Linux and Windows are the two most common platforms offered by web hosting services. Both of them have been in the industry for quite some time now and have served millions of websites. Generally, users make the decision between Linux and Windows server based on their requirements and the apps and programs they would be integrating on their website.
VPS Linux has gained more popularity in recent times because Linux is an open-source platform that comes with robust and secure features. Windows servers offer a lot of amazing benefits to the users as well, but they come at a price. Consequently, a majority of websites hosted today are on Linux servers. However, price is not the only difference between the two. Below is a quick look at the major differences between Linux and Windows servers.
Linux vs. Windows
- Linux offers a CLI console that consumes very little memory power to execute a process; Windows offers a GUI console that needs more memory power
- Linux offers multiple modes of security, such as tcp_wrapper, iptables, and pam; Windows offers firewall security only
Linux offers open source as well as paid versions of control panels for managing web hosting, such as WHM, cPanel, and Plesk; Windows offers paid-only control panels, such as Plesk and WebsitePanel
- Linux typically supports PHP application language, along with Perl and Python that usually require Linux only; Windows supports applications developed in ASP.NET
- Linux servers offer MySQL database; Windows servers offer MSSQL database
- Linux offers many application-level security measures, such as ModSecurity, to further protect the hosted website; Windows servers usually do not offer any high-end application-level security
Another key thing to note is that most of the applications that are compatible with Linux would run in a Windows environment also. However, Windows servers might not offer full functionality or good-level security features to the applications when compared to VPS Linux servers.