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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Tomcat comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

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 Server
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (5th)
Tomcat
Ranking in Application Server
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 12.7%, up from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tomcat is 19.9%, down from 20.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

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.
Erick  Karanja - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers high availability, straightforward deployment and easy to use
Tomcat could be a little bit more innovative. Tomcat could come up with a framework that's more lightweight and purely targeted at Java applications. Some other solutions are doing better right now, maybe because they have come up with MicroProfile, which I think is moving forward. It may actually beat Tomcat because of the lightweight nature of the framework, the MicroProfile. They're coming up with new solutions. So, for the future of Tomcat and to maintain the market share they might be looking for, they need to come up with initiatives to ensure that several of us have a lightweight framework to deploy applications on.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license."
"The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is the best in terms of scalability and performance, as well as the support for managing distributed transactions."
"The integration between IBM tools and applications is very well executed, and the support from IBM is quite good, providing a solid support structure."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"It is easy to manage at a basic level."
"The solution is scalable."
"Tomcat is a simple, light environment, whereas the full Red Hat Fuse solution is heavier."
"Web apps are very easy to deploy."
"The scalability overall is good."
"I find the quick startup valuable, particularly the static quick startup."
"The ease of use of Tomcat is its most valuable feature. Once we grade particular software, we simply download it and we keep an eye on if Tomcat is working."
"It's very stable. No problems at all. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"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)."
"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."
"In spite of the solution's robustness, it is expensive and a bit difficult to support."
"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."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server hasn't changed much. It's still a heavyweight for any company compared to what you get. Unless your code base is deeply linked with it, I don't think it's a great idea to go with this solution. The current trend is toward modularity and containerization, and given the product's requirements, containerization will be difficult. There is a memory requirement as well."
"It should be able to serve more concurrent requests like Oracle. Oracle has more powerful stability, availability, and real-time serving."
"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."
"Resource configuration like JNDI and queue configuration, similar to other servers, should be provided from the admin console for Tomcat."
"Vulnerability is one of the areas that can be considered an issue in the solution."
"The disability and memory management is a problem with the solution and has room for improvement."
"Sometimes we face issues with the private and public networks and ensuring that once Tomcat is installed, that it is secure."
"Tomcat could be a little bit more innovative. Tomcat could come up with a framework that's more lightweight and purely targeted at Java applications."
"I would personally like it if the admin console would show more information specifically about memory being used."
"It will be useful if a direct report concerning a particular server configuration or application usage is readily available in the dashboard."
"I would also like to see a dashboard with some integrations in order to see the logs and trace performance easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"It's expensive."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"The licensing policy is based on the PVU base."
"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."
"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"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 tool is free."
"It is an open-source tool and is free of cost."
"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 is open-source and free to use."
"There are no additional costs apart from the standard license."
"I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"Tomcat is an open source solution."
"Tomcat is not costlier than other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Educational Organization
47%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
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.
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?
Resource configuration like JNDI and queue configuration, similar to other servers, should be provided from the admin console for Tomcat. Currently, it is done manually. The server config file must...
What is your primary use case for Tomcat?
I am using the solution at running level three. It is for running web applications.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
No data available
 

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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.