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 on IIS recently, but integrating Copilot could help automate processes or assist in identifying where to make actions or take actions on the server.
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.
What I saw for improvement is the configuration and designing of HTTPS sites. While it was easy, if there are any user-friendly improvements that can be made, that would definitely improve the product. It should be more user-friendly because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it. If creating a website, adding a database, and hosting the website were more user-friendly, that would be very beneficial.
Relationship Manager at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
Apr 28, 2025
Microsoft products can only work within the Windows environment, which limits their versatility. If I compare IIS to other web servers such as Apache, which can be deployed in other environments like Linux, I find IIS is mostly used for simple things. For long-running sites, it's a limitation to have to use it within the Windows environment.
The product could be more compatible with Linux and macOS, particularly when applying user configuration policies. We have to download and configure other player controllers for the same.
The performance of IIS could be improved. Occasionally, we encounter performance issues with IIS where it becomes unresponsive and requires a solution restart.
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.
It lacks a few performance improvement tools. So, performance improvement tools need to be included in the tool so that they can improve the product overall.
Senior Cloud Solutions Engineer at Znet Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
Feb 16, 2023
Some developing aspects like coding have to be improved in the solution. Presently, some developers do not have technical knowledge of managing IIS, so that needs to be improved in the next release. I definitely want the core part to be differentiated from the technical part.
The documentation of IIS could be better. They are not easily accessible. I had to use YouTube and other online resources to learn how to use the solution properly.
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. Some configurations are not that easy to configure, there are a lot of details that you need to specify to tweak your applications. Sometimes, you can find problems, especially with applications that are not developed with .NET languages. If you want your application to perform well and can handle a large number of users, you need to use .NET languages like ASP.NET or other .NET technology. But if you are using for example PHP application, sometimes you can find some performance issues. I encountered that type of problem, especially when you are using, for example, applications that are not developed in the Windows environment and you want to deploy this application with the IIS, sometimes you will find problems, especially performance-related problems.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Top 10
Aug 26, 2022
IIS could improve the error logging. There are times we are not able to see the errors. More details would be helpful. Additionally, the configuring of the IIS should be allowed through coding instead of the classic view.
Senior IT Systems Engineer at ITL Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd
Real User
Jun 16, 2022
I am using an older version of Windows Server IIS and the general management and navigation to get something done is not as straightforward as I hope it to be. The interface could be improved.
IIS needs immediate improvements, especially in the area of security management. Having no support for other than a Microsoft environment and programming languages limits the usage of IIS in many cases. The capability to host and deploy open-source applications would definitely add more value to it. There should be plugins to enable it to support open-source programming languages. It also limits us in the choice of operating systems. IIS should be enhanced in terms of its capabilities for monitoring and debugging.
Senior Administrator - Windows at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
MSP
Aug 16, 2020
There are a lot of security issues with IIS, and this has become more of a concern, especially recently. That security problem is the biggest disadvantage. Scalability is also a problem. Microsoft needs to improve on that aspect of the product. There are many limitations on IIS that seem like they should not be hard to remedy. On the other hand, Microsoft is doing more to concentrate on Azure for the cloud solution, so it may be their intent that Azure is ultimately the better solution.
Techincal CIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Dec 25, 2019
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.
ICT Superintendent at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Dec 25, 2019
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.
The solution doesn't integrate well with all Microsoft products. There are a few that actually don't integrate well with IIS. 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.
Geospatial Services Systems Administrator at EDIC Bayanat
Real User
Oct 28, 2019
This solution needs to be easier for cases where you want to have an IIS cluster. If you have several IIS solutions running, it is not clear on how to make them communicate to each other. Normally, IIS Web Server run independently on each server. To have "IIS cluster", currently you need to have a network load balancer (NLB) appliance running in front of them. We use NLB to distribute the load and have high-availability of IIS Web Server.
Senior System Administrator at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Sep 29, 2019
The areas of this solution that need improvement are monitoring, debugging, and troubleshooting. Having the monitoring as standard on the user interface would be nice. There needs to be an easy way to escalate technical support issues beyond level one, quickly.
DevOps at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Real User
Sep 5, 2019
Different parameters in this product can be a bit difficult. As soon as you introduce something new, and especially in the Microsoft environment, you always need to do new training sessions to understand what are new functionalities are. Finding the correct options are not more intuitive, and it should be.
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.
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 on IIS recently, but integrating Copilot could help automate processes or assist in identifying where to make actions or take actions on the server.
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.
What I saw for improvement is the configuration and designing of HTTPS sites. While it was easy, if there are any user-friendly improvements that can be made, that would definitely improve the product. It should be more user-friendly because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it. If creating a website, adding a database, and hosting the website were more user-friendly, that would be very beneficial.
Microsoft products can only work within the Windows environment, which limits their versatility. If I compare IIS to other web servers such as Apache, which can be deployed in other environments like Linux, I find IIS is mostly used for simple things. For long-running sites, it's a limitation to have to use it within the Windows environment.
The only issue I've encountered is with certificates not working fine sometimes. It's influenced by the server's service performance.
The solution's pricing and stability need improvement.
The security must be improved.
The user interface could be improved. We do not like it when the UI is changed often. Every time there is a change, we need to restart the server.
The tool needs to improve its performance.
The product could be more compatible with Linux and macOS, particularly when applying user configuration policies. We have to download and configure other player controllers for the same.
IIS needs to improve its security. Its support needs to be faster and clear. The tool's licensing could be cheaper as well.
The solution's black box is not fast.
The cost is a bit too high. There is a bit of complexity, and we'd like to make sure that in the future, it's streamlined and easier in general.
There is an issue with the network. The tool's price is also high.
The performance of IIS could be improved. Occasionally, we encounter performance issues with IIS where it becomes unresponsive and requires a solution restart.
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.
We'd like future versions to be more stable. It would be useful if they could incorporate some default security controls. These are missing right now.
Compared to Linux, the solution’s Windows patching is slower. I would like to improve it.
It lacks a few performance improvement tools. So, performance improvement tools need to be included in the tool so that they can improve the product overall.
Some developing aspects like coding have to be improved in the solution. Presently, some developers do not have technical knowledge of managing IIS, so that needs to be improved in the next release. I definitely want the core part to be differentiated from the technical part.
The documentation of IIS could be better. They are not easily accessible. I had to use YouTube and other online resources to learn how to use the solution properly.
The customer service and support team can be improved.
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. Some configurations are not that easy to configure, there are a lot of details that you need to specify to tweak your applications. Sometimes, you can find problems, especially with applications that are not developed with .NET languages. If you want your application to perform well and can handle a large number of users, you need to use .NET languages like ASP.NET or other .NET technology. But if you are using for example PHP application, sometimes you can find some performance issues. I encountered that type of problem, especially when you are using, for example, applications that are not developed in the Windows environment and you want to deploy this application with the IIS, sometimes you will find problems, especially performance-related problems.
IIS's memory management could be improved.
IIS could improve by having some features related to URL rewrite, ARR (Application Request Routing) and HTTPS certificate generation.
IIS could improve the error logging. There are times we are not able to see the errors. More details would be helpful. Additionally, the configuring of the IIS should be allowed through coding instead of the classic view.
I am using an older version of Windows Server IIS and the general management and navigation to get something done is not as straightforward as I hope it to be. The interface could be improved.
IIS needs immediate improvements, especially in the area of security management. Having no support for other than a Microsoft environment and programming languages limits the usage of IIS in many cases. The capability to host and deploy open-source applications would definitely add more value to it. There should be plugins to enable it to support open-source programming languages. It also limits us in the choice of operating systems. IIS should be enhanced in terms of its capabilities for monitoring and debugging.
There are a lot of security issues with IIS, and this has become more of a concern, especially recently. That security problem is the biggest disadvantage. Scalability is also a problem. Microsoft needs to improve on that aspect of the product. There are many limitations on IIS that seem like they should not be hard to remedy. On the other hand, Microsoft is doing more to concentrate on Azure for the cloud solution, so it may be their intent that Azure is ultimately the better solution.
The level of technical support the solution offers could be improved.
I haven't yet come across anything that needs to improve. Perhaps the installation process can be simplified.
The price could be reduced. In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the cloud environment and the on-premises environment.
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.
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.
The solution doesn't integrate well with all Microsoft products. There are a few that actually don't integrate well with IIS. 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.
This solution needs to be easier for cases where you want to have an IIS cluster. If you have several IIS solutions running, it is not clear on how to make them communicate to each other. Normally, IIS Web Server run independently on each server. To have "IIS cluster", currently you need to have a network load balancer (NLB) appliance running in front of them. We use NLB to distribute the load and have high-availability of IIS Web Server.
The solution's security needs improvement. The solution should improve the cluster environment and load balancing.
The areas of this solution that need improvement are monitoring, debugging, and troubleshooting. Having the monitoring as standard on the user interface would be nice. There needs to be an easy way to escalate technical support issues beyond level one, quickly.
Different parameters in this product can be a bit difficult. As soon as you introduce something new, and especially in the Microsoft environment, you always need to do new training sessions to understand what are new functionalities are. Finding the correct options are not more intuitive, and it should be.