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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 (30th), Enterprise Content Management (17th), Web Content Management (11th), 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 13.0%, up 11.9% compared to last year.
Oracle WebCenter, on the other hand, focuses on Customer Experience Management, holds 1.0% mindshare, down 1.2% since last year.
Application Server
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."
"WebSphere Application Server's best features include the data subscription and connection viewer."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is the best in terms of scalability and performance, as well as the support for managing distributed transactions."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is easy to use."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"As compared to other applications, it has tremendous support. We have built internal capability so that we use it extensively internally. It is also easier to use with the outside data. You can write in ESQL, Java, or any other technology that you want to use for development. So, it is a lot more flexible in the language that it supports."
"It does integrate well with the Tivoli Federated Identity Management system."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"The WebCenter Content is its most valuable feature. After we update a document in WebCenter Content, it can be update automatically in our intranet."
"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."
"Oracle integrates well with other products to cover Big Data."
"It's a very scalable solution and the performance is pretty good. The scalability, in my opinion, is the biggest advantage."
"A great solution for storing and searching large volumes of documents with easy access."
"Integration within the solution is very good."
 

Cons

"The business logic side of it is sort of missing in the sense that if I want to track and measure velocity, it is not really available. You have to buy another application and embark on a separate implementation. Instead of having different licensing, IBM DataPower should be integrated with WebSphere. It will allow us to build the business layer and rules a lot more efficiently, rather than developing rules within the application. It would be good if we can set up the business layer through parametrization rather than development. IBM DataPower has the business rule and the controls, and if it can be integrated, it would be fantastic. It will help the application in working better in terms of security features and business logic. If you're going to use it for open banking, you will be able to monitor velocity on the total pricing."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server hasn't changed much. It's still a heavyweight for any company compared to what you get. Unless your code base is deeply linked with it, I don't think it's a great idea to go with this solution. The current trend is toward modularity and containerization, and given the product's requirements, containerization will be difficult. There is a memory requirement as well."
"The installation has room for improvement."
"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."
"The security could be better."
"WebSphere is very cumbersome and not user-friendly. It used to have its own JVM, which presented challenges such as different architecture and memory leaks."
"Based on the field and based on the build that was provided, we've noticed a lot of constraints in terms of the performance now."
"The solution could improve the integration."
"WebCenter requires a lot of design effort to upload content to our regular system."
"I would like them to add more Web 2.0 features."
"The speed of the backup should be enhanced."
"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."
"Does not seem to be totally compatible with Windows 10 as of our current version."
"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."
"Its functions need more stability."
"This solution needs to support translation into the Arabic language."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is quite expensive."
"There is an Eclipse Plugin provided by IBM, so no need to buy IBM Rational Application Developer or Rational Software Architect tools."
"The price of IBM WebSphere Application Server could be less expensive and there is an annual license required for this solution."
"It is very expensive."
"My company is on a perpetual or permanent license agreement with IBM WebSphere Application Server. There's also a pay-per-use option, but customers rarely choose that option. Most of the customers are on the perpetual license deal that's all-inclusive. As the license cost is quite expensive, I'm rating it two out of five."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"We used to pay about $100,000-$120,000 US or somewhere around there. That was a bit cost-prohibitive for us to continue."
"The licensing policy is based on the PVU base."
"WebCenter's pricing is on the higher side."
"The price needs to be lowered."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.