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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Tomcat 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
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (3rd)
Tomcat
Ranking in Application Server
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 12.6%, up from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tomcat is 18.8%, down from 20.1% 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.
Erick  Karanja - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers high availability, straightforward deployment and easy to use
Tomcat could be a little bit more innovative. Tomcat could come up with a framework that's more lightweight and purely targeted at Java applications. Some other solutions are doing better right now, maybe because they have come up with MicroProfile, which I think is moving forward. It may actually beat Tomcat because of the lightweight nature of the framework, the MicroProfile. They're coming up with new solutions. So, for the future of Tomcat and to maintain the market share they might be looking for, they need to come up with initiatives to ensure that several of us have a lightweight framework to deploy applications on.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable."
"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."
"One of the most valuable features might be the stability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server."
"The performance is good."
"This solution is easy to use with a GUI that is intuitive and very helpful."
"The solution has good performance."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"Web apps are very easy to deploy."
"It is easy to manage at a basic level."
"The product is easy to use."
"It is easy to set up."
"Tomcat is reliable and secure, which makes it valuable for our application deployment."
"Tomcat is a lightweight application server, which makes it easy to deploy and install small applications."
"The scalability overall is good."
"We can use Apache Tomcat for Java server applications."
 

Cons

"IBM needs to pay attention to market changes more quickly. We now have Java 9 and very soon Java EE8. We do not want to wait for two or three years after their release until they are supported by the new version."
"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 installation has room for improvement."
"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."
"Initial setup is very simple. Just use the IBM Installation Manager and add the packages. The install wizard takes care of the rest. The only thing that can be difficult is to find the right packages on the IBM website, because of all the changes that IBM does on its website(s)."
"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."
"The solution consumes hardware."
"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."
"I would also like to see a dashboard with some integrations in order to see the logs and trace performance easier."
"In the solution, we are using the terminal to enter command line codes for operations and management, this is difficult for me. It would be better if we had some administrator UI tools for this."
"Our biggest challenge is that the Tomcat servers are not hosted locally."
"Tomcat could be a little bit more innovative. Tomcat could come up with a framework that's more lightweight and purely targeted at Java applications."
"It will be useful if a direct report concerning a particular server configuration or application usage is readily available in the dashboard."
"Tomcat needs to improve its user interface."
"Tomcat is not user-friendly. I would also like to be able to have multiple applications run at the same time."
"I would personally like it if the admin console would show more information specifically about memory being used."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM WAS base is part of the deal when you purchase IBM FileNet P8 Content Engine."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"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."
"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"Tomcat is not costlier than other solutions."
"There are no additional costs apart from the standard license."
"We are currently using the open-source version."
"It is an open-source tool and is free of cost."
"Tomcat is an open-source server."
"Tomcat is open-source and free to use."
"The solution is open source so is free."
"The price of the solution is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
27%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
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 do you like most about Tomcat?
Tomcat's ease of use has positively impacted project timelines. Tomcat already has high availability – it doesn't go down so often and doesn't require a lot of maintenance. As long as your applicat...
What needs improvement with Tomcat?
Regarding improvements in Tomcat, I personally haven't used it very extensively, but all Apache products are very useful for our web applications. Although the web server setup is a little differen...
What is your primary use case for Tomcat?
We use Tomcat for various purposes, and our company finds it to be perfect; we are getting all the solutions out of that. There is still no chance of any migration to any other technology, but addi...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
No data available
 

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
1. Adobe Systems 2. Amazon 3. Apple 4. AT&T 5. Bank of America 6. Boeing 7. Cisco Systems 8. Citigroup 9. Dell 10. eBay 11. Facebook 12. General Electric 13. Google 14. Hewlett-Packard 15. IBM 16. Intel 17. JPMorgan Chase 18. Microsoft 19. Netflix 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Salesforce 23. Samsung 24. Sony 25. Target 26. Twitter 27. Uber 28. Verizon 29. Visa 30. Volkswagen 31. Walmart 32. Yahoo
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Tomcat and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.