If Apache is apparently so slow when compared to other web servers, why is it still so popular?
If you examine that data, you’ll see that Apache is only very slightly behind the majority of the others. The only ones out ahead are the servers by the company presenting the results. This makes their testing methodology suspect, it is almost certain that they picked tests which provide the most favourable results to them. Their own server is distinctly expensive as well. The other servers listed there are thttpd, which doesn’t appear to have been updated since June 1998 (so can probably be considered to be dead) and Lighttpd. Lighttpd is quick, but falls quite a long way behind Apache when it comes to features. (Apache has some very powerful features including its address rewriting and authentication / authorization system). My last job involved using Lighttpd as a server for static files and a proxy for Apache whenever heavy lifting was called for. It does get quite a lot of use, but usually not until performance enhancements are needed.
