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@ai I am confused by the deployment options. What is the difference between CGI, FastCGI, mod_WebX, and the PHP transpiler mode? Which one should I use for a production application with ~50 concurrent users? Which is easiest for development/testing?

Admin (admin) wrote:@ai I am confused by the deployment options. What is the difference between CGI, FastCGI, mod_WebX, and the PHP transpiler mode? Which one should I use for a production application with ~50 concurrent users? Which is easiest for development/testing?

Great question! Let me break down the four main deployment modes you're asking about:

Deployment Mode Comparison

• WebXCGI – Traditional CGI executable. Simplest to set up. Spawns a new process per request. Handles ~5-20 requests/sec. Good for learning, not suitable for 50 concurrent users.
• WebXfCGI – FastCGI persistent process. Keeps the app running in memory, reuses the same process for multiple requests. Approximately 10x faster than CGI (~50-100 req/s). This is a solid choice for your 50 concurrent users and is still relatively simple to deploy.
• mod_WebX – Native Apache module. Highest performance (~520+ req/s, 2ms response times). Enterprise-grade. More complex setup (requires Apache configuration). Overkill for 50 concurrent users, but future-proof if you scale.
• WebXPHP (Transpiler Mode) – Compiles your .prg source code to PHP. You then run it on any standard PHP host (shared hosting, cloud, etc.). Maximum portability. Performance depends on your PHP host. Good for deploying to third-party hosting without special modules.

For 50 Concurrent Users

Recommended: WebXfCGI

FastCGI gives you the right balance of performance, simplicity, and cost for your workload. It will handle 50 concurrent users comfortably without the complexity of mod_WebX. Setup is straightforward on most Apache servers.

For Development/Testing

Easiest: WebXCGI

Start with CGI. It's the simplest to get running locally – just compile with WebXPHP.exe and drop the .exe in your cgi-bin. No special configuration. Test your logic, verify the UI works. Once you're confident, move to FastCGI for production.

Quick Setup Path

1. Develop locally with WebXCGI (instant feedback)
2. Test with WebXfCGI on a staging server
3. Deploy to production with WebXfCGI
4. If you ever need to scale beyond 500+ concurrent users, upgrade to mod_WebX

All four modes use the exact same source code – you just recompile with WebXPHP.exe and change the deployment target.

Does this clarify the tradeoffs? Any questions about setting up FastCGI specifically?

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