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IBM WebSphere Application Server pros and cons

Vendor: IBM

3.8 out of 5

31 reviews
88% willing to recommend

769 followers

Pros & Cons summary

IBM WebSphere Application Server supports automatic deployment, reducing human intervention and facilitating continuous integration. It offers robust security features, scalability, stability, and performance, ensuring efficient and reliable hosting. Integration with IBM tools is effective, though there are improvement areas like support for new Java releases, non-Java technology compatibility, and integration with products such as Kafka. However, installation challenges and high costs may affect its attractiveness despite good IBM support.

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM WebSphere Application Server provides automated deployment through a monitor deployment folder, enhancing continuous integration efficiency.

The application server offers strong security features, including compatibility with Java 8, support for FIPS 140-2, NIST SP 800-53, and TLS 1.2.

IBM WebSphere Application Server is highly scalable and allows easy server addition and load distribution.

Integration capabilities with Tivoli Federated Identity Management and quick authentication with Azure enhance flexibility.

IBM support is robust, and the application server ensures high performance and stability for distributed transactions.

CONS

IBM needs to quickly adapt to market changes and support new technologies like Java 9 and Java EE8 promptly.

Installing or configuring a WAS server instance as a Windows Service causes issues, especially with credential requirements.

There is a demand for a more script-oriented approach instead of being heavily GUI-oriented.

IBM WebSphere Application Server is criticized for being expensive and consuming too much hardware.

IBM WebSphere Application Server faces challenges with memory and porting to cloud environments, making containerization difficult.

IBM WebSphere Application Server Pros review quotes

Head, Operations at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 19, 2020

It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system.

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PO

PRINCEWILL OPARA

Head Banking Application Customization and Reporting at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jul 6, 2021

As compared to other applications, it has tremendous support. We have built internal capability so that we use it extensively internally. It is also easier to use with the outside data. You can write in ESQL, Java, or any other technology that you want to use for development. So, it is a lot more flexible in the language that it supports.

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SakthivelVeeramuthu

Technology Lead at Infosys

Mar 11, 2024

Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition.

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IBM WebSphere Application Server

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Learn what your peers think about IBM WebSphere Application Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.

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MM

MIGUEL ANGEL MARBAN

Lead Architect at a insurance company with 201-500 employees

Jul 10, 2024

The product offers good performance.

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Enterprise Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Dec 18, 2017

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.

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System and Solutions Architect at Seidor

Sep 12, 2022

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.

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Managing Consultant at Systems Limited

Mar 3, 2023

IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license.

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GE

GanapathyElumalai

Principal Architect with 1-10 employees

Jan 12, 2020

The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable.

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FileNet Technical Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dec 24, 2017

IBM WAS is the backbone for our enterprise content management suite which delivers the primary processes for our customers. Without a good application server, it would be hard to provide a secure layer of midddleware upon which the other applications run. IBM WAS improves the stability of the entire solution and provides a high quality platform for running web-based solutions.

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reviewer1792863

Enterprise Technical Leader at kyndryl

Mar 2, 2022

The thing about WebSphere, as opposed to other ones that I am aware of such as JBoss and Liberty, is that WebSphere has the most comprehensive scaffolding available to it.

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IBM WebSphere Application Server Cons review quotes

Head, Operations at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 19, 2020

Based on the field and based on the build that was provided, we've noticed a lot of constraints in terms of the performance now.

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PO

PRINCEWILL OPARA

Head Banking Application Customization and Reporting at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jul 6, 2021

The business logic side of it is sort of missing in the sense that if I want to track and measure velocity, it is not really available. You have to buy another application and embark on a separate implementation. Instead of having different licensing, IBM DataPower should be integrated with WebSphere. It will allow us to build the business layer and rules a lot more efficiently, rather than developing rules within the application. It would be good if we can set up the business layer through parametrization rather than development. IBM DataPower has the business rule and the controls, and if it can be integrated, it would be fantastic. It will help the application in working better in terms of security features and business logic. If you're going to use it for open banking, you will be able to monitor velocity on the total pricing.

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SakthivelVeeramuthu

Technology Lead at Infosys

Mar 11, 2024

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.

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IBM WebSphere Application Server

Free Report: IBM WebSphere Application Server Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM WebSphere Application Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.

838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.

MM

MIGUEL ANGEL MARBAN

Lead Architect at a insurance company with 201-500 employees

Jul 10, 2024

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.

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MP

Database Administrator at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Jun 4, 2024

The security could be better.

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Enterprise Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Dec 18, 2017

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.

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System and Solutions Architect at Seidor

Sep 12, 2022

What could be improved in IBM WebSphere Application Server is its interconnection with other products, for example, Kafka. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is a better graphical user interface.

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Managing Consultant at Systems Limited

Mar 3, 2023

The installation has room for improvement.

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GE

GanapathyElumalai

Principal Architect with 1-10 employees

Jan 12, 2020

They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product.

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FileNet Technical Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Dec 24, 2017

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).

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