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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal 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)
SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Po...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 11.3%, up from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal is 1.1%, down from 1.6% 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.
Anand_Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The UI makes the setup easy to do from anywhere
Our customers expect that a page will open within one second, and I doubt this will happen. Also, opening documentation takes time. Fixing this will help the customer and help to meet their expectations. SAP needs to come up with a standardized version of NetWeaver. The solution is good on the internal side, but not so much from the client perspective when they view it.

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 extremely scalable. It is easy to add additional servers and to divide the load over servers in all kinds of ways."
"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."
"Starting with version 8, WAS provides a special folder called monitor deployment. Once you put the .war or .ear file in there, it is deployed automatically without human intervention. This greatly helps us in our continuous integration server. Once the deployment binary is ready, we write a script to copy it to that folder and then, voila! The application is up and running and accessible from its context root."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license."
"The performance is good."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"Without the Admin Console it would be very hard to configure JVM settings, JDBC datasources, mail session settings, and security providers."
"We needed this type of integration and WebShepere is the best tool for it."
"Workflow functionality and internal portal capabilities are the most important features."
"From the use of this solution, we have been able to establish better processes and have greater management of our company."
"They integrated it with the SAP router."
"Internal workflow approval around ESS and MSS leave days, capex approval as well as internal communication to the business have improved the way my organization functions."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve the integration."
"Some things are very difficult to do, so the interface and usage could be more intuitive for those."
"WebSphere Application Server doesn't have an automated deployment option, forcing us to use third-party tools like Jenkins UCD and Palo Automated Deployment."
"It should be able to serve more concurrent requests like Oracle. Oracle has more powerful stability, availability, and real-time serving."
"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 footprint could be reduced so that we can use a smaller virtual machine to run the application. We could also use more scripts. I would like this solution to be more script oriented, rather than GUI oriented."
"The installation has room for improvement."
"The solution consumes hardware."
"Our customers expect that a page will open within one second, and I doubt this will happen. Also, opening documentation takes time. Fixing this will help the customer and help to meet their expectations."
"External portal functionality with suppliers and customers needs improvement."
"The user interface could be improved by making it more user-friendly."
"Due to our business, some setups were very complex."
"We encountered stability issues, especially on external functionality around its RFP capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"My company is on a perpetual or permanent license agreement with IBM WebSphere Application Server. There's also a pay-per-use option, but customers rarely choose that option. Most of the customers are on the perpetual license deal that's all-inclusive. As the license cost is quite expensive, I'm rating it two out of five."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"​SAP is not for every business. It depends on what is required. SAP is always going to be expensive​."
"Because India is so competitive in the IT world, people will start to move away from SAP's pricing because they have a market monopoly. Soon, they will start losing the monopoly part to open source and other things. I don't think their monopoly will run for more than three to four years because people are getting away from these monopolies."
"The cost of this solution is high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
14%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
22%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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.
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Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
NetWeaver Enterprise Portal, SAP Portal
 

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
Alliander N.V.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.