Varnish Enterprise is our main solution to improve web performance and scalability by acting as a high-performance reverse proxy and caching layer in front of our application servers. Varnish Enterprise specifically helps with performance by reducing response time. Cached content is served directly from memory, which is significantly faster than generating it from the application layer. It also provides lower backend load and efficient handling of concurrent users.

Beyond pure caching, we also use Varnish Enterprise as a control and optimization layer in front of our application. Beyond the main performance use case, we leverage it for advanced request handling and routing, security and backend protection. We also use it for grace and high-availability strategies and operational flexibility.

The best features Varnish Enterprise offers include high-performance caching, in-memory caching for ultra-fast content delivery, the flexible Varnish Configuration Language with full control over request and response logic, and Grace Mode and stale serving.

The flexible configuration language and Grace Mode specifically benefit our team by allowing us to implement complex routing, caching, and header logic at the edge without touching the backend code. This speeds up deployment and allows for quick experiments, such as A/B testing or custom cache rules.

Varnish Enterprise combines performance with observability and control. Fast-purge and selective invalidation give us precise control over content freshness without full cache clears.

Varnish Enterprise has had a significant positive impact on our organization with faster performance, reduced backload, better handling of traffic spikes, operational flexibility, and improved reliability.

A few areas where Varnish Enterprise could be improved are the management interface, where VCL is powerful, and a more intuitive visual interface for cache rule routing and purge could speed up operational tasks. It could also have more granular analytics, simpler multi-backend orchestration, integration with a modern observability stack, and edge computing features. Adding lightweight compute or scripting at the edge could allow for more dynamic content.

Easier deployment of VCL updates, better support for modern protocols, or more automated cache invalidation options could be considered for needed improvements.

I have used Varnish Enterprise for around three years.

Varnish Enterprise is absolutely stable.

The scalability of Varnish Enterprise is an amazing point.

The customer support is adequate.

Before adopting Varnish Enterprise, we primarily used a combination of open-source Varnish and basic NGINX caching.

Integrating Varnish Enterprise with our existing infrastructure was absolutely easy.

We have seen a tangible return on investment with Varnish Enterprise, and some real metrics include backend load reduction, response time improvement, operational efficiency, and downtime mitigation.

Our experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been generally positive, but there are a few considerations. It is a subscription-based model rather than a one-time license, which scales with traffic and the number of servers. For the setup cost, initial setup requires some engineering time. While not cheap, the investment pays off through reduced backend load, faster response time, and better stability, which often outweigh the subscription cost.

We evaluated NGINX Plus, Cloudflare, and Fastly before choosing Varnish Enterprise for its flexibility, performance, and backend protection.

In our environment, Varnish Enterprise handles high availability and failover through a combination of redundancy, health checks, and Grace Mode.

The performance of Varnish Enterprise compared to other caching solutions I have used or considered is extremely positive.

The security of Varnish Enterprise is amazing. It meets my organization's requirements and is the best, in my opinion.

The documentation has a learning curve, but it is good. For me, it is perfect.

The monitoring and observability in Varnish Enterprise provide enough visibility for my team, but it requires some setup.

Varnish Enterprise handles custom logic, such as A/B testing or personalized content delivery, through its Varnish Configuration Language, which gives full control over request and response processing, A/B testing, personalized content, and edge logic.

My advice to others looking into using Varnish Enterprise is to start with clear caching goals. Invest time in learning VCL. Monitor cache effectiveness, leverage Grace Mode, and test in a staging environment.

I have rated this review a ten out of ten.