According to GigaOm, the NGINX web server, which has been adopted by a growing number of users and currently challenges Microsoft for the number two spot, is now going commercial with a new NGINX Plus release. “The commercial version wraps new features including advanced monitoring, application health checks and dynamic configuration and management around a Service Level Agreement” said Nginx Inc. CEO Gus Robertson.

Though GigaOm reports that the price for the new offering is a surprisingly high $1,350 per instance per month, the NGINX website tells a different story. As you can see from the NGINX Plus page the price of the new edition is $1,350 per year for standard support and $2,700 per year for premium support.

In my opinion, this was an inevitable move for the company. NGINX raised its first $3m round in 2011 from e.ventures, Runa Capital, and MSD Capital and investors eventually want to see some ROI (I know, right?). I mean Netcraft rankings are good and all, but it doesn’t put money back into the VC pockets.