# NGINX vs Pulse

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | NGINX | Pulse |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 84/100 ✓ | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 12 in Web Servers | #2 of 19 in Infrastructure Monitoring |
| GitHub stars | 32 003 ✓ | 6 977 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +279 ✓ | +233 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 21 | 43 ✓ |
| Latest release | release-1.31.8 · 21 Oct 2026 | helm-chart-6.6.0 · 25 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Main language | C | Go |

## Which one should you pick?

NGINX scores 84/100 against 71/100 for Pulse, so it is the safer default.

Pulse ships more often: 43 stable releases in the past year, against 21 for NGINX.

If you want the quickest setup, Pulse is easier to run; NGINX needs more configuration.

## Details

- [NGINX](https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nginx.md)
- [Pulse](https://selfhost.directory/project/pulse) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/pulse.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/nginx-vs-pulse