# LiteSpeed, what it is and how websites use it.

High-performance web server compatible with Apache configuration. LiteSpeed offers built-in caching, anti-DDoS protection, and native HTTP/3 support. OpenLiteSpeed is the open-source version available under the GPL license.

- **Status:** Modern. Growing popularity especially in the hosting segment. Excellent Apache compatibility and superior performance when processing PHP requests.
- **Category:** [Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)
- **First release:** 2003
- **License:** Proprietary / GPL-3.0 (OpenLiteSpeed)
- **Official website:** https://www.litespeedtech.com
- **Documentation:** https://docs.litespeedtech.com
- **GitHub:** https://github.com/litespeedtech/openlitespeed
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/litespeed

## LiteSpeed on audited websites

159 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run LiteSpeed (<1%). That ranks it #15 of the 34 technologies in Servers & Hosting we have seen in audits.

### Websites running LiteSpeed vs all websites

- **Web score:** 72 (all websites 72)
- **SEO:** 85 (all websites 79)
- **Security:** 52 (all websites 59)
- **Performance:** 62 (all websites 72)
- **AI Readiness:** 36 (all websites 31)

### Most used in Servers & Hosting

1. [Cloudflare](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cloudflare): 22% (3,772)
2. [Vercel](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/vercel): 22% (3,635)
3. [Google CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cdn): 16% (2,700)
4. [nginx](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/nginx): 14% (2,284)
5. [OpenResty](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/openresty): 10% (1,707)
6. [Apache HTTP Server](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/apache-http-server): 9.3% (1,574)
7. [jsDelivr](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/jsdelivr): 7.2% (1,221)
8. [cdnjs](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/cdnjs): 6.0% (1,019)
9. [Netlify](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/netlify): 5.8% (971)
10. [AWS CloudFront](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/aws-cloudfront): 5.1% (859)

We don't track the release history of LiteSpeed yet. Its releases are published on GitHub. https://github.com/litespeedtech/openlitespeed/releases

## Other technologies in Servers & Hosting

- [unpkg](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/unpkg): 2.8% of websites
- [Fastly](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/fastly): 1.6% of websites
- [BunnyCDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/bunnycdn): 1.2% of websites
- [Microsoft IIS](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/microsoft-iis): 1.0% of websites
- [Caddy](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/caddy): <1% of websites
- [Amazon S3](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/amazon-s3): <1% of websites
- [Google Cloud](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/google-cloud): <1% of websites
- [Varnish](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/varnish): <1% of websites
- [Azure](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/azure): <1% of websites
- [Hostinger CDN](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/hostinger-cdn): <1% of websites
- [GitHub Pages](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/github-pages): <1% of websites
- [Akamai](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server/akamai): <1% of websites

[All 35 in Servers & Hosting](https://be1st.ai/technologies/server)

## Questions about LiteSpeed

### What is LiteSpeed?

High-performance web server compatible with Apache configuration. LiteSpeed offers built-in caching, anti-DDoS protection, and native HTTP/3 support. OpenLiteSpeed is the open-source version available under the GPL license. The be1st catalog lists LiteSpeed under Servers & Hosting. License of LiteSpeed: Proprietary / GPL-3.0 (OpenLiteSpeed).

### How many websites use LiteSpeed?

159 of the 16,845 websites audited by be1st run LiteSpeed (<1%), as of 8 Nov 2026.

### When was LiteSpeed first released?

LiteSpeed was first released in 2003.

### Is LiteSpeed still a modern choice?

Yes. LiteSpeed counts as a modern technology. Growing popularity especially in the hosting segment. Excellent Apache compatibility and superior performance when processing PHP requests.

### What are the alternatives to LiteSpeed?

Technologies that do the same job as LiteSpeed include nginx, Apache HTTP Server, and Caddy.

Numbers: latest audit of each of 16,845 websites audited by be1st, as of 8 Nov 2026.