php:8.4-apache vs php:8.4-fpm-alpine

The short answer

• php:8.4-fpm-alpine is 428 MB smaller unpacked on amd64 (91 MB vs 519 MB, 82% less).
• As a download, php:8.4-fpm-alpine is 37 MB compressed against 180 MB for php:8.4-apache: 4.9× less to pull.
• php:8.4-fpm-alpine has fewer known vulnerabilities: 49 (3 critical or high) against 1920 (124 critical or high) in php:8.4-apache.
• 0 of php:8.4-apache's 1920 findings have a fixed version available upstream.
• 49 of php:8.4-fpm-alpine's 49 findings have a fixed version available upstream.
• Base OS: php:8.4-apache is built on Debian 13.7 (trixie); php:8.4-fpm-alpine on Alpine Linux 3.24.3.
• Alpine images use musl libc instead of glibc. Most software runs unchanged; prebuilt binaries linked against glibc (some Python wheels, Node native modules, vendor agents) may not.
• Packages detected: 186 in php:8.4-apache, 41 in php:8.4-fpm-alpine.
• Filesystem layers: 15 vs 12.
• Platforms: only php:8.4-apache ships arm/v5; only php:8.4-fpm-alpine ships arm/v6.