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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Oracle WebLogic Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 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 Server
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (3rd)
Oracle WebLogic Server
Ranking in Application Server
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 9.1%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle WebLogic Server is 12.8%, down from 25.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle WebLogic Server12.8%
IBM WebSphere Application Server9.1%
Other78.1%
Application Server
 

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.
Thomas Waltair - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Head And Director Product Development at Neptune Software Group
Stable and scalable enterprise deployment with Cloud-Native support
Oracle WebLogic Server helps with my deployment strategy in both monolithic as well as Cloud-Native ways. I think it is useful; this Cloud-Native support helps with deployment in both on-prem and cloud. For container deployment, we are not very rich. We are in the process of moving our business logic to containerization. But in terms of this being a big product, a core banking system, I prefer on-prem rather than cloud. The use cases and the scrum help me a lot in an iterative, incremental manner. I would recommend this product; it is an enterprise, large volume, and of course, it is worth it to deploy. I am providing this review with a rating of 9.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Without the Admin Console it would be very hard to configure JVM settings, JDBC datasources, mail session settings, and security providers."
"The solution has good performance."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"IBM WAS is extremely scalable. It is easy to add additional servers and to divide the load over servers in all kinds of ways."
"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 has good stability of the application server in the long term compared to other solutions."
"The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable."
"High availability, alert management, and deployments are the most valuable features for us. We have the ND version so we can do deployments."
"The solution works well in load balancing."
"It has good integration with security features, including OWASP."
"I recommend the product because the installation is easy, it provides a secure environment, and it's easy to manage. The solution provides easy monitoring. Accessing all the logs is easy, and deploying application versions is smooth."
"It has helped us to have different clusters within different servers, which allows us to identify hacker attacks."
"The only difference is that Weblogic is lighter and consumes less memory."
"WebLogic is reliable, and it's easy to use for development."
"What I like best about Oracle WebLogic Server is its integration with other software."
"In WebLogic, the most useful feature is the UI administration console from where we can configure everything, such as security access, and we can start and stop it graphically. That's the best feature of WebLogic Server."
 

Cons

"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."
"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"The solution could improve the integration."
"Installing or configuring a WAS server instance as a Windows Service causes a lot of problems, especially when the server needs credentials to stop."
"The availability of the solution needs improvement."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"The current trend is to move to Liberty because of the portability of its cloud and its Kubernetes, which containerize the application."
"While WebSphere mostly supports IBM HTTP Server (IHS) as the web server plugin, I think it would be beneficial if it also supported Apache and NGINX web servers. That would give customers more flexibility in their choices."
"The error handling area in Oracle WebLogic Server is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The integration could be improved."
"I can't point to anything missing."
"The quarterly updates can sometimes lead to instability depending on the configuration of systems."
"The administration is hard, and it is more complex to use than others."
"The logs consultant, since it tends to be more in the server, we do need complete consult logs for a lot of different files."
"They should improve the solution's garbage collection feature."
"Its pricing should be better. We are analyzing other options, such as JBoss, because of the cost of WebLogic."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"It is very expensive."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"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."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
"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 licensing of the product is expensive"
"Its high expense is a significant drawback"
"The solution’s pricing is affordable."
"Pricing for Oracle WebLogic Server is expensive."
"As Oracle WebLogic Server is a product from Oracle, it is bound to be an expensive solution. My company needs to make annual payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."
"In our country, this is an expensive product."
"The tool's pricing is yearly."
"I would not compare WebSphere and WebLogic because both servers are really good. The only difference is that Weblogic is lighter and consumes less memory."
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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
17%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 Business15
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise17
 

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 Oracle WebLogic Server?
I am not sure at this stage about any areas for improvement.
What is your primary use case for Oracle WebLogic Server?
The main purposes for which I use Oracle WebLogic Server is for enterprise deployment. It is an enterprise application deployment. I work with Cloud-Native support in Oracle WebLogic Server. We are...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
WebLogic Application Server
 

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
Colab Consulting Pty. Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Sascar, Banca Transilvania, UL, Center for Railway Information Systems, SPAR Austria Group, Reliance Commercial Finance, Industrial Bank of Korea, Al Jaber Group, Safe Water Kenya, Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Oracle WebLogic Server and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.