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nginx proxy_cache: 868 vs 70 requests/s, 1 backend hit vs 200
How much does nginx proxy_cache improve throughput?
In front of a backend that takes 200 ms per request, ab -n 200 -c 20 measured 69.8 requests/s with 200 backend hits without a cache and 868.2 requests/s with 1 backend hit using proxy_cache for 30 s.
Results
| no cache | 69.8 req/s, 200 backend hits |
|---|---|
| proxy_cache 30 s | 868.2 req/s, 1 backend hit |
How it was measured
ab -n 200 -c 20 against two nginx server blocks.
proxy_cache lab;
proxy_cache_valid 200 30s;Why
Cached responses never reach the backend.
When this does not apply
Only for responses that can be stale; do not cache per-user data.
Environment
GitHub-hosted Ubuntu 24.04 runner (2 vCPU, ~8 GB RAM), systemd 255. Measured 2026-10-12.
Source: linux-lab/02-nginx-cache.sh in my content-engine repository. Treat any single run as a direction; re-run it on your hardware.
By Josué Barros, senior software engineer (full-stack, data and AI).