IIS vs Windows Process Activation Services comparison

IIS and Windows Process Activation Services are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. IIS is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Windows Process Activation Services is ranked #22. IIS holds a 10.5% mindshare in AIS, compared to Windows Process Activation Services’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IIS users are willing to recommend the solution.

IIS

Read 59 IIS reviews

2,965 Views
1,927 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Windows Process Activation ...

Read 1 Windows Process Activation Services review

209 Views
207 Comparison Views

0% willing to recommend

IIS

Windows Process Activation ...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IIS and Windows Process Activation Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

September 2025

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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

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Server (4th)

Windows Process Activation ...

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

22nd

Average Rating

4.0

Reviews Sentiment

2.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 10.5%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Process Activation Services is 1.2%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IIS	10.5%
Windows Process Activation Services	1.2%
Other	88.3%

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

Krishnakumar Natarajan

Systems Engineer at Atos

Designs and manages multiple websites while ensuring data backup and disaster recovery

I have experience with AWS, and I am most familiar with the server environment, as we just use the server environment and then use Microsoft products on an AWS environment. I have experience with Windows Server IIS, which I ran on my own on-premise data center. The website was developed and then hosted, and through IIS, we managed the servers. The manageability within the IIS environment is not very difficult. For server management, you need to ensure data backup, data restore, and you have a DR configured to keep the database intact. It was done on-premises, so I had no problem doing that. If you have to go to the cloud, then you should have the storage connected to the IIS server and also have a DR set up for that. I didn't use Microsoft Azure tools, but since it is a Microsoft product, Azure has all the portability, so you don't have to worry about compatibility on the cloud. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this solution a 10.

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it_user1226547

Senior IT Systems Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Central console enables us to see all of the activated and deactivated computers but it has poor alerts and frustrating technical support

The solution needs to allow for other company product licenses to be included if possible. The solution needs to include other Microsoft products, like Exchange, SharePoint, etc. Right now, it's only for Windows and Office. The solution needs to be made web-based. Right now, we have to install some tools and to use these tools we have to log into a specific server. If that server has an issue we cannot manage it. The solution needs to be able to be managed from any machine. Alerting capabilities should be improved. If a license expires or there is a breach, or something is non-compliant, the solution should send out alerts.

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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

"IIS works natively with Windows Server without any issues in publishing certificates."

"The initial setup is simple."

"It's very easy to publish."

"The solution is very simple to use and easy to deploy."

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

"The product is flexible."

"The product is easy to configure."

"What I like the most is that it is easy to use."

More IIS pros

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the central console, that allows you to see all of the activated and deactivated computers."

Cons

"The solution must improve the integration between its databases."

"It lacks a few performance improvement tools."

"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."

"There is an issue with the network. The tool's price is also high."

"In the next release, the tool should be more easily integrated and configured with other provisions. The pricing should also be made cheaper since it's very expensive now."

"They need to improve their response time and first level support quality because the escalation process takes too long."

"The security must be improved."

"The documentation isn't very good and the options are very complex."

More IIS cons

"The stability of the solution needs improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I give the price of the solution a five out of ten."

"The solution provides multiple licensing options."

"They offer a one-time payment model for the product license, and we pay annually for support."

"IIS's pricing is not expensive."

"IIS is expensive."

"It is licensed with your Windows installation which makes it relatively cheap if you already have a Windows Server sitting around."

"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."

"The price is good."

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

14%

Government

University

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	21

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,...

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What do you like most about IIS?

The product is flexible.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?

For the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IIS, as a Microsoft product, I didn't think much about separately purchasing an IIS product as it is part of Microsoft Windows. We bought a developmen...

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Comparisons

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 30% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 27% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 10% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Application Server vs IIS

Compared 2% of the time

More IIS Competitors

Microsoft .NET Framework vs Windows Process Activation Services

Compared 41% of the time

More Windows Process Activation Services Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

September 2025

Download IIS product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

September 2025

Windows Process Activation Services report

Download Windows Process Activation Services 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

Windows Process Activation Service generalizes the Internet Information Services (IIS) process model, removing the dependency on HTTP. All the features of IIS that were previously available only to HTTP applications are now available to applications hosting Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services, by using non-HTTP protocols. IIS 7.0 also uses Windows Process Activation Service for message-based activation over HTTP.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Harris Farm Markets, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, John Keells Holdings, Green Prefab, 343 Industries, SM Prime, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

September 2025

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