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation/source (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.997746+00:00, sha fa80d58ff2ea)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation/docker (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:58.999329+00:00, sha 48fc9626d72a)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation/image (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:59.000927+00:00, sha dd057163b7a8)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:59.002548+00:00, sha 2771fa2d3f36)
  - site_page: https://docs.openlitespeed.org/installation (fetched 2026-08-29T11:42:59.004097+00:00, sha e7100696031e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.