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IBM Open Liberty vs IIS comparison

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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 (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM Open Liberty is 4.6%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IIS is 7.8%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IIS7.8%
IBM Open Liberty4.6%
Other87.6%
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."
"IIS is easy to configure in terms of websites and other solutions."
"The product's most valuable features are performance and security."
"IIS's best features are its management console and stability."
"My experience with the technical support by Microsoft at large is satisfactory."
"IIS is Internet Information Services, which is application infrastructure, and the main benefits include security control where you can control different access levels and integrate with other services to manage application security."
"It's very easy to publish."
"IIS fits properly for my business needs, with a lot of possibilities to upgrade the out-of-the-box functionalities, so it is really great."
"IIS is quite easy to set up as it comes pre-configured, so I don't have to install anything."
 

Cons

"To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial."
"Its support documentation could have detailed information on database integration."
"The price of the cloud system is a bit high."
"Performance-wise, certain improvements in IIS are needed...IIS is not scalable. Its scalability is less."
"IIS could improve the error logging. There are times we are not able to see the errors. More details would be helpful. Additionally, the configuring of the IIS should be allowed through coding instead of the classic view."
"In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the cloud environment and the on-premises environment."
"The solution's pricing and stability need improvement."
"Having no support for other than a Microsoft environment and programming languages limits the usage of IIS in many cases."
"The solution's security needs improvement."
"It would be beneficial if you could automate security certificate monitoring with IIS."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less costly than one of its competitors."
"I didn't need to get an additional license for the solution since it was included in my server."
"They offer a one-time payment model for the product license, and we pay annually for support."
"The tool is included with Windows."
"The cost for IIS is already included in Windows services. We don't have to pay anything extra."
"IIS's pricing is not expensive."
"The solution provides multiple licensing options."
"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."
"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
39%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
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: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.