Who hosts more websites, Linux or Windows? Based on the information available up to 2024, Linux hosts a significantly larger share of websites compared to Windows.

Linux: Often described as the “galactic standard” for web hosting, Linux is like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy itself – widely used, versatile, and free (as in freedom, and often as in beer). It’s estimated that over 70% of the world’s servers run on some flavor of Linux. This is like saying if the universe were a party, Linux would be the host with the most.

Windows: While Windows Server has its place, especially in environments where Microsoft technologies like ASP.NET or IIS are crucial, it’s like the Earth’s equivalent of a niche market in the vast cosmos of web hosting. Windows hosting, though robust and well-supported, doesn’t come close to Linux’s market share, often cited as holding a much smaller percentage, even if we’re generous with the figures.

So, if web hosting were a popularity contest in the universe, Linux would be the cool, rebellious kid everyone wants to hang out with, while Windows would be the kid with really cool toys but fewer friends at this particular party.

In summary, Linux hosts more websites by a significant margin, making it the clear winner in market share for web hosting.

Notes:

Windows Server (formerly Windows NT Server) is a group of server operating systems (OS) that has been developed by Microsoft since 1993. The first OS that was released for this platform is Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server, an edition of Windows NT 3.1. With the release of Windows Server 2003, Microsoft started releasing new versions under the name Windows Server. The latest release of Windows Server is Windows Server 2025.

Linux is a generic name for a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution (distro), which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project.

Reddwebdev currently offers web hosting services on Linux — CentOS – v7.9.2009, cPanel – v108.0.15, Apache/2.4.56 (cPanel), OpenSSL/1.1.1, PHP v8.01, MySQL v8.0.
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