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Enhanced NGINX Build

NGINX-MOD: The Faster NGINX Build
You Should Be Running

Stock NGINX leaves performance on the table. NGINX-MOD adds HTTP/3, full HPACK, dynamic TLS records, kernel TLS, and active health checks — as a drop-in replacement.

Get NGINX-MOD Now See What's Included
8+
Performance Patches
78%+
HPACK Compression
100+
Compatible Modules
0
Config Changes

HTTP/2 Header Compression: The Difference Is Massive

Stock NGINX uses basic HPACK. NGINX-MOD implements full HPACK encoding from Cloudflare's patch, compressing headers 2.5x better.

Stock NGINX

~30%
Header Compression

NGINX-MOD

78%+
Header Compression

Verify it yourself: h2load https://yoursite.com -n 2 | tail -6 | head -1

Everything Stock NGINX Is Missing

NGINX-MOD patches in the performance and security features that upstream NGINX doesn't include

Built-in

HTTP/3 & QUIC

Full HTTP/3 with QUIC protocol support. Faster connection establishment, zero round-trip resumption, and improved performance on lossy networks.

Exclusive

Full HPACK Encoding

Cloudflare's HPACK patch delivers 78%+ HTTP/2 header compression vs ~30% in stock NGINX. Less bandwidth, faster page loads.

Performance

Dynamic TLS Records

Intelligent TLS record sizing reduces latency on initial page loads while maintaining throughput for large transfers.

Exclusive

Kernel TLS (kTLS)

Offload TLS encryption to the Linux kernel for significantly reduced CPU usage and higher throughput on RHEL 9+ and Fedora.

Enterprise

Active Health Checks

Proactively monitor upstream servers. Automatically remove unhealthy backends and restore them when recovered — no NGINX Plus required.

Unique

Extended Rate Limiting

Rate limit by hour, day, week, month, or year. Stock NGINX only supports per-second and per-minute rates.

Security

Full Server Identity Hiding

Use server_tokens none; to completely remove NGINX from the Server: header and error pages. Stock NGINX cannot do this.

Networking

CONNECT Method Support

Tunnel SSL/TLS requests through NGINX as a forward proxy. Essential for corporate proxy and VPN use cases.

NGINX-MOD vs Stock NGINX

A clear comparison of what NGINX-MOD adds to the table

Feature Stock NGINX NGINX-MOD
HTTP/3 (QUIC)
HTTP/2 Full HPACK (~78% savings)
Dynamic TLS Record Sizing
Kernel TLS (kTLS)
Active Health Checks
Rate Limiting (hour/day/week/year)
server_tokens none;
CONNECT Method Proxy
TLS 1.3 (Latest OpenSSL) partial
Compatible with 100+ Modules N/A
Drop-in Config Replacement —

Upgrade Your NGINX in 60 Seconds

NGINX-MOD is included with every GetPageSpeed subscription. Get it now alongside 100+ dynamic modules.

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From $10/month · Cancel anytime · Instant access

Install NGINX-MOD in 3 Steps

No compilation, no hassle. Works with your existing configuration.

1

Install the Repository

Add the GetPageSpeed repository and enable NGINX-MOD.

# Install the GetPageSpeed repo
sudo yum -y install \
  https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-latest.rpm

# Enable NGINX-MOD
sudo yum-config-manager \
  --enable getpagespeed-extras-nginx-mod
2

Install NGINX-MOD

Install the enhanced build along with any modules you need.

# Fresh install with modules
sudo yum -y install nginx \
  nginx-module-brotli \
  nginx-module-pagespeed
3

Start & Verify

Enable NGINX and verify HPACK compression is working.

# Start NGINX
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

# Verify HPACK
h2load https://yoursite.com -n 2

On EL8+, dnf can be used in place of yum. If yum-config-manager is not found, install it: sudo yum -y install yum-utils

Switching To & From NGINX-MOD

NGINX-MOD is a drop-in replacement. Switch in either direction without losing your configuration or modules.

Switch to NGINX-MOD

Already running stable or mainline NGINX from GetPageSpeed? Switch without losing your configuration or modules:

# Disable mainline, enable NGINX-MOD
sudo yum-config-manager \
  --disable getpagespeed-extras-mainline \
  --enable getpagespeed-extras-nginx-mod

# Swap to NGINX-MOD in place
# (modules are kept automatically)
sudo yum -y swap nginx nginx-mod

# Re-enable the service
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Switch Back to Stable NGINX

Revert to the standard stable NGINX package while preserving your existing configuration:

# Disable NGINX-MOD and mainline repos
sudo yum-config-manager \
  --disable getpagespeed-extras-nginx-mod \
  --disable getpagespeed-extras-mainline

# Remove nginx-mod from RPM DB only
sudo rpm --erase --justdb \
  --nodeps nginx-mod

# Install stable NGINX
sudo yum -y install nginx
sudo yum history sync

# Re-enable the service
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

On EL8+, dnf can be used in place of yum. If yum-config-manager is not found, install it: sudo yum -y install yum-utils

NGINX-MOD: Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about the faster NGINX build

NGINX-MOD is an enhanced NGINX build maintained by GetPageSpeed. It includes performance patches from Cloudflare (full HPACK encoding, dynamic TLS records), HTTP/3 QUIC support, kernel TLS offloading, active health checks, and extended rate limiting. It uses the latest stable NGINX as its base and is a drop-in replacement — your existing nginx.conf works without changes.
Yes. NGINX-MOD is fully compatible with all 100+ dynamic modules in the GetPageSpeed repository. You can install modules like PageSpeed, Brotli, ModSecurity, GeoIP2, Lua, and more using the same yum install nginx-module-* commands. No recompilation needed.
Yes. Switching is a simple package swap that preserves your existing configuration and installed modules. Enable the NGINX-MOD repository, run yum swap nginx nginx-mod, then systemctl enable --now nginx. This works whether you are on stable or mainline NGINX. Your config files remain untouched.
NGINX-MOD is available for RHEL 7/8/9, AlmaLinux 8/9, Rocky Linux 8/9, CentOS 7, Amazon Linux 2 and 2023, Oracle Linux 8/9, and Fedora. Packages are built for both x86_64 and aarch64 (ARM64) architectures.
The performance gains depend on your workload. HTTP/2 HPACK encoding alone can achieve 78%+ header compression (vs ~30% stock), reducing bandwidth significantly. Dynamic TLS records improve HTTPS latency on initial connections. Kernel TLS offloads encryption to hardware, freeing CPU for your application. For most production workloads, you will see measurable improvements in both latency and throughput.
No. NGINX-MOD is included in every GetPageSpeed repository subscription starting at $10/month. There are no additional fees. You get NGINX-MOD, 100+ dynamic modules, and all other packages in the repository.

Stop Leaving Performance on the Table

NGINX-MOD is the NGINX build your servers deserve. Get it today with a GetPageSpeed subscription and unlock 100+ dynamic modules.

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