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Azul Zulu vs IBM WebSphere Application Server comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azul Zulu
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
AI Customer Experience Personalization (26th), AI Content Creation (9th)
IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Azul Zulu is 3.5%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 4.6%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM WebSphere Application Server4.6%
Azul Zulu3.5%
Other91.9%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Standardized our Java estate and have reduced licensing costs while maintaining strong support
Azul Zulu's ability to allow us to standardize our Java estate on a single and well-supported platform stands out as one of its best features. This standardization simplifies our compliance audits and ensures all our applications receive timely security updates.Azul Zulu positively impacts our organization by providing a platform that allows us to standardize Java on a well-supported platform. Without the high cost associated with other proprietary vendors, Azul Zulu provides an excellent platform for running our applications.
CF
Senior Manager, MW & DB Automation at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has worked seamlessly in complex clustered environments and supports long-term development efforts
IBM WebSphere Application Server is currently at version 9.0.5.23. In recent months, they released fix 23, as they periodically release fixes. Previously, they frequently increased versions, but now they maintain 9.0.5 with different releases. It's based on Java J2EE 7 and Java SDK 1.8. Oracle announced that 2030 will be the last year when Java SDK 1.8 will be supported. Oracle currently deploys Java 2.x in parallel, with the latest being version 25. The future of IBM WebSphere Application Server remains uncertain since it's based on Java 1.8 and Java 7. I haven't found any white papers or official documentation from IBM outlining their trajectory post-2030.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I joined this project which had already been underway for approximately six months, and in two months, I refactored the whole project and wrote it, and it is functional."
"We've had no issues with stability."
"We achieved specific outcomes from using Azul Zulu by reducing our Java licensing and support costs by approximately 70% when compared to our previous Oracle contract."
"I would say that the clustering, achieved by using the deployment manager, is valuable, as there is a load balancing feature that uses different nodes, handled by the deployment manager, and this functionality helps with the load balancing of applications."
"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."
"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."
"Once you deploy your application, it will be very stable with no issues at all."
"The most valuable features are its user-friendliness and reliability in terms of application hosting."
"The technical support from IBM is very good and responsive."
"This solution is very good in terms of stability."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
 

Cons

"I think Azul Zulu can be improved by always thinking about productivity, as most languages tend to evolve in that direction."
"Improvements for Azul Zulu could include more automated tools for unused code visibility integrated directly into the standard portal to help further optimize our cloud footprints."
"It needs a better update daemon. At this time the process is manual and could be an issue on multiple desktop deployments."
"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."
"Sometimes, I feel WebSphere runs a bit slow. It might be loading unnecessary libraries, impacting its performance compared to other application servers."
"Room for improvement would only be in the licensing. As with all IBM products the licensing can be complex and expensive."
"As the license cost is quite expensive, I'm rating it two out of five."
"The installation is not straightforward and it can take three days."
"Stability is frustrating. It goes down after a specific number of user connections."
"I think IBM WebSphere Application Server is a dead solution and will probably fade out."
"The main issue we faced was its limited compatibility with non-Java technologies, which can result in difficulty detecting potential bugs and requiring additional integration efforts."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I don't remember the price, but there are no additional costs."
"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"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."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"Room for improvement would only be in the licensing. As with all IBM products the licensing can be complex and expensive. Bargain well and try to get as much discount as possible. Discounts of 85% are possible. Without the discount, I think the product is overrated."
"My company is on a perpetual or permanent license agreement with IBM WebSphere Application Server. There's also a pay-per-use option, but customers rarely choose that option. Most of the customers are on the perpetual license deal that's all-inclusive. As the license cost is quite expensive, I'm rating it two out of five."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Construction Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
9%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Azul Zulu?
I think Azul Zulu can be improved by always thinking about productivity, as most languages tend to evolve in that direction. I have two projects that I am working on in parallel, one using Angular ...
What is your primary use case for Azul Zulu?
My main use case for Azul Zulu in the current project is developing the archiving and unarchiving system. I use Azul Zulu on the back end when I created a REST API, which I use together with Java S...
What advice do you have for others considering Azul Zulu?
My advice to others who are thinking about using Azul Zulu is to try to explore as much as possible what it offers, getting away from the conventional paradigm. I would rate this review as a nine o...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
At Royal Bank, which is a major IBM customer with mainframes and numerous IBM products, they have a specific agreement regarding pricing. The pricing structure for large enterprise customers differ...
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
IBM WebSphere Application Server is currently at version 9.0.5.23. In recent months, they released fix 23, as they periodically release fixes. Previously, they frequently increased versions, but no...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I was part of an application where I integrated IBM WebSphere Application Server with Node.js and Blue Prism. I did a lot of REST applications because at my core, I'm a developer. Currently, I'm an...
 

Also Known As

No data available
WebSphere Application Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft, Kyocera, OKI, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Voya Financial
TalkTalk, Property management group, E.SUN Bank, Ohio National Financial Services, Aviarc, Cincom Systems, FJA-US, D+H, Staples, Michigan Municipal League
Find out what your peers are saying about Azul Zulu vs. IBM WebSphere Application Server and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.