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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs NGINX Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 12.1%, up from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Plus is 11.1%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

BharathirajaSukumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient load balancing and the clustering, achieved by using the deployment manager, is valuable
I believe that the system is already good. However, for improvement or enhancement, it is user-friendly, but it could offer better choices on the front end for different aspects or options. Sometimes, I have to search extensively for features, as there are no upfront tabs. There is a lack of visible, easy, user-friendly, and straightforward options for the number of features.
Ritesh-Bakhru - PeerSpot reviewer
Quick installation and very easy to manage while doing orchestration or automation
NGINX cannot be a replacement for your traditional load balancer with what we use in the network today. However, with applications going toward microservices, NGINX is definitely a way forward. F5 has many traditional load balancing features, so they still need to bring some of those features to NGINX. NGINX is a very basic load balancer and cannot do as many customizations as F5. I think F5 is trying to implement those features in NGINX so they can improve the balancing on NGINX, but I think that will take some time. With the traditional F5 set up, the same OS can do load balancing, firewalls, and even policy enforcement. If we are able to bring some of those capabilities to NGINX, I think it would become a versatile solution and usage would definitely increase.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We needed this type of integration and WebShepere is the best tool for it."
"This solution is easy to use with a GUI that is intuitive and very helpful."
"High availability, alert management, and deployments are the most valuable features for us. We have the ND version so we can do deployments."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"The scalability of the product is quite good."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"As compared to other applications, it has tremendous support. We have built internal capability so that we use it extensively internally. It is also easier to use with the outside data. You can write in ESQL, Java, or any other technology that you want to use for development. So, it is a lot more flexible in the language that it supports."
"The web proxy and the database proxy are excellent."
"Supports IMAP, POP and SMTP protocols for the reverse proxy."
"This solution has everything."
"The best solution, by far, for web traffic control for things in production and just around the house."
"Valuable features include authentication, caching, reverse proxy routing, and load balancing."
"Using NGINX Plus for web traffic distribution is fantastic. It offers performance similar to physical load balancers but with added flexibility."
"Its versatility and capabilities make it invaluable for implementing patches and fixes when necessary."
"With NGINX, I appreciate its ability to route traffic geographically."
 

Cons

"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"The availability of the solution needs improvement."
"WebSphere is very cumbersome and not user-friendly. It used to have its own JVM, which presented challenges such as different architecture and memory leaks."
"The security could be better."
"Some things are very difficult to do, so the interface and usage could be more intuitive for those."
"It should be able to serve more concurrent requests like Oracle. Oracle has more powerful stability, availability, and real-time serving."
"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."
"Only improvement needed that I would point to is scalability. With it, I mean clusterized organisation on a low level. At the moment, the best alternative is RHEL HA."
"The biggest room for improvement would be to allow NGINX Core machines to cluster for memory zones in some way with a plug and play module. ​"
"There is room for improvement in the pricing model."
"I would like to see the Grafana integration in NGINX which is already present in HAProxy. Grafana integration will help the solution visualize all the data analytics on the dashboard which is currently not present."
"I would like the configuration process to be more simplified."
"Improvement needed in NGINX Plus could focus on optimizing memory usage for users."
"I would suggest adding GUI-based configuration panels to NGINX Plus to simplify setup and management tasks."
"NGINX Plus is moderately priced, but it could give better value for money."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"It is very expensive."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"The price of IBM WebSphere Application Server could be less expensive and there is an annual license required for this solution."
"IBM WAS base is part of the deal when you purchase IBM FileNet P8 Content Engine."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"The solution is free, but you can spend a lot of money with a complex solution."
"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."
"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."
"You pay for each feature that you want."
"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."
"There's an open-source version of NGINX that is free."
"​NGINX Plus is worth it, if you need it. If you do not need the features or support, the free and open source package is more than capable. ​"
"It's an open source solution, so it's free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
14%
Insurance Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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?
In Korea, when you buy IBM iOS, the WebSphere base version is included with iOS. That means no additional cost.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I find the server okay, however, using the Maker instance, the Moving instance, and the Change instance is a little bit complicated without WebSphere knowledge.
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 do you like most about NGINX Plus?
It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
NGINX
 

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
Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. NGINX Plus and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.