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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs JBoss Enterprise Application Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 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 WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
JBoss Enterprise Applicatio...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
9th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 6.8%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform is 5.8%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM WebSphere Application Server6.8%
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform5.8%
Other87.4%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

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.
KR
CIO at Clayfin
Lightweight clustering has improved banking channels and delivers faster, reliable deployments
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform's best features include that it was very simple to install and enabling clustering between two instances was simpler than compared to WebSphere or WebLogic. Clustering became very much easier, and setup was very straightforward. I used other products such as WebSphere and WebLogic, and I saw JBoss Enterprise Application Platform as a very lightweight container rather than a heavy container. The startup time was much faster compared to other application servers, and debugging was reliable. We did not see the application going into a hang state. It never happened in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. Other application servers typically degrade over time, and the application resources can become hung. The memory utilization and the heap garbage collection that was running was very efficient, so the resource utilization was better. The robust security model of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform contributed positively to our data integrity and compliance in our development processes, and it was very good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"The most valuable features are its user-friendliness and reliability in terms of application hosting."
"The scalability of the product is quite good."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"Security: It is compatible with the latest Java 8 security features, supports FIPS 140-2 and NIST SP 800-53 with strong ciphers and cryptography keys, and supports TLS 1.2 completely. Also, configuring client and server certificates is relatively easy."
"The solution has good performance."
"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."
"It's convenient and barebone."
"Its technical support is excellent."
"The most valuable features of this solution are scalability and performance."
"The robust security model of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform contributed positively to our data integrity and compliance in our development processes, and it was very good."
"The solution is quite stable."
"JBoss Enterprise Application Platform works very well."
"Stable and easy to handle in terms of hosting applications."
"The best feature for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for me is high availability, and it is very strong."
 

Cons

"The current trend is to move to Liberty because of the portability of its cloud and its Kubernetes, which containerize the application."
"The installation has room for improvement."
"It should be able to serve more concurrent requests like Oracle. Oracle has more powerful stability, availability, and real-time serving."
"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."
"The licensing could be improved, and I would like it to give the longevity of the lifespan of the visions. In the next release, I would like to be able to download and extract the files so that I can just use my application server."
"When we run into memory or locking issues, we resort to using third-party tools. However, it would be preferable to have native tools for debugging this type of problem."
"In spite of the solution's robustness, it is expensive and a bit difficult to support."
"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"Its architecture needs improvement."
"Lacks some functional requirements."
"This solution needs better management UI."
"Sometimes, I observe the memory usage at 100% for the server, and this issue could be improved."
"It's hard to find out the root cause of errors."
"It was too expensive to license JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for each process."
"In my opinion, there are areas that could be improved with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, such as the management console."
"A graphic user interface can be added."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"The licensing policy is based on the PVU base."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"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."
"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."
"It is an open-source solution."
"The solution is cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
32%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise23
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM WebSphere Application Server?
Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition.
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 needs improvement with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform?
I lost one opportunity for licensing to a bank that was implementing on-premises. It was too expensive to license JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for each process. The customer needed to impl...
What is your primary use case for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform?
I have an application with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform and a middleware. I used JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for about eight years until 2016. I implemented a ticketing solution ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform?
The customer needed to implement on a server with 32 processes, and the price from a local provider was approximately $64,000.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
JBoss EAP, Red Hat EAP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TalkTalk, Property management group, E.SUN Bank, Ohio National Financial Services, Aviarc, Cincom Systems, FJA-US, D+H, Staples, Michigan Municipal League
APD, Banco Azteca, Roche, Tata Sky, Frost Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. JBoss Enterprise Application Platform and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.