IBM Open Liberty vs IIS comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Server category. IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 10.0, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 3.8% mindshare in AppS, compared to Microsoft’s 6.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Open Liberty

Read 2 IBM Open Liberty reviews

1,939 Views
252 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IIS

Read 61 IIS reviews

3,165 Views
1,171 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM Open Liberty

IIS

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 7, 2025

IIS and IBM Open Liberty are competing products in the web application server space. IBM Open Liberty has the upper hand due to superior features and flexibility, making it worth the investment.

Features: IIS offers seamless integration with Microsoft tools, HTTP/2 support, and strong security features. IBM Open Liberty provides a modular architecture suitable for cloud-native environments and supports modern Java EE technologies, allowing rapid deployment of microservices. The primary difference is IIS's focus on Windows interoperability, while IBM Open Liberty emphasizes flexibility and adaptability in diverse environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IIS benefits from integration with Windows Server, leading to straightforward deployment and offers extensive documentation and support. IBM Open Liberty delivers a flexible, containerized deployment approach ideal for cloud-based infrastructures. Its adaptability allows for a customized deployment experience, appealing to diverse operational environments.

Pricing and ROI: IIS presents a low barrier to entry with costs tied to Windows Server licenses, appealing to businesses aligned with the Microsoft ecosystem, and offers strong ROI through integration with Microsoft products. IBM Open Liberty, while incurring higher initial deployment costs for its features, offers increased ROI through reduced resource usage, scalability, and support for modern development techniques. The key difference is IIS's cost-efficiency for those within the Microsoft ecosystem versus IBM Open Liberty’s long-term value through enhanced capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Open Liberty vs. IIS Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Open Liberty vs. IIS

December 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

IBM Open Liberty

Ranking in Application Server

8th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

2.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IIS

Ranking in Application Server

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM Open Liberty is 3.8%. The mindshare of IIS is 6.0%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Server Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IIS	6.0%
IBM Open Liberty	3.8%
Other	90.2%

Application Server

Featured Reviews

FABIO LUIS VELLOSO DA SILVA

Partner at SouJava

Has enabled flexible deployment of modular services with high availability and smooth dynamic updates

The best features of IBM Open Liberty are the implementation of MicroProfile and Jakarta EE, along with fault tolerance and high availability. It's easy to use and deploy new features. The profile is easy to configure and set up features. For example, using fault tolerance from MicroProfile or using servlets or JAX-RS allows for easy configuration and creation of modular applications. The configuration is modular. The main point for us in this project was high availability, high performance, and the implementation of MicroProfile and Jakarta EE. We utilized the modular architecture of IBM Open Liberty by creating different microservices using different environments. We created different configurations for different services using the configuration of IBM Open Liberty. This was very beneficial. We created different environments only by changing the configuration, depending on the functionality we needed. It was good and very flexible for us. I used the dynamic updates feature of IBM Open Liberty and different configurations in different services and servers, based on the functionality we provided for our clients. The flexibility to create different services in different environments using IBM Open Liberty was important. The high availability is guaranteed by the architecture of IBM Open Liberty, Java, and MicroProfile. The architecture guaranteed high availability, and the flexibility comes from being able to configure needed features. There's no need to load all WebSphere or functionalities in all environments. I can configure it and create a more highly available and scalable process. I implemented monitoring tools for IBM Open Liberty using Grafana and OpenTracing using the functionalities from MicroProfile and IBM Open Liberty. The monitoring tools helped with managing system performance.

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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

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable solution compared to other vendors."

"The flexibility to create different services in different environments using IBM Open Liberty was important."

"The initial setup is simple."

"It has an intuitive user interface and provides a lot of options for building reports."

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

"The tool shows us the operating systems where our servers and applications are running."

"The product's initial setup phase is straightforward."

"The solution is easy to use and connects with Microsoft."

"The product is flexible."

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

More IIS pros

Cons

"To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial."

"Its support documentation could have detailed information on database integration."

"The initial setup could be made easier."

"IIS has some stability issues and needs restarting."

"Sometimes, we encounter difficult issues, and getting support from Microsoft to resolve those issues is not easy."

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

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

"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."

"This solution needs to be easier for cases where you want to have an IIS cluster."

"IIS needs to improve its security. Its support needs to be faster and clear. The tool's licensing could be cheaper as well."

More IIS cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less costly than one of its competitors."

"There is a license needed for the solution."

"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."

"There is an annual license to use this solution and the price could be better."

"The solution’s pricing is yearly. The pricing is affordable and not high."

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

"IIS is expensive."

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

"The price of the cloud system is a bit high."

More IIS pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

51%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Open Liberty?

To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial. Having more integration with Kafka, Mongo, and middleware systems that ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Open Liberty?

I used IBM Open Liberty for an application for financial services using IBM Open Liberty and MicroProfile to process data for financial services work.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Open Liberty?

I used IBM Open Liberty in the past in a project, but today I'm not using it anymore. I had a good experience working with it in a financial services company. This was very beneficial. My review ra...

See all answers

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 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

Spring Boot vs IBM Open Liberty

Compared 67% of the time

IBM WebSphere Liberty vs IBM Open Liberty

Compared 9% of the time

Tomcat vs IBM Open Liberty

Compared 5% of the time

Helidon vs IBM Open Liberty

Compared 4% of the time

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IBM Open Liberty

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Open Liberty Competitors

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 24% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 22% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IIS

Compared 5% of the time

More IIS Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Server

January 2026

Download IBM Open Liberty product report

Buyer's Guide

IIS

January 2026

Download IIS product report

Also Known As

No data available

Windows Server IIS

Overview

IBM Open Liberty is a highly adaptable and lightweight Java runtime, designed to cater to modern cloud-native applications. Its flexibility and commitment to open source makes it a valuable asset for developers seeking ease of deployment and scalability.

IBM Open Liberty stands out for its ease of integration into cloud environments and its emphasis on developer productivity. It permits quick iterations with minimal overhead, thanks in part to its support for MicroProfile and Jakarta EE. This allows for streamlined deployment processes, making contemporary software development more efficient.

What are the valuable features of IBM Open Liberty?

Lightweight Server: Minimizes resource consumption, enabling faster performance.
Dev Mode: Provides a real-time feedback loop, simplifying development cycles.
MicroProfile Support: Assists in building microservices architecture effectively.
Jakarta EE Support: Ensures compatibility with enterprise standards.

What are the benefits or ROI to consider?

Scalability: Adapts easily to increasing workloads while maintaining performance.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs by optimizing server usage.
Developer Productivity: Accelerates development through intuitive tooling.
Cloud Readiness: Facilitates seamless integration with cloud platforms.

IBM Open Liberty finds applications across multiple industries. In finance, it supports robust transactional systems. In telecommunications, it enhances service delivery with reliable microservices infrastructure. Health care benefits from its compliance capabilities, facilitating secure data management and faster application delivery.

IBM

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

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

Buyer's Guide

IBM Open Liberty vs. IIS

December 2025

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