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IIS vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
61
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (4th)
Zend PHP Engine
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 6.1%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 2.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IIS6.1%
Zend PHP Engine2.7%
Other91.2%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Frederic Hautecoeur - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Integrations Architect at bs-team
Integrated web hosting has simplified secure services and has supported long-term growth
To be honest, I do not see any major areas for improvement. Perhaps something simple and minor. It should not go more complex than it is at the moment. The only disadvantage I see is that the documentation is a bit difficult to find. There is a lot of configuration that is very hard to get information about.
MW
CEO at VonatelNetworks
Effective network data analysis with customization capabilities and an open-source model
We use Zend PHP Engine in a government project to develop a tool for network monitoring analysis. We utilize the tool to collect all the network data for a platform PHP allows us to personalize a solution if the customer desires. This flexibility is beneficial. Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My advice to others is this is a simple-to-use solution and you can find items with ease."
"The solution is easy to use, easy to maintain and isn't too technical."
"IIS has a very simple and user-friendly interface, which helps a lot in effective and efficient management."
"It is a Microsoft product that is easy to use and to host local and public websites."
"The solution is very stable. The solution is very simple and easy to use."
"The solution is highly reliable."
"IIS is scalable."
"What I like most about this program is the fact that it's built into Windows, and then I also like the interface and the support."
"Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for developing and collecting data, offering strong performance."
"The cache modules that Zend provides have been able to optimize and accelerate the loading of the pages when there was exponential growth in data volume and quantity of requests. At the same time, the monitoring console allowed us to have a real-time understanding of the resources and to make decisions when they were at the limit."
"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier.​"
"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."
"Zend PHP Engine is more secure than any other framework, and I usually prefer Zend PHP Engine for big applications."
"It makes web design easy and quick and gives well finished websites."
"Offers a complete environment to develop PHP applications. It is valuable because it allows you to have a complete stack (PHP, MySQL, Zend Server) enabling the building of a development environment, and to deploy to the production system."
"Essentially, we get the best performance at very affordable costing."
 

Cons

"The documentation is not very detailed."
"Performance-wise, certain improvements in IIS are needed...IIS is not scalable. Its scalability is less."
"Products based on Microsoft .NET do not give companies lot of options; either with Server Operating System shipped IIS, or the developer version called IIS Express."
"The only disadvantage I see is that the documentation is a bit difficult to find."
"The solution's black box is not fast."
"There are a lot of security issues with IIS, and this has become more of a concern, especially recently."
"The documentation is not very detailed. They need to improve it and add to it. They should ensure there are lots of visuals to help users better understand the solution."
"IIS needs immediate improvements, especially in the area of security management."
"The solution can be quicker."
"Zend PHP Engine needs to improve the loading time of its libraries and make it faster."
"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."
"Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features."
"A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it."
"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."
"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."
"In terms of improvement, it doesn't support concurrent processing. When we want to process anything on a concurrent basis, we have to divide it into a number of things, like a queue, or we have to run it using Cron jobs. We would like to have the capability to run any thread or process in parallel."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is on a yearly basis."
"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."
"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."
"There is no license needed to use the solution."
"I give the price of the solution a five out of ten."
"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."
"Users can get a subscription-based license or a perpetual license for IIS."
"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."
"Its pricing depends on the number of users."
"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."
"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."
"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
13%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Large Enterprise2
 

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,...
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...
What needs improvement with IIS?
I see that IIS has maintained the same interface for a long time, so they could potentially use more automation or integrate Copilot into it to make it easier to use. I have not accessed or checked...
What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?
Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.
What is your primary use case for Zend PHP Engine?
We use Zend PHP Engine in a government project to develop a tool for network monitoring analysis. We utilize the tool to collect all the network data for a platform.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS
PHP Engine
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Cisco
Find out what your peers are saying about IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.