.htaccess to Nginx Converter – Free Online Config Migration Tool
About This .htaccess to Nginx Converter
Apache and Nginx handle server configuration in completely different ways, so a working .htaccess file becomes useless the moment a site moves to an Nginx server, and every rule has to be rewritten by hand in Nginx’s own syntax. This tool reads through your existing .htaccess content and converts the directives it recognizes into the equivalent Nginx configuration block automatically.
The BigToolSite Team tested this converter against real-world .htaccess files covering redirects, rewrite rules, caching headers, and access restrictions to confirm the generated Nginx syntax matches expected behavior.
Supported directives include RewriteRule and RewriteCond, Redirect and RedirectMatch, ErrorDocument, DirectoryIndex, Header, ExpiresByType, FileETag, and common front-controller patterns used by frameworks like WordPress. You can choose to wrap the output in a full server block, convert file and directory checks into Nginx’s try_files, and decide how PHP-specific directives should be handled.
Once your Nginx config is generated, it’s worth verifying your redirect logic still behaves correctly with our redirect chain checker. If the migration is part of a larger domain move, the .htaccess redirect generator can help you draft the original Apache rules first if you’re starting from scratch.
How to Use the .htaccess to Nginx Converter
- Paste your existing .htaccess file content into the input box.
- Check “Wrap output in server block” if you want a complete, ready-to-edit Nginx server configuration.
- Check “Convert file/dir checks to try_files” if your .htaccess uses common front-controller rewrite patterns.
- Choose how PHP directives should be handled, either as comments or converted to fastcgi_param.
- Click “Convert to Nginx” to generate the configuration, then copy it or download it as a .conf file.
Example Usage
Paste in a typical WordPress .htaccess block containing RewriteEngine On along with rules that check for !-f and !-d before routing everything to index.php. With “Convert file/dir checks to try_files” enabled, the tool recognizes this front-controller pattern and outputs a clean location / { try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args; } block instead of a literal line-by-line translation. Enable “Wrap output in server block” to get a complete server configuration you can drop straight into your Nginx setup.
Yes, it’s completely free with no signup required and no limits on how much configuration you can convert.
It handles the most common directives, including rewrites, redirects, headers, and caching rules. Highly custom regex patterns or server-specific environment variables may need manual review after conversion.
try_files is Nginx’s way of checking whether a requested file or directory exists before falling back to a script like index.php. It replaces the common Apache pattern of checking !-f and !-d conditions before rewriting to a front controller.
Enable that option if you want a complete, ready-to-use Nginx server configuration. Leave it off if you only need the rewrite and location rules to paste into an existing server block.
No. Your input is processed to generate the output and is not saved or logged.
