NGINX Plus vs Squid

NGINX Plus7.4Visit SSquid7.1Visit

Higher score NGINX Plus #4 in Web Accelerator Software 7.4/10 Pricing on request · 30-day trial ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit NGINX Plus

vs

S Squid #6 in Web Accelerator Software 7.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Squid

• NGINX Plus fits best

  Enterprise traffic management and API gateways

• Squid fits best

  Free self-hosted caching and proxying

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Side by side

Feature	NGINX Plus 7.4/10 Visit ↗	SSquid 7.1/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	7.4	7.1
Ranking	#4 in Web Accelerator Software	#6 in Web Accelerator Software
Best for	Enterprise traffic management and API gateways	Free self-hosted caching and proxying
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Enterprise, Mid-market	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features NGINX Plus 0/5 · Squid 0/5
Image optimization	Not published	Not published
Web application firewall	Not published	Not published
Bot management	Not published	Not published
Origin shield	Not published	Not published
Cache purge API	Not published	Not published
Specs
Included bandwidth	Not published	Not published
Our review
Pros	Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with advanced routing and algorithms. Combines API gateway routing, authentication, and rate limiting. Offers active health checks, high availability, and real-time monitoring.	Caches HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and gopher objects in memory or on disk Supports reverse-proxy acceleration and cache-peer load balancing Includes access controls, request logging, and cache restoration after restart
Cons	Pricing requires contacting sales rather than choosing a public plan. It is not a managed service, so teams operate their deployment. No free plan is available; access is through a 30-day trial or subscription.	Self-hosting puts deployment and operations on your team Primarily focused on proxy caching rather than turnkey global delivery Requires configuration to manage cache peers, access controls, and SSL
Our verdict	NGINX Plus is F5’s commercial application delivery software for organizations managing modern applications, APIs, Kubernetes environments, and AI workloads. It brings reverse proxying together with Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing,… Read the review →	Squid is open-source proxy caching software for web clients and content delivery environments. It suits network operators, websites, and organizations that want to cache and reuse frequently requested web objects while managing the proxy… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• NGINX Plus — where it wins

  • Balances Layer 4 and Layer 7 traffic with advanced routing and algorithms.
  • Combines API gateway routing, authentication, and rate limiting.
  • Offers active health checks, high availability, and real-time monitoring.

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contacting sales rather than choosing a public plan.
  • It is not a managed service, so teams operate their deployment.
  • No free plan is available; access is through a 30-day trial or subscription.

• Squid — where it wins

  • Caches HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and gopher objects in memory or on disk
  • Supports reverse-proxy acceleration and cache-peer load balancing
  • Includes access controls, request logging, and cache restoration after restart

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosting puts deployment and operations on your team
  • Primarily focused on proxy caching rather than turnkey global delivery
  • Requires configuration to manage cache peers, access controls, and SSL

• NGINX Plus7.4/10 · Pricing on request · 30-day trial

  A self-hosted or cloud traffic platform for advanced load balancing and API gateway control.

  Visit NGINX PlusFull verdict →
• SSquid7.1/10 · Free plan

  Open-source caching and proxying for teams prepared to run it themselves.

  Visit SquidFull verdict →