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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 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 Infrastructure
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
Zend PHP Engine
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 12.0%, up from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.6%, up from 1.2% 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.
SatyendraGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.  A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it. I have been Zend PHP Engine for nine years.  Multiple people are using the solution.  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

"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license."
"One of the most valuable features might be the stability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server."
"Without the Admin Console it would be very hard to configure JVM settings, JDBC datasources, mail session settings, and security providers."
"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."
"High availability, alert management, and deployments are the most valuable features for us. We have the ND version so we can do deployments."
"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."
"WebSphere Application Server's best features include the data subscription and connection viewer."
"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier.​"
"Offers a complete environment to develop PHP applications. It is valuable because it allows you to have a complete stack (PHP, MySQL, Zend Server) enabling the building of a development environment, and to deploy to the production system."
"We have not encountered issues with scalability as long as we effectively use caching to optimize performance of our web applications as well as a proper use of database connectivity."
"Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for developing and collecting data, offering strong performance."
"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."
"​Zend Engine is the core of PHP. It makes PHP fast, efficient, and basically, the language of choice for web applications."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."
"This solution is really easy for me to use."
 

Cons

"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"WebSphere Application Server doesn't have an automated deployment option, forcing us to use third-party tools like Jenkins UCD and Palo Automated Deployment."
"When compared with WebLogic, Weblogic is lighter and consumes less memory."
"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 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."
"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."
"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."
"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM.​​"
"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."
"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."
"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."
"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."
"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."
"SQL queries have always been an issue with PHP, especially if you use large tables, which require caution from the side of the developer.​"
"Zend PHP Engine needs to improve the loading time of its libraries and make it faster."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of IBM WebSphere Application Server could be less expensive and there is an annual license required for this solution."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"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 solution is quite expensive."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"It's expensive."
"It is very expensive."
"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."
"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."
"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."
"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."
"Its pricing depends on the number of users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
University
10%
Government
10%
 

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 Zend PHP Engine?
The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.
What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?
Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
PHP Engine
 

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
Cisco
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Zend PHP Engine and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.