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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Tomcat comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Server
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (5th)
Tomcat
Ranking in Application Server
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
48
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 Tomcat is 20.1%, down from 22.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

Saleem Shar - PeerSpot reviewer
Compatible, stable, and scalable
IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license. I have never encountered any issues when installing and deploying applications, as it never goes down. Currently, there are two versions of WebSphere Application Server: the old version, known as WebSphere Application ND, and the newer version, Liberty, which is Docker-based. I have experience with both and have never encountered any issues. I believe that WebSphere Application Server is a great feature.
Damian Bukowski - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, protects applications, and the support team is responsive
The tool is deployed on the cloud. We do maintenance when certificates need updating, but we don't do the maintenance of the servers. We have about 20 engineers and administrators in our technical team. The deployment was very simple. We got a guide from Apache. Everything was explained very clearly. The deployment took a couple of days.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is easy to use."
"The solution has good performance."
"IBM WAS is extremely scalable. It is easy to add additional servers and to divide the load over servers in all kinds of ways."
"The only reason why we're currently using WebSphere is that the integration of the authentication with Azure is very quick. WebSphere has something that can immediately connect with Azure Active Directory."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"Security: It is compatible with the latest Java 8 security features, supports FIPS 140-2 and NIST SP 800-53 with strong ciphers and cryptography keys, and supports TLS 1.2 completely. Also, configuring client and server certificates is relatively easy."
"Tomcat has connectors like REST requests to connect the front end. Also, some parts of the inter-system communication go through REST. External connections with third parties occasionally involve both REST and SOAP protocols. Tomcat is versatile in accommodating these various communication methods."
"Our company doesn't face any stability issues while using Tomcat."
"Tomcat's best feature is the open source server. It's a flexible and lightweight solution."
"I love Tomcat for its scalability, reliability, availability, and steadiness."
"I like the solution’s ease of use."
"The scalability overall is good."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to host applications."
"The solution integrates smoothly with the development environment. The integration process is straightforward. You only need to configure the project in your IDE. With intelligent features, the integration becomes even easier. Once integrated, deployment into our application is straightforward. Previously, we sometimes relied on manual deployment processes or used a separate application manager. However, with this solution, deployment is simplified."
 

Cons

"The main issue we faced was its limited compatibility with non-Java technologies, which can result in difficulty detecting potential bugs and requiring additional integration efforts."
"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."
"The availability of the solution needs improvement."
"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 installation has room for improvement."
"IBM needs to pay attention to market changes more quickly. We now have Java 9 and very soon Java EE8. We do not want to wait for two or three years after their release until they are supported by the new version."
"Installing or configuring a WAS server instance as a Windows Service causes a lot of problems, especially when the server needs credentials to stop."
"When we run into memory or locking issues, we resort to using third-party tools. However, it would be preferable to have native tools for debugging this type of problem."
"The current procedure appears complex and could benefit from a more straightforward solution."
"If Apache can come up with a better solution to provide better security, that would be ideal."
"Security integration in Tomcat is complicated. We need to use another tool to solve the security issues."
"The product needs to have more updates."
"The solution's interface and backup features could be better."
"The setup is complex and could be improved."
"I would personally like it if the admin console would show more information specifically about memory being used."
"The product's pricing needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is quite expensive."
"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."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"The licensing policy is based on the PVU base."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"We are currently using the open-source version."
"The solution is free."
"If it is a community version of the solution, no payment is required. However, if it is a Linux version, we must buy the solution from JBoss."
"Tomcat's pricing is very cheap."
"We are using the open-source version."
"The tool is free."
"Tomcat is an open-source server."
"This is an open-source product and it's free to use."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
12%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
45%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
5%
 

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 Tomcat?
Tomcat's ease of use has positively impacted project timelines. Tomcat already has high availability – it doesn't go down so often and doesn't require a lot of maintenance. As long as your applicat...
What needs improvement with Tomcat?
Perhaps there could be an easier way to configure some advanced features. The learning curve to earn advanced skills is too steep.
What is your primary use case for Tomcat?
I have used Apache Tomcat for various applications in our operational environment. We are a traffic service provider, and our operational department needs various types of proprietary applications.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
No data available
 

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
1. Adobe Systems 2. Amazon 3. Apple 4. AT&T 5. Bank of America 6. Boeing 7. Cisco Systems 8. Citigroup 9. Dell 10. eBay 11. Facebook 12. General Electric 13. Google 14. Hewlett-Packard 15. IBM 16. Intel 17. JPMorgan Chase 18. Microsoft 19. Netflix 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Salesforce 23. Samsung 24. Sony 25. Target 26. Twitter 27. Uber 28. Verizon 29. Visa 30. Volkswagen 31. Walmart 32. Yahoo
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Tomcat and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.