How to Enable Gzip Compression in HestiaCP

Prerequisites

Before enabling Gzip compression, make sure you have:

• SSH access to your VPS
• Nginx or Apache server

Method 1: Enable via HestiaCP Web Template

In HestiaCP, edit your domain and select a template that includes gzip (most templates have it enabled by default).

Check if enabled: curl -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" -I https://example.com | grep Content-Encoding

Method 2: Enable Gzip in Nginx

Edit Nginx main config:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Inside http block, add or modify:

gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_proxied any;
gzip_comp_level 6;
gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml text/javascript application/javascript application/xml+rss application/atom+xml image/svg+xml application/json;
gzip_min_length 1000;
gzip_disable "msie6";

Test and restart:

nginx -t
systemctl restart nginx

Method 3: Enable Gzip in Apache

Enable mod_deflate:

a2enmod deflate
systemctl restart apache2

Add to .htaccess:

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml text/css text/javascript application/javascript

Test Gzip Compression

curl -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip" -I https://example.com

Look for:

Content-Encoding: gzip

Online test: https://checkgzipcompression.com/

Benefits of Gzip

• Reduces file size by 70-90%
• Faster page load times
• Lower bandwidth costs
• Better Core Web Vitals scores