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JBoss 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

JBoss
Ranking in Application Server
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tomcat
Ranking in Application Server
2nd
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 May 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of JBoss is 17.5%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tomcat is 19.9%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

Srinadh  Puli - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation aids installation while management consolidation needs improvement
We are currently using Ansible for Jira installations and all the management tasks. We perform some tasks manually, however, Ansible helps in automating some of these processes I find JBoss to be lightweight and easier to manage compared to WebSphere. It allows for simple modification of…
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

"The solution's support is very good for repairing components."
"The stability is good. I would rate it a nine out of ten."
"The high availability is great."
"We use JBoss mainly for application deployments and application servers."
"The solution's technical support is good."
"JBoss is more flexible and keeps up with modern technologies, supporting newer versions of different libraries."
"There's good documentation and a pretty good community surrounding the product."
"The support is fast and reliable."
"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."
"The solution is scalable."
"Tomcat is easy to handle, its installation process does not take much time, and its server speed is also very good compared to other servers."
"Tomcat is secure, reliable, and stable."
"Tomcat is a lightweight application server, which makes it easy to deploy and install small applications."
"It's very stable. No problems at all. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"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."
"The deployment process is very fast."
 

Cons

"The stability of the solution could improve with Microsoft Windows."
"The price could be improved. Customers don't want to buy the license easily."
"The product could be cheaper."
"Having the support combined with Red Hat support would be an improvement."
"It can have automation features. Everybody is focused right now on automation. In terms of saving cost, automation is always the first thing that comes to light."
"The solution's documentation could be better."
"The solution could improve by providing more integration."
"JBoss is not as reliable and stable as WebLogic."
"One way to improve the solution is by making the logging capabilities of Tomcat better by providing a logger within the server itself and making it easy to access and view the server logs. This can be especially useful when debugging issues with applications deployed on the Tomcat server. By having the ability to view both the application logs and the server logs, you can more easily identify the source of any issues and troubleshoot them more efficiently. Providing a connector or other similar feature that allows you to access the server logs from within your application can also be helpful in this regard. Having access to both the application logs and the server logs can be a valuable resource when trying to identify and resolve problems."
"Tomcat's stability could be improved, especially when handling more memory-intensive, large-scale applications."
"In the solution, we are using the terminal to enter command line codes for operations and management, this is difficult for me. It would be better if we had some administrator UI tools for this."
"Our biggest challenge is that the Tomcat servers are not hosted locally."
"Tomcat's performance is less than other solutions like IBM WebSphere or JBoss."
"It would be great if they offered more integration of monitoring tools."
"I have no recommendations for improvements."
"Technical support is limited."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Since the solution is freeware, our customers don't need to pay any licensing fees."
"There is no licensing cost. The solution is free to use."
"I rate the product price as eight on a scale, where one means it is a very cheap solution, and ten points mean that it is a very expensive tool."
"It is an open-source solution."
"We pay for a maintenance license, but it is not expensive."
"The solution is cost-efficient compared to other products. Pricing is rated an eight out of ten."
"The pricing of JBoss is more reasonable than that of WebLogic."
"JBoss is an expensive solution."
"The price of the solution is good."
"There are no additional costs apart from the standard license."
"Tomcat is an open-source server."
"Tomcat is an open source solution."
"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 not costlier than other solutions."
"Tomcat is open-source and free to use."
"We are using the open-source version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
41%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about JBoss?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JBoss?
JBoss is the cheaper option out of the three when compared to WebSphere and WebLogic. Though I haven't done a detailed price comparison, the licensing fee is cheaper, and due to its flexibility, th...
What needs improvement with JBoss?
They are trying to make it less heavyweight since app servers often deliver a lot of functionality. Still, if we aren't leveraging them, they can be too much for certain use cases. Making it lighte...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tata Sky, Nissan, Swedish Board of Agriculture, Novamedia, American Product Distributors, Advanced Micro Devices, Emirates Group, E*TRADE
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 JBoss vs. Tomcat and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.