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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

"The performance is good."
"Ease of administration: It has an Integrated Solutions Console, what we call the administrative console, with very detailed configurations and Help pages for each configurable item."
"The integration between IBM tools and applications is very well executed."
"The scalability of the product is quite good."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is the best in terms of scalability and performance, as well as the support for managing distributed transactions."
"The only reason why we're currently using WebSphere is that the integration of the authentication with Azure is very quick. WebSphere has something that can immediately connect with Azure Active Directory."
"The solution has good performance."
"Network Deployment is the most useful feature for scalability. It has many features within the standard WebSphere Application Server edition."
"You can move workloads in between sub-servers so that you don't overload a portion of the server."
"The WebCenter Content is its most valuable feature. After we update a document in WebCenter Content, it can be update automatically in our intranet."
"Oracle integrates well with other products to cover Big Data."
"Integration within the solution is very good."
"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."
"WebCenter's interface is very user-friendly."
 

Cons

"The licensing could be improved, and I would like it to give the longevity of the lifespan of the visions. In the next release, I would like to be able to download and extract the files so that I can just use my application server."
"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)."
"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."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"I think in some moments, the security was a little bit more complex to configure when it was delegated to other systems, making it an area where improvements are required."
"They should make the solution more lightweight and not bundle everything into a single product."
"Installing or configuring a WAS server instance as a Windows Service causes a lot of problems, especially when the server needs credentials to stop."
"WebSphere is very cumbersome and not user-friendly."
"The speed of the backup should be enhanced."
"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."
"Does not seem to be totally compatible with Windows 10 as of our current version."
"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."
"This solution needs to support translation into the Arabic language."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is quite 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 licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"IBM WAS base is part of the deal when you purchase IBM FileNet P8 Content Engine."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"If your application is just a web app that does not need to scale big, you can obtain a single core license of WAS Express edition, which has almost the same features with limited processing cores. If you manage a very big application farm (i.e. need to run 10 or more WAS servers) it is better to get IBM WAS Hypervisor Edition."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"It's expensive."
"The price needs to be lowered."
"WebCenter's pricing is on the higher side."
"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
34%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
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.
862,499 professionals have used our research since 2012.