IIS vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zend is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.5. Microsoft holds a 9.9% mindshare in AIS, compared to Zend’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

IIS

Read 61 IIS reviews

3,651 Views
2,373 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Zend PHP Engine

Read 11 Zend PHP Engine reviews

609 Views
609 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IIS

Zend PHP Engine

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Zend PHP Engine and IIS are competing in the web server technology category. Zend PHP Engine has the upper hand in offering flexibility and developer-centric features, while IIS may be superior for businesses reliant on Microsoft technologies.

Features: Zend PHP Engine provides compatibility and performance enhancements in PHP development, seamless PHP execution, and an extensive library of extensions. IIS stands out with strong integration within Windows Server, native support for multiple languages, and exceptional management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Zend PHP Engine could refine its centralized support options and improve documentation. IIS could enhance flexibility beyond Windows environments and streamline the complexity in non-Windows server integration. Both technologies could advance user interfaces for better user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IIS benefits from streamlined deployment within the Windows ecosystem, supported by extensive documentation. Zend PHP Engine offers straightforward deployment processes and ample community resources but lacks the centralized support infrastructure provided by Microsoft.

Pricing and ROI: Zend PHP Engine's open-source model results in lower setup costs, promoting a favorable ROI for PHP-focused companies. IIS, while potentially having higher initial costs, offers significant ROI for organizations deeply invested in Windows technologies due to cohesive integration and robust support.

To learn more, read our detailed IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine

March 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 884,873 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

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 9.9%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IIS	9.9%
Zend PHP Engine	1.8%
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.

Read full review

SatyendraGupta

External Consultant (Digital Tool Developer and Intervention Specialist) at IQVIA

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature. A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it. I have been Zend PHP Engine for nine years. Multiple people are using the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.…

Read full review

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 simple and very easy to manage compared to Linux."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"The best features of IIS are that you can design your own website and manage it yourself, creating as many websites as you want."

"The solution integrates well with most Microsoft products."

"The most valuable feature of IIS is the database it provides."

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

"The product is stable."

"It's very easy to publish."

More IIS pros

"Zend Engine is the core of PHP. It makes PHP fast, efficient, and basically, the language of choice for web applications."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"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."

"The Zend Framework provides an easy, open source way to produce coding based on the needs of our customers."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."

"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."

"This solution is really easy for me to use."

More Zend PHP Engine pros

Cons

"The solution's scalability needs improvement."

"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."

"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."

"The security must be improved."

"It lacks a few performance improvement tools."

"It should be more user-friendly because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it."

"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."

"We'd like future versions to be more stable."

More IIS cons

"SQL queries have always been an issue with PHP, especially if you use large tables, which require caution from the side of the developer."

"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."

"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM."

"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."

"The solution can be quicker."

"Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features."

"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."

More Zend PHP Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IIS's pricing is not expensive."

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

"IIS's pricing is reasonable."

"There is a license needed for the solution."

"Users can get a subscription-based license or a perpetual license for IIS."

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

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

"IIS comes along with an OS license from Microsoft. Others can opt for a perpetual-based licensing model to be able to use the system."

More IIS pricing and cost advice

"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."

"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."

"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."

"Its pricing depends on the number of users."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Infrastructure solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Large Enterprise	2

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 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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zend PHP Engine?

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zend PHP Engine?

PHP is an open-source solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?

Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.

See all answers

Comparisons

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 19% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 18% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 5% of the time

More IIS Competitors

NGINX Plus vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 33% of the time

Apache Web Server vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 24% of the time

Atos DirX Directory vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft .NET Framework vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 21% of the time

More Zend PHP Engine Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

March 2026

Download IIS product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2026

Download Zend PHP Engine product report

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS

PHP Engine

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

The Zend PHP Engine is designed to optimize PHP code and improve performance, making it a popular choice for web developers. It is easy to use, stable, does not require a lot of code, is open source, and only requires payment for server costs. The initial setup is straightforward, and there is no real need to set up the solution because it's built into the deployment.

Zend

Sample Customers

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

Cisco

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine

March 2026

Free Report: IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine

Find out what your peers are saying about IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine report.

See our list of best Application Infrastructure vendors.

We monitor all Application Infrastructure reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.