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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs IIS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Server
5th
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IIS
Ranking in Application Server
4th
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 11.9%, up from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IIS is 7.0%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

Saleem Shar - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 3, 2023
Compatible, stable, and scalable
We deploy the solution both on-premise and Azure, AWS, and IBM cloud. We use a solution for our e-commerce application. We have an application deployed on AWS Cloud, for a client, which has a large B2B customer base in Australia. Therefore, we use WebSphere Application Server for the e-commerce…
Ersoy Ustun - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 27, 2023
Easy to manage platform with good scalability
We are using the platform for automatic web services The platform is easy to manage. The platform's stability could be better. I have been using IIS for a few years. At present, we are the latest version. I rate the platform's stability an eight out of ten. It could be improved. We have 2,000…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The VPN service is quite useful."
"The product offers good performance."
"The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable."
"One of the most valuable features might be the stability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"Without the Admin Console it would be very hard to configure JVM settings, JDBC datasources, mail session settings, and security providers."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is easy to use."
"Ease of administration: It has an Integrated Solutions Console, what we call the administrative console, with very detailed configurations and Help pages for each configurable item."
"IIS is stable."
"The solution is highly reliable."
"IIS's most valuable feature is user-friendliness."
"Windows Server IIS is stable."
"The product is stable."
"When you are working with Microsoft solutions, you will see that the integration with the operating system, and implementing some security features, are easier in IIS than when using another solution."
"The tool shows us the operating systems where our servers and applications are running."
"What I like the most is that it is easy to use."
 

Cons

"I think in some moments, the security was a little bit more complex to configure when it was delegated to other systems, making it an area where improvements are required."
"What could be improved in IBM WebSphere Application Server is its interconnection with other products, for example, Kafka. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is a better graphical user interface."
"I think that this is a good product but I think that the cloud environment could be improved. I think that the future is in the utilization of the product in a product as a service way which is something that is lacking at this moment."
"It should be able to serve more concurrent requests like Oracle. Oracle has more powerful stability, availability, and real-time serving."
"Initial setup is very simple. Just use the IBM Installation Manager and add the packages. The install wizard takes care of the rest. The only thing that can be difficult is to find the right packages on the IBM website, because of all the changes that IBM does on its website(s)."
"While WebSphere mostly supports IBM HTTP Server (IHS) as the web server plugin, I think it would be beneficial if it also supported Apache and NGINX web servers. That would give customers more flexibility in their choices."
"The availability of the solution needs improvement."
"Based on the field and based on the build that was provided, we've noticed a lot of constraints in terms of the performance now."
"At the moment, we have big problems with stability, and I'm not very happy at the moment. So, the stability could be improved."
"There is an issue with the network. The tool's price is also high."
"Compared to Linux, the solution’s Windows patching is slower. I would like to improve it."
"We'd like future versions to be more stable."
"The areas of this solution that need improvement are monitoring, debugging, and troubleshooting."
"We've never had any issues with the solution, but it's still nice to have overall improvements on it. It could be easier and faster to use, for example."
"Occasionally, we encounter performance issues with IIS where it becomes unresponsive and requires a solution restart."
"The solution's stability needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of IBM WebSphere Application Server could be less expensive and there is an annual license required for this solution."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"It's expensive."
"Room for improvement would only be in the licensing. As with all IBM products the licensing can be complex and expensive. Bargain well and try to get as much discount as possible. Discounts of 85% are possible. Without the discount, I think the product is overrated."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
"If your application is just a web app that does not need to scale big, you can obtain a single core license of WAS Express edition, which has almost the same features with limited processing cores. If you manage a very big application farm (i.e. need to run 10 or more WAS servers) it is better to get IBM WAS Hypervisor Edition."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"The yearly licensing cost is very high. The solution is very expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is yearly. The pricing is affordable and not high."
"The solution provides multiple licensing options."
"IIS is expensive."
"IIS's pricing is not expensive."
"Users can get a subscription-based license or a perpetual license for IIS."
"The tool is included with Windows."
"I was using the trial version of IIS inside my virtual machines."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
12%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM WebSphere Application Server?
Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I think in some moments, the security was a little bit more complex to configure when it was delegated to other systems, making it an area where improvements are required.
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?
They offer a one-time payment model for the product license, and we pay annually for support. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
Windows Server IIS
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TalkTalk, Property management group, E.SUN Bank, Ohio National Financial Services, Aviarc, Cincom Systems, FJA-US, D+H, Staples, Michigan Municipal League
Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. IIS and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.