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 8.5, while Windows Process Activation Services is ranked #26. IIS holds a 10.4% mindshare in AIS, compared to Windows Process Activation Services’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IIS users are willing to recommend the solution.

IIS

Read 61 IIS reviews

3,518 Views
2,322 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Windows Process Activation ...

Read 1 Windows Process Activation Services review

232 Views
230 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: February 2026).

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Application Infrastructure

February 2026

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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

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Server (4th)

Windows Process Activation ...

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

26th

Average Rating

4.0

Reviews Sentiment

2.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 10.4%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Process Activation Services is 0.9%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IIS	10.4%
Windows Process Activation Services	0.9%
Other	88.7%

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

"The initial setup of IIS is easy. The process takes only five minutes."

"IIS is useful for the deployment of web applications...Its stability is good."

"The solution is easy to use."

"The graphical user interface makes it easy for users to configure the sites."

"The interface, simplicity, and ease of management are all good features that make this user-friendly."

"Microsoft's technical support has always been very good."

"IIS is Internet Information Services, which is application infrastructure, and the main benefits include security control where you can control different access levels and integrate with other services to manage application security."

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

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

"The scalability depends on how you have set it up. If you're running IIS on a single server, it might not be as capable as if you are on many in a cluster or with load balancing and so on."

"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."

"In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the cloud environment and the on-premises environment."

"We've never had any issues with the solution, but it's still nice to have overall improvements on it. It could be easier and faster to use, for example."

"Compared to Linux, the solution’s Windows patching is slower. I would like to improve it."

"Scalability issues and security concerns need attention from Microsoft."

"I would like to see NLB features in IIS."

More IIS cons

"The stability of the solution needs improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Windows Server IIS is expensive. They have a large user base, and they charge a little bit too much."

"The cost for IIS is already included in Windows services. We don't have to pay anything extra."

"IIS's pricing is not expensive."

"I think it's part of the Windows Server, so you won't have any other costs to add in order to use the IIS service."

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

"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."

"There is no license needed to use the solution."

"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

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	22

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.

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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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Compared 6% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 5% of the time

More IIS Competitors

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

February 2026

Windows Process Activation Services report

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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

February 2026

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