ngx_pagespeed FAQ
Answers from the team that maintains the module.
Is ngx_pagespeed still maintained?
The maintained continuation is mod_pagespeed 1.1 for nginx and ModPageSpeed 2.0 for nginx, developed by We-Amp — the company that helped build ngx_pagespeed, maintained mod_pagespeed, and drove the project's Apache incubation — with active development, regular releases, and CVE patches. Google's original ngx_pagespeed repository is archived and no longer developed, but the optimization lineage lives on in the maintained nginx modules you can install today.
Is ngx_pagespeed free?
The module is free to install and evaluate — it fully optimizes and
adds an X-PageSpeed-Warn: unlicensed header until a
license is applied. A commercial license is required for production
use; your site keeps serving either way. We do not paywall access to
the binary; the packages install from a signed repository We-Amp
operates.
Does ngx_pagespeed support AVIF?
AVIF image output is part of the
ModPageSpeed 2.0 engine for
nginx, alongside its new architecture — zero-copy mmap serving and
variant-aware caching.
mod_pagespeed 1.1 for
nginx is the drop-in continuation that preserves the existing
pagespeed_* directive surface. Pick by your situation:
an existing configuration to preserve points to 1.1; a fresh install
that wants the modern engine points to 2.0 — the full side-by-side
comparison is on modpagespeed.com.
Which nginx versions are supported?
The maintained module installs against stock distro nginx builds via
the signed package repository. When
building from source, compile the
module against the source for the exact nginx version you run — nginx
dynamic modules are version-specific, so rebuild when you upgrade
nginx. The --with-compat configure flag lets the module
load into a stock distro nginx.
Which Linux distributions are supported?
The maintained module installs from the signed repository on Ubuntu (24.04 and 22.04, amd64 and arm64), Debian (11, 12, and 13, amd64 and arm64), EL9 — AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9, and RHEL 9 (x86_64 and aarch64) — and EL10 (x86_64). On other distributions, including Amazon Linux, build the module from source against your nginx — the install hub has the commands for each.
How do I install ngx_pagespeed?
Add the signed repository and install the package, or build from source for a custom nginx. The install hub has the commands for both paths, and the configuration reference covers the minimal directives to get optimization running.