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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

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
7th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Ap...
Ranking in Application Server
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM Open Liberty is 2.1%. The mindshare of Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) is 16.2%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP)16.2%
IBM Open Liberty2.1%
Other81.7%
Application Server
 

Featured Reviews

FABIO LUIS VELLOSO DA SILVA - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Srinadh  Puli - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation aids installation while management consolidation needs improvement
We are currently using Ansible for Jira installations and all the management tasks. We perform some tasks manually, however, Ansible helps in automating some of these processes I find JBoss to be lightweight and easier to manage compared to WebSphere. It allows for simple modification of…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The flexibility to create different services in different environments using IBM Open Liberty was important."
"It is a stable solution compared to other vendors."
"JBoss is more flexible and keeps up with modern technologies, supporting newer versions of different libraries."
"The most valuable feature is the UI."
"The high availability is great."
"It is a very cost-effective, efficient way of deploying and managing Java applications."
"We use JBoss mainly for application deployments and application servers."
"I find JBoss to be lightweight and easier to manage compared to WebSphere."
"JBoss has made it very easy to implement web applications."
"We can deploy the applications on the JBoss server, so it is easy to manage. It's also easy to add new certificates to the config."
 

Cons

"Its support documentation could have detailed information on database integration."
"To improve IBM Open Liberty, more integration with Kafka and message systems, and asynchronous messaging would be beneficial."
"The price could be improved. Customers don't want to buy the license easily."
"It can have automation features. Everybody is focused right now on automation. In terms of saving cost, automation is always the first thing that comes to light."
"There is not much ability inside of the solution. The world is going beyond different micro and data-type things like Microsoft Office, so we are not seeing much ability within the solution."
"The solution's documentation could be better."
"The stability of the solution could improve with Microsoft Windows."
"Having the support combined with Red Hat support would be an improvement."
"Logging-related issues in JBoss require improvement."
"Scalability is a concern because it is not online, which limits online processes. This aspect can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is less costly than one of its competitors."
"JBoss is an expensive solution."
"We pay for a maintenance license, but it is not expensive."
"Despite the price increase after being acquired by IBM, JBoss still maintains its competitiveness. The package provided is more geared towards cloud-based deployments, whereas our setup is more traditional, which makes it slightly more expensive for us. As most vendors are transitioning towards cloud-centric solutions, companies like ours need to adapt accordingly."
"The solution is cost-efficient compared to other products. Pricing is rated an eight out of ten."
"I rate the product price as eight on a scale, where one means it is a very cheap solution, and ten points mean that it is a very expensive tool."
"The pricing of JBoss is more reasonable than that of WebLogic."
"There is no licensing cost. The solution is free to use."
"Since the solution is freeware, our customers don't need to pay any licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
51%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
31%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
 

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 ...
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.
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...
What do you like most about JBoss?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JBoss?
My advice is to carefully review the licensing options before setting up JBoss. While using the free version WildFly, most companies go for the paid Red Hat JBoss version, which comes with extra fe...
What needs improvement with JBoss?
JBoss can be improved significantly, especially regarding deployment overlays that need updates to apply quick fixes or environment-specific changes without redirecting the archive. Enhancements in...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Tata Sky, Nissan, Swedish Board of Agriculture, Novamedia, American Product Distributors, Advanced Micro Devices, Emirates Group, E*TRADE
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Open Liberty vs. Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) and other solutions. Updated: October 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.