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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs JBoss Enterprise Application Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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
10th
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 January 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 7.3%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform is 6.2%, 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 Server7.3%
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform6.2%
Other86.5%
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

"IBM WebSphere Application Server is the ultimate product; there is nothing superior to IBM WebSphere Application Server, and while there are other options such as Tomcat, JBoss, and Oracle's solution, IBM WebSphere Application Server stands above them all."
"The product offers good performance."
"The solution has good performance."
"The only reason why we're currently using WebSphere is that the integration of the authentication with Azure is very quick. WebSphere has something that can immediately connect with Azure Active Directory."
"The solution is very stable and robust."
"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."
"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."
"It's convenient and barebone."
"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."
"Stable and easy to handle in terms of hosting applications."
"The solution is quite stable."
"The deployment and initial setup is easy, it is easier than the previous version."
"The most valuable features of this solution are scalability and performance."
"The best feature for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform for me is high availability, and it is very strong."
"JBoss Enterprise Application Platform works very well."
 

Cons

"IBM WebSphere Application Server hasn't changed much. It's still a heavyweight for any company compared to what you get. Unless your code base is deeply linked with it, I don't think it's a great idea to go with this solution. The current trend is toward modularity and containerization, and given the product's requirements, containerization will be difficult. There is a memory requirement as well."
"WebSphere is very cumbersome and not user-friendly. It used to have its own JVM, which presented challenges such as different architecture and memory leaks."
"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."
"The footprint could be reduced so that we can use a smaller virtual machine to run the application. We could also use more scripts. I would like this solution to be more script oriented, rather than GUI oriented."
"I think that this is a good product but I think that the cloud environment could be improved. I think that the future is in the utilization of the product in a product as a service way which is something that is lacking at this moment."
"What could be improved in IBM WebSphere Application Server is its interconnection with other products, for example, Kafka. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is a better graphical user interface."
"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."
"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"Its architecture needs improvement."
"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."
"This solution needs better management UI."
"A graphic user interface can be added."
"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."
"Lacks some functional requirements."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't remember the price, but there are no additional costs."
"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."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
"The price of IBM WebSphere Application Server could be less expensive and there is an annual license required for this solution."
"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."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It's expensive."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"It is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
34%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
32%
Media Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.