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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
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (5th)
Oracle WebLogic Server
Ranking in Application Server
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 12.7%, up from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle WebLogic Server is 25.1%, down from 26.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

BharathirajaSukumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient load balancing and the clustering, achieved by using the deployment manager, is valuable
I believe that the system is already good. However, for improvement or enhancement, it is user-friendly, but it could offer better choices on the front end for different aspects or options. Sometimes, I have to search extensively for features, as there are no upfront tabs. There is a lack of visible, easy, user-friendly, and straightforward options for the number of features.
Saikat Nag - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers efficient load distribution with a scope of high scalability
Our organization configures Oracle WebLogic Server in such a way that a load balancer becomes available. The network requests are segregated to the Oracle WebLogic Server as the managing server and different nodes are configured. Using the product as a load balancer helps automate request transfer from one non-functional node to another functional node. Due to Oracle WebLogic Server, the endpoints remain unaffected whenever a node goes down. The clustering feature enhances our organization's performance and reliability. In our organization, the health of the Oracle WebLogic Server environment is maintained and managed using Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM). I would definitely recommend others to use Oracle WebLogic Server. Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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."
"One of the most valuable features might be the stability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server."
"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."
"This solution is easy to use with a GUI that is intuitive and very helpful."
"Starting with version 8, WAS provides a special folder called monitor deployment. Once you put the .war or .ear file in there, it is deployed automatically without human intervention. This greatly helps us in our continuous integration server. Once the deployment binary is ready, we write a script to copy it to that folder and then, voila! The application is up and running and accessible from its context root."
"We needed this type of integration and WebShepere is the best tool for it."
"Ease of administration: It has an Integrated Solutions Console, what we call the administrative console, with very detailed configurations and Help pages for each configurable item."
"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."
"What I like best about Oracle WebLogic Server is its integration with other software."
"Oracle WebLogic Server has a bunch of ready features that are easy to use and understand."
"In the newer system, reconfigurability and the fact that it is easy to configure, make it very valuable."
"It is quite robust in comparison to other application servers."
"It has good integration with security features, including OWASP."
"We can manage every application by creating a managed server and a cluster."
"It's a very stable solution."
"The technical support is responsive. They are always ready to help by various communication channels, such as Zoom calls. However, sometimes it will take a while because when we are dealing with a problem, they need to look at the logs and configuration. A lot of the issues are related to the configuration that they need to look at thoroughly before they can give us a solution and it can take a few days depending on the type of problem."
 

Cons

"The security could be better."
"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."
"WebSphere Application Server doesn't have an automated deployment option, forcing us to use third-party tools like Jenkins UCD and Palo Automated Deployment."
"The solution could improve the integration."
"When compared with WebLogic, Weblogic is lighter and consumes less memory."
"The main issue we faced was its limited compatibility with non-Java technologies, which can result in difficulty detecting potential bugs and requiring additional integration efforts."
"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."
"The solution consumes hardware."
"This is a complex application."
"The tool's implementation should be easier. The product is also expensive."
"Licensing fees need improvement."
"In the future, I would like to see better support for the REST interface."
"The solution is very expensive, and its pricing could be improved."
"The administration is hard, and it is more complex to use than others."
"In terms of what could be improved, maybe something related to the processes automation or starting and stopping the processes, because often WebLogic comes with something called Node Manager. Node Manager needs to be configured and administrated manually."
"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."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It's expensive."
"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."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"The solution's licensing is high-priced."
"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."
"Pricing for Oracle WebLogic Server is expensive."
"It is expensive."
"The licensing of the product is expensive"
"Fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The licensing fees are annual and depend on the model."
"The solution’s pricing is affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
In Korea, when you buy IBM iOS, the WebSphere base version is included with iOS. That means no additional cost.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I find the server okay, however, using the Maker instance, the Moving instance, and the Change instance is a little bit complicated without WebSphere knowledge.
What needs improvement with Oracle WebLogic Server?
Sometimes, some issues don't get fixed by Oracle's technical support team, and you need to invest time to fix them by yourself. Oracle's support team fails to understand the real problem of the cus...
What is your primary use case for Oracle WebLogic Server?
When we implemented Oracle Libre Suite, there is middleware, which is normally Oracle WebLogic. Many customers in Pakistan use Oracle WebLogic Middleware. Previously, it was our application server,...
 

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: March 2025.
845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.