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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Oracle SOA Suite comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
Oracle SOA Suite
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
SOA Governance (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 10.5%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SOA Suite is 4.0%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure
 

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…
Manoj Satpathy - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 7, 2024
Provides good performance and error handling, but its initial setup is complex and could be improved
We use Oracle SOA Suite for application integration in our company. We were using the on-premises version of the product. Since Oracle SOA Suite has its own engine, you can build your integrations, deploy, and use them. We used the Oracle BPEL Process Manager for Orchestration when we had a lot of business logic. Oracle Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and Oracle VPN come under the Oracle SOA integration platform. Compared to other solutions like SnapLogic, Oracle SOA Suite is not easy to use. Oracle SOA Suite is suitable for customers with a big complex integration process, where performance and infrastructure stability are more important. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM WAS is the backbone for our enterprise content management suite which delivers the primary processes for our customers. Without a good application server, it would be hard to provide a secure layer of midddleware upon which the other applications run. IBM WAS improves the stability of the entire solution and provides a high quality platform for running web-based solutions."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"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."
"This solution is easy to use with a GUI that is intuitive and very helpful."
"What's most valuable in IBM WebSphere Application Server is its resilience. When you use the solution, you know that after the communication has been done, there will be no doubt that the data has reached its destination."
"WebSphere Application Server's best features include the data subscription and connection viewer."
"High availability, alert management, and deployments are the most valuable features for us. We have the ND version so we can do deployments."
"The scalability of the product is quite good."
"In case there is something that doesn't work out of the box, you have the flexibility to customize it."
"Enables our Product Manager to post products to different outside EC platforms with only one interface and one process."
"Middleware jobs developing for EC, ERP, and shipping systems become easier."
"The most valuable feature of the facility, as the partner link, is to try to use third-party services and logic in your own vehicle to orchestrate the information."
"We were able to scale out using multiple application and web servers balanced by hardware load balancers and Weblogic clustering."
"I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy."
"Conceptually, how it integrates a lot of essential enterprise process components. That's the most valuable."
"The solution's XSLT or XSL Transformation feature was very useful."
 

Cons

"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."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"The solution consumes hardware."
"When compared with WebLogic, Weblogic is lighter and consumes less memory."
"WebSphere Application Server doesn't have an automated deployment option, forcing us to use third-party tools like Jenkins UCD and Palo Automated Deployment."
"Installing or configuring a WAS server instance as a Windows Service causes a lot of problems, especially when the server needs credentials to stop."
"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"The licensing could be improved, and I would like it to give the longevity of the lifespan of the visions. In the next release, I would like to be able to download and extract the files so that I can just use my application server."
"The solutions can improve the communication or translations between formats, such as JSON and XML. The JSON REST API could improve."
"An area for improvement in Oracle SOA Suite is the cost. It could be lower."
"The product is not user-friendly."
"The Maven integration in JDeveloper is very basic and might be enhanced to allow the proper use of Maven."
"Its function options can be improved."
"Various parts of SOA, BPEL, and so on, each have their own consoles which need to be accessed individually with different logins. It would be better from an admin perspective if all the consoles were accessible via a single login."
"They supply lots of documentation but finding what we need is challenging at times."
"I would like to see divided containers more separately as a microservice."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"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 is very expensive."
"IBM WAS base is part of the deal when you purchase IBM FileNet P8 Content Engine."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"I don't remember the price, but there are no additional costs."
"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."
"Oracle pricing is expensive. Support is based on your license. AWS is much better than Oracle in this regard."
"Oracle SOA Suite is an expensive solution."
"The product is moderately priced."
"The pricing is not very high as compared to its competitors."
"Based on my knowledge, Oracle SOA Suite doesn't have user-based licensing. It has a system-based licensing model, so you pay for whole systems. Oracle SOA Suite is an expensive solution, so it's a four out of ten for me."
"It is necessary to evaluate the requirement regarding the platform usage and what the main operation area of the platform will be."
"This product is WebLogic based, hence it can be both resource hungry as well as expensive from a licensing point of view."
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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
19%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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.
What do you like most about Oracle SOA Suite?
The solution's XSLT or XSL Transformation feature was very useful.
What needs improvement with Oracle SOA Suite?
The solution’s initial setup is complex and could be improved. A big challenge for Oracle SOA Suite is that you don't get too many technical resources.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
SOA Suite
 

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
7-Eleven, Arcor SAIC, Banca Transilvania, Eaton Corporation, Emdeon, Ferrovial, Griffith University, National Instruments, Pella Corporation, Vodafone Group Plc,
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Oracle SOA Suite and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.