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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Oracle WebCenter comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 WebSphere Application S...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (4th), Application Infrastructure (3rd)
Oracle WebCenter
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (22nd), Enterprise Content Management (17th), Web Content Management (12th), Corporate Portals (Enterprise Information Portals) (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

IBM WebSphere Application Server and Oracle WebCenter aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. IBM WebSphere Application Server is designed for Application Server and holds a mindshare of 11.1%, down 11.8% compared to last year.
Oracle WebCenter, on the other hand, focuses on Customer Experience Management, holds 1.5% mindshare, up 1.0% since last year.
Application Server Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM WebSphere Application Server11.1%
Oracle WebLogic Server18.4%
Tomcat16.7%
Other53.8%
Application Server
Customer Experience Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle WebCenter1.5%
Salesforce4.9%
Genesys Cloud CX4.1%
Other89.5%
Customer Experience Management
 

Featured Reviews

BharathirajaSukumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient load balancing and the clustering, achieved by using the deployment manager, is valuable
I believe that the system is already good. However, for improvement or enhancement, it is user-friendly, but it could offer better choices on the front end for different aspects or options. Sometimes, I have to search extensively for features, as there are no upfront tabs. There is a lack of visible, easy, user-friendly, and straightforward options for the number of features.
Mehdi Hasankhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Gives me easy access, connection and compatibility with all of the Oracle products
WebCenter content access has a lot of options and flexibility. At this time, I only see one problem: in the sub-content and channels surrounding Windows 10. It only functions with Windows 7 and Windows 8. All of the operating systems in my company are up-to-date and we are using Windows 10. For whatever reason, you can't use the Oracle content on these platforms at all. This lapse is very bad for my company because I can't change the version of Word and downgrade. Maybe it is just a technical problem. But it is a lot of my problem with this solution currently.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM WAS is the backbone for our enterprise content management suite which delivers the primary processes for our customers. Without a good application server, it would be hard to provide a secure layer of midddleware upon which the other applications run. IBM WAS improves the stability of the entire solution and provides a high quality platform for running web-based solutions."
"High availability, alert management, and deployments are the most valuable features for us. We have the ND version so we can do deployments."
"The integration between IBM tools and applications is very well executed."
"The solution is robust. The connection management and the scalability, which IBM provides to the Stack, are also valuable."
"The product offers good performance."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"Security: It is compatible with the latest Java 8 security features, supports FIPS 140-2 and NIST SP 800-53 with strong ciphers and cryptography keys, and supports TLS 1.2 completely. Also, configuring client and server certificates is relatively easy."
"A great solution for storing and searching large volumes of documents with easy access."
"WebCenter's interface is very user-friendly."
"You can move workloads in between sub-servers so that you don't overload a portion of the server."
"Integration within the solution is very good."
"The WebCenter Content is its most valuable feature. After we update a document in WebCenter Content, it can be update automatically in our intranet."
"It's a very scalable solution and the performance is pretty good. The scalability, in my opinion, is the biggest advantage."
"Oracle integrates well with other products to cover Big Data."
 

Cons

"IBM needs to pay attention to market changes more quickly. We now have Java 9 and very soon Java EE8. We do not want to wait for two or three years after their release until they are supported by the new version."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"The availability of the solution needs improvement."
"What could be improved in IBM WebSphere Application Server is its interconnection with other products, for example, Kafka. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is a better graphical user interface."
"While WebSphere mostly supports IBM HTTP Server (IHS) as the web server plugin, I think it would be beneficial if it also supported Apache and NGINX web servers. That would give customers more flexibility in their choices."
"The security could be better."
"When we run into memory or locking issues, we resort to using third-party tools. However, it would be preferable to have native tools for debugging this type of problem."
"Initial setup is very simple. Just use the IBM Installation Manager and add the packages. The install wizard takes care of the rest. The only thing that can be difficult is to find the right packages on the IBM website, because of all the changes that IBM does on its website(s)."
"The speed of the backup should be enhanced."
"Its functions need more stability."
"There are many document management systems that offer pretty much the same functionalities but at a lower price. The product as such is pretty good. However, the pricing is not comparable. They need to adjust their pricing to be more competitive on the market."
"WebCenter requires a lot of design effort to upload content to our regular system."
"The solution should be offered in Persian. Right now, our version is in English, and there's a bit of a language barrier between the users and the product."
"Does not seem to be totally compatible with Windows 10 as of our current version."
"I would like them to add more Web 2.0 features."
"This solution needs to support translation into the Arabic language."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is quite expensive."
"Room for improvement would only be in the licensing. As with all IBM products the licensing can be complex and expensive. Bargain well and try to get as much discount as possible. Discounts of 85% are possible. Without the discount, I think the product is overrated."
"The licensing policy is based on the PVU base."
"It is very expensive."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"IBM WAS base is part of the deal when you purchase IBM FileNet P8 Content Engine."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"The price of this product is higher than that of competitors."
"The price of this solution is considered to be high; however, when speaking with Oracle, it is possible to get discounts of up to sixty percent."
"The price needs to be lowered."
"WebCenter's pricing is on the higher side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Government
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise23
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM WebSphere Application Server?
Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
In Korea, when you buy IBM iOS, the WebSphere base version is included with iOS. That means no additional cost.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I find the server okay, however, using the Maker instance, the Moving instance, and the Change instance is a little bit complicated without WebSphere knowledge.
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Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
WebCenter, FatWire
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TalkTalk, Property management group, E.SUN Bank, Ohio National Financial Services, Aviarc, Cincom Systems, FJA-US, D+H, Staples, Michigan Municipal League
Chhattisgarh Infotech and Biotech Promotion Society, Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Standard Forwarding LLC, United Automotive Electronic Systems Co. Ltd., INSO sistemi per le infrastrutture sociali S.p.A., Helsana Versicherungen AG, ArRiyadh Development Authority, John Lewis Partnership, Arqiva, SURUGADAI EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, Portuguese Official Agriculture and Fisheries
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Oracle WebCenter and other solutions. Updated: March 2020.
867,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.