- Lightweight
- Configurable
- High-performance
- Cross-platform
- Open source
- It has sufficient documentation for application development
QA Manager at Tandicorp
It has sufficient documentation for application development but it needs to be improved to handle JNDI resources.
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The cluster management and load balancing is a bit complex. Also, they need to improve the documentation to handle JNDI resources.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for 10 years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Deployment is simple, however, a limitation is hot deployment.
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Tomcat
December 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
No costs.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
If you were to have no JEE applications, then it is advisable, otherwise the application server falls short.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Solutions Architect at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The configuration needs work, but we had no issues with stability.
What is most valuable?
It has a small footprint.
How has it helped my organization?
With this, we were able to deliver our products faster to our customers through packaging.
What needs improvement?
The configuration needs work.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for six months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This depends on the load of the server. We had no issues, but we never ran more than application/site at a time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
I've not used customer service.
Technical Support:I've not used technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We switched because of the nature of the application and technology.
How was the initial setup?
I always design my systems simple and keep them simple as possible.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it with in-house team. We like to keep the knowledge in-house.
What was our ROI?
It was crucial and it definitely paid off.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Keep the systems simple. Try to work with open-source solutions and pay for technical support and subscription to support the projects.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes I always and regularly evaluate. In case of Java we evaluated all Applications servers who support JEE full profile.
What other advice do I have?
I was using Apache Tomcat, JBoss AS (RedHat), WebMethods (Software AG) and IIS (Microsoft). All of them have their specialities, but depending on the goals and purpose it’s quiet easy to make a choice. Products based on Microsoft .NET do not give companies lot of options; either with Server Operating System shipped IIS, or the developer version called IIS Express. Applications written in Java, n opposite, can be accommodated on several fully-profiled or non-fully-profiled application or web servers.
Only have one application per server if possible. Do not over complicate it, and keep the variance in the configuration simple as possible.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Tomcat
December 2024
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Head of Data Center at a tech company with 51-200 employees
A reliable web server for developing Java and Android web and application development.
Valuable Features:
Apache Tomcat has become almost the defacto server for serving Java-based applications on the internet. We use Tomcat for our Java web applications and just recently also for our Android software development classes.We chose Tomcat as it was the most widely-used Java web application programming server at that time. Also, most of our resources were tailored to work with Tomcat, and our colleagues who underwent Java web application development was also taught using Tomcat.Features-wise, it's a complete solution. Plus, a lot of other developers are also using it, and the project has been steadily supported by Apache.
Room for Improvement:
The main gripe that I have with Tomcat is it's speed and size. Understandably, Java-based systems have the pre-conceived notion of being slow. However, being exposed to other web servers like the Apache web server really makes you wish Tomcat is as fast as it is. It does take time to load even on current hardware and newly-deployed applications also tend to load slowly during first access.Another grip is size. Size in terms of its memory usage and its installation. Again, compared to Apache, Tomcat really takes-up a lot of memory resources. As a rule of thumb, you need to have a lot of memory on the server which will run Tomcat. Installation size is also big, and it can take a while to download the installation package.
Other Advice:
Overall, Tomcat is still a recommended product for use with Java web application development and Android application development. Though it has speed and size issues, it's still the most widely-used development web server for Java and Android web and application development. Just make sure you have a server that has more than enough memory if you use Tomcat, as it tends to use a lot of it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Vice President - Information Technology at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Easy to use, and stable, but they need better administration and maintenance capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features of this solution are the general web server features."
- "Technical support is limited."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as a web application server.
How has it helped my organization?
It provides website hosting services.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of this solution are the general web server features.
It's simple and easy to use.
What needs improvement?
In terms of features, this solution is limited. It does do its job, but the enterprise-level features are missing.
In the next release, I would like to see better maintenance and administration utilities. For example, they could be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Tomcat for three years.
We are using the latest version. It is always updating.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a pretty stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is actively being used.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is limited. We don't get very many issues, but when we do, the service is not very straightforward.
How was the initial setup?
It was a default install and it was done before I arrived.
What about the implementation team?
We used a vendor for the deployment.
What other advice do I have?
My advice Look at all the options of server hosting before choosing Tomcat.
I would rate Tomcat a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sr. Solution Development Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
It has some valuable features, such as realm database for role and user management, but it doesn't host J2EE applications.
What is most valuable?
- JSP/Servlet container
- Realm database for role and user management
For how long have I used the solution?
10 years
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Out-of-Memory issues, which can be solved by increasing the heap space.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Tomcat is a simple JSP/JSF container, but if you want to host J2EE applications you must switch to other solutions, such as JBOSS or Oracle Web Logic.
What about the implementation team?
In-house
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Tomcat is free and opensource.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Sr. Director at LogiCorner Info Tech.
Easy to install, reliable, and beneficial EE server
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the free EE server."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this solution because of the Oracle REST data services we are using.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the free EE server.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately five people using the solution in my organization.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. However, we did have some difficulties at first that we managed to resolve. There is plenty of documentation online to help with the solution.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is free.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
I rate Tomcat an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Managing Consultant/ Enterprise Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reliable, open-source, and has good documentation but the high availability is not robust
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of this solution is that it supports Java Enterprise."
- "The high availability is not as robust as the competition is such as WebLogic and Jboss."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of this solution is for application services and web services.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is that it supports Java Enterprise. I don't have to worry about compliance. Once Java EE runs then it's good.
What needs improvement?
The high availability is not as robust as the competition is, such as WebLogic and Jboss.
At the moment, it is dependent on how Java is working. So if Java goes this way, then Apache Tomcat follows. Apache is very tightly coupled to Java.
The question would more be where does Java need to be? Then Apache Tomcat will follow because it's Open-Source.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Apache Tomcat for three years.
I am using the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This solution is stable. It has a lot of support because it is a part of the Apache Foundation, open source.
I am a strong proponent of open source.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability on its own is getting there. With the Cloud, you can deploy and make it scalable, but on its own, not as much. Unless, along with the cloud, you put it in a Kubernetes cluster, then it's scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The first two projects from Apache were HTTP Daemon, Web Server, and then Tomcat. So it should have one of the richest support articles. Unless you're talking about and speaking with somebody personally, but the documentation for Tomcat is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an open-source product and it's free to use.
What other advice do I have?
Apache Tomcat is the application server, but the enterprise server that runs in it is Apache ServiceMix.
For anyone who is interested in using this solution, I would suggest knowing your use case, and knowing it very well.
If you can make it containerized, it's better, so that it can scale better. But, again, know your use case.
Because I have not used other hardware, there is nothing to compare with and it is hard to rate. In terms of my usage, I am happy with it.
I would rate Apache Tomcat a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CTO with 11-50 employees
Enterprise ready JSP/Servlet Server and ready for High Loads
Valuable Features:
Easy setup
Easy configuration
Reliability
Stability
Scalability
Performance
Well documented
Great time to value and pricing.
Room for Improvement:
Deployment automation needs some custom tooling.
Other Advice:
I started using tomcat since version 4.X as development server with Eclipse.
Then I used it as a Production server for medium to large Enterprise intranets.
And finally I have setup deployments with Clustering for large ECommerce web sites with Apache HTTP Server as Front End.
From these experiences I can say that Tomcat is a really performing and PRODUCTION ready server.
Well tuned it can take very high loads provided underlying deployed applications are well coded as with any other JSP/Servlet Server.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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