IIS vs NGINX Controller comparison

Microsoft and F5 are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3, while F5 is ranked #21 with an average rating of 7.0. Microsoft holds a 12.5% mindshare in AIS, compared to F5’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of F5 users who would recommend it.

IIS

Read 56 IIS reviews

2,756 Views
2,058 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

NGINX Controller

Read 1 NGINX Controller review

55 Views
24 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IIS

NGINX Controller

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IIS and NGINX Controller based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, F5, Apache and others in Application Infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Application Infrastructure Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2025

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Helped 845,040 peers since 2012

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

IIS

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Server (4th)

NGINX Controller

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

21st

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 12.5%, down from 13.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NGINX Controller is 0.4%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

VikramSingh6

Operations Executive at Quess

A simple and easy-to-use solution but not recommended for public apps

I would rate the overall solution a six out of ten. We have around five to six developers and engineers for the solution’s deployment and maintenance. You can use the solution if your website is not too big or complicated. However, if it is big and complicated, then you need to use Apache or Red Hat. This tool can be used for internal purposes. But if you plan to host a public app, then I wouldn’t recommend the tool.

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Satheesh Papisetty

Digital Services & Engagement Senior Manager at AXA

Load balancing and security strengthen operations while error handling needs improvement

The most valuable features of NGINX Controller ( /products/nginx-controller-reviews ) include its load-balancing capabilities and security features. I find the security aspect particularly strong, and it allows for application routing and managing index pages efficiently. Overall, these features fit well within a three-tier architecture, which is essential for our operations.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to use and easy to understand."

"The most valuable feature of IIS is that it's free, and it works."

"We use Windows Server only for Eggplant Manager."

"The solution has been reliable."

"The solution is simple and very easy to manage compared to Linux."

"The product's most valuable features are performance and security."

"It is an easy-to-use and secure program."

"IIS's best features are its management console and stability."

More IIS pros

"NGINX Controller is cheap compared to other solutions, and it offers significant cost and time savings."

Cons

"The level of technical support the solution offers could be improved."

"The areas of this solution that need improvement are monitoring, debugging, and troubleshooting."

"Sometimes if you are using IIS in large-scale scenarios, meaning that if you are deploying an application within IIS service and you are expecting a large number of users to use this application, you can sometimes find some problems, meaning that the service can shut down by itself unexpectedly if you don't configure your IIS with the correct configuration that can handle this number of users."

"IIS has some stability issues and needs restarting."

"If Microsoft IIS could work well with AppOptics or things like PHP, Python, and other custom languages that run on the webserver, it would be ideal. I think there are cases where people need to use Apache instead of IIS when IIS doesn't work well with other web languages."

"Having no support for other than a Microsoft environment and programming languages limits the usage of IIS in many cases."

"Finding different settings can be difficult if you don't know where to look."

"Presently, some developers do not have technical knowledge of managing IIS, so that needs to be improved in the next release."

More IIS cons

"The technical support from NGINX Controller is not good. They do not offer quick responses or 24/7 support, which is lacking when immediate assistance is needed."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."

"The price of the cloud system is a bit high."

"The tool's pricing is on a yearly basis."

"I was using the trial version of IIS inside my virtual machines."

"The solution provides multiple licensing options."

"The yearly licensing cost is very high. The solution is very expensive."

"IIS's pricing is not expensive."

"We purchased a Microsoft Windows license and the license for IIS came in the package."

More IIS pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?

IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...

See all answers

What do you like most about IIS?

The product is flexible.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?

If you have a Windows license, there is no additional cost for IIS. However, you may need to pay for SSL publishing at times.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Controller?

NGINX Controller is cheap compared to other solutions, and it offers significant cost and time savings.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NGINX Controller?

The error handling in NGINX Controller requires improvement. The handling of misconfigurations is not good enough and needs enhancements.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NGINX Controller?

We use NGINX Controller ( /products/nginx-controller-reviews ) for load balancing purposes. Our use case involves integrating it with a three-tier architecture, where it serves as a critical compon...

See all answers

Comparisons

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 29% of the time

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 23% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 16% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 14% of the time

JBoss vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

More IIS Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

March 2025

Download IIS product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2025

Download NGINX Controller product report

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS

No data available

Overview

Internet Information Services (IIS) provides a secure, easy-to-manage, modular and extensible platform for reliably hosting websites, services and applications. With IIS, you get choice and control without giving up reliability or security.

Microsoft

Built to manage NGINX Plus instances at scale, NGINX Controller provides DevOps and developers a self-service, API driven control plane for their most critical application and security services. Manage and monitor load balancers, API gateways, and web application firewalls across any cloud, all from a single pane of glass.

The NGINX Controller API Management Module is an API management solution, combining NGINX Plus as an API gateway with new control‑plane functionality. NGINX Controller is designed to empower Infrastructure & Operations and DevOps teams to define, publish, secure, monitor, and analyze APIs, without compromising performance.

Sample Customers

Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2025

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