Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Microsoft .NET Framework 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 Message Broker
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
17th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (9th)
Microsoft .NET Framework
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 2.3%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft .NET Framework is 4.7%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft .NET Framework4.7%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker2.3%
Other93.0%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect at HCL Technologies
Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability
I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.
Muhammad Qasim - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at Diyar United Company
Has enabled building responsive multi-threaded applications while supporting rapid deployment workflows
Microsoft .NET Framework has already made significant improvements by becoming open source. Many developers are contributing to Microsoft .NET Framework, not just Microsoft itself. They have ported it to many platforms and allow a healthy ecosystem of open source tools. They have moved from Visual SourceSafe to supporting Git with Microsoft Visual Studio. Their IDE, Visual Studio Code, is open source and multi-platform. There are many third-party tools available, including AI-based tools such as Cursor and Bolt, which are forks of Visual Studio Code. Based on my understanding, I don't have any suggestions for improvement as they are already doing an excellent job.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The solution has good integration."
"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."
"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."
"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."
"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."
"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."
"When it comes to the user interface, the context is better than other tools because it is easier to use."
"Developing APIs, services, and GUIs are done easily; tasks that might take three to four days with bare metal Microsoft .NET Framework can be completed in four to eight hours with ABP.io, depending on complexity."
"Microsoft is better in backward compatibility compared to others."
"The structure that can be created is beneficial because once you have the structure, you can be more productive and faster to create and interact with different clouds and implementations."
"The solution is easy to use if the user is a developer or some technical person."
"The addition of generics to handle common functionality across types, and the more recent upgrade of the dataset to the Entity Framework, has cut development time drastically, while increasing quality and confidence between builds."
"Ease of use, the richness of the libraries and basically very good development tools."
"Microsoft .NET Framework continually innovates, particularly in Visual Studio, which focuses on improving languages, debugging, and .NET functionality."
 

Cons

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."
"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."
"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."
"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."
"The installation configuration is quite difficult."
"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."
"It is currently a weighty product."
"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"Microsoft could improve .NET Framework by providing more resources to help users understand the solution."
"Microsoft has its own product called Blazor, but I don't think it's quite as powerful yet as React or Angular. That's an area for improvement."
"You need to have the technical expertise to use this product."
"Some cloud features will not run in an old version of Microsoft .NET Framework easily or at all. Running on the cloud is complex."
"They could enhance support for Python within Visual Studio, as integrating Microsoft products with other frameworks can present a steep learning curve."
"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"Microsoft .NET Framework has a steep learning curve, which could be improved."
"The integration could improve in Microsoft .NET Framework."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."
"The solution is expensive."
"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"
"This product is more expensive than competing products."
"The solution is expensive."
"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."
"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."
"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."
"Do your homework. Consider the partnership program."
"Considering the bigger picture, opting for the Microsoft ecosystem can be beneficial and it is priced well. When relying on entirely open-source solutions, you may encounter challenges associated with dealing with multiple vendors and potentially compromised security measures. However, it is important to note that Microsoft could enhance its performance when it comes to addressing critical security concerns."
"The product’s pricing is a bit high."
"The solution is free but you need to pay for a license for the hosting service."
"I rate the solution's pricing a two out of ten because .NET is an open-source framework. You don't have to pay for a license."
"The product is not expensive."
"If you want to develop an enterprise-level application, you have to purchase the enterprise-level development license."
"We have an annual license, and we pay extra for extended support."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Infrastructure solutions are best for your needs.
881,515 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
9%
Transportation Company
7%
Construction Company
14%
Real Estate/Law Firm
13%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.
What do you like most about Microsoft .NET Framework?
Microsoft .NET Framework continually innovates, particularly in Visual Studio, which focuses on improving languages, debugging, and .NET functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft .NET Framework?
I don't know about pricing. I'm paying for Visual Studio, even though I'm not using the new version yet. Prices can always be better, but I think for the environment provided, the prices are accept...
What needs improvement with Microsoft .NET Framework?
Microsoft .NET Framework has already made significant improvements by becoming open source. Many developers are contributing to Microsoft .NET Framework, not just Microsoft itself. They have ported...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker
MS .NET Framework
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire
Curtin University, Rockwell Automation, Aruba Networks, Insurity Inc., City of Barcelona, Pennsylvania DCNR, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, A1 Telekom Austria AG, Eastman Chemical Company
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft .NET Framework and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,515 professionals have used our research since 2012.