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IBM Open Liberty vs IIS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 8, 2026

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 Open Liberty
Ranking in Application Server
7th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IIS
Ranking in Application Server
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM Open Liberty is 4.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IIS is 7.4%, up from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IIS7.4%
IBM Open Liberty4.9%
Other87.7%
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

FABIO LUIS VELLOSO DA SILVA - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner at SouJava
Has enabled flexible deployment of modular services with high availability and smooth dynamic updates
The best features of IBM Open Liberty are the implementation of MicroProfile and Jakarta EE, along with fault tolerance and high availability. It's easy to use and deploy new features. The profile is easy to configure and set up features. For example, using fault tolerance from MicroProfile or using servlets or JAX-RS allows for easy configuration and creation of modular applications. The configuration is modular. The main point for us in this project was high availability, high performance, and the implementation of MicroProfile and Jakarta EE. We utilized the modular architecture of IBM Open Liberty by creating different microservices using different environments. We created different configurations for different services using the configuration of IBM Open Liberty. This was very beneficial. We created different environments only by changing the configuration, depending on the functionality we needed. It was good and very flexible for us. I used the dynamic updates feature of IBM Open Liberty and different configurations in different services and servers, based on the functionality we provided for our clients. The flexibility to create different services in different environments using IBM Open Liberty was important. The high availability is guaranteed by the architecture of IBM Open Liberty, Java, and MicroProfile. The architecture guaranteed high availability, and the flexibility comes from being able to configure needed features. There's no need to load all WebSphere or functionalities in all environments. I can configure it and create a more highly available and scalable process. I implemented monitoring tools for IBM Open Liberty using Grafana and OpenTracing using the functionalities from MicroProfile and IBM Open Liberty. The monitoring tools helped with managing system performance.
Krishnakumar Natarajan - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Engineer at Atos
Designs and manages multiple websites while ensuring data backup and disaster recovery
I have experience with AWS, and I am most familiar with the server environment, as we just use the server environment and then use Microsoft products on an AWS environment. I have experience with Windows Server IIS, which I ran on my own on-premise data center. The website was developed and then hosted, and through IIS, we managed the servers. The manageability within the IIS environment is not very difficult. For server management, you need to ensure data backup, data restore, and you have a DR configured to keep the database intact. It was done on-premises, so I had no problem doing that. If you have to go to the cloud, then you should have the storage connected to the IIS server and also have a DR set up for that. I didn't use Microsoft Azure tools, but since it is a Microsoft product, Azure has all the portability, so you don't have to worry about compatibility on the cloud. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this solution a 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility to create different services in different environments using IBM Open Liberty was important."
"It is a stable solution compared to other vendors."
"The interface, simplicity, and ease of management are all good features that make this user-friendly."
"The product is stable."
"Windows Server IIS is stable."
"IIS is quite easy to set up as it comes pre-configured, so I don't have to install anything."
"The product is scalable."
"This is definitely a stable solution."
"All the features of Microsoft IIS are valuable."
"The tool shows us the operating systems where our servers and applications are running."
 

Cons

"Its support documentation could have detailed information on database integration."
"To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial."
"In the next release, the tool should be more easily integrated and configured with other provisions. The pricing should also be made cheaper since it's very expensive now."
"The solution is slow and could have better performance."
"Presently, some developers do not have technical knowledge of managing IIS, so that needs to be improved in the next release."
"It is not compatible with other platforms due to limitations."
"The first level of support is not very good because by the time we speak with them, we are already past that point."
"The solution's black box is not fast."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The platform's stability could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less costly than one of its competitors."
"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."
"I give the price of the solution a five out of ten."
"I think it's part of the Windows Server, so you won't have any other costs to add in order to use the IIS service."
"The price is good."
"The solution provides multiple licensing options."
"There is no license required for the product as it is role-based. Whenever you go for a Windows platform server, the role has to be installed directly from the server manager. There is no additional cost that has to be paid for that. It is free to use."
"Users can get a subscription-based license or a perpetual license for IIS."
"The product's price is not high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
42%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise22
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Open Liberty?
To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial. Having more integration with Kafka, Mongo, and middleware systems that ...
What is your primary use case for Open Liberty?
I used IBM Open Liberty for an application for financial services using IBM Open Liberty and MicroProfile to process data for financial services work.
What advice do you have for others considering Open Liberty?
I used IBM Open Liberty in the past in a project, but today I'm not using it anymore. I had a good experience working with it in a financial services company. This was very beneficial. My review ra...
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?
For the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IIS, as a Microsoft product, I didn't think much about separately purchasing an IIS product as it is part of Microsoft Windows. We bought a developmen...
What needs improvement with IIS?
I see that IIS has maintained the same interface for a long time, so they could potentially use more automation or integrate Copilot into it to make it easier to use. I have not accessed or checked...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Windows Server IIS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Open Liberty vs. IIS and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.