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IBM WebSphere Application Server vs Tomcat comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 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 WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Server
4th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (3rd)
Tomcat
Ranking in Application Server
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 13.0%, up from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tomcat is 19.6%, down from 20.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Server
 

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.
Erick  Karanja - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers high availability, straightforward deployment and easy to use
Tomcat could be a little bit more innovative. Tomcat could come up with a framework that's more lightweight and purely targeted at Java applications. Some other solutions are doing better right now, maybe because they have come up with MicroProfile, which I think is moving forward. It may actually beat Tomcat because of the lightweight nature of the framework, the MicroProfile. They're coming up with new solutions. So, for the future of Tomcat and to maintain the market share they might be looking for, they need to come up with initiatives to ensure that several of us have a lightweight framework to deploy applications on.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find IBM support to be very nice."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is one of the best servers due to its stability and paid license."
"The solution has good performance."
"The most valuable features are its user-friendliness and reliability in terms of application hosting."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Portal Virtualization."
"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."
"IBM WAS is extremely scalable. It is easy to add additional servers and to divide the load over servers in all kinds of ways."
"Tomcat is a lightweight application server, which makes it easy to deploy and install small applications."
"The most valuable feature of Tomcat is its ability to export libraries into different instances so that I can use it not only in one application but in multiple applications."
"Our company doesn't face any stability issues while using Tomcat."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the general web server features."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to host applications."
"It is a robust solution."
"Tomcat is secure, reliable, and stable."
"Tomcat is user-friendly and easy to set up, especially compared to WebLogic or JBoss where some specialty is required. If you are going for Tomcat, you can use their guidelines and can set it up easily."
 

Cons

"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)."
"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."
"The solution consumes hardware."
"WebSphere is very cumbersome and not user-friendly."
"Some things are very difficult to do, so the interface and usage could be more intuitive for those."
"In the next release of this solution, I would like to see support for the Arabic language."
"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."
"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."
"Tomcat is a polished product that has been around for a long time. It should be simple and high-performing, with the ability to grow and maintain stability. The fewer features it has, the more stable it will be."
"The setup is complex and could be improved."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"Tomcat is used mainly for database connections. As of now, we configure that environment for any database configuration. But if any utility can integrate where we can pass the database connection as a string of details, then it should encrypt them and keep them inside. From that security perspective, Tomcat requires improvement. They should integrate this security feature."
"Tomcat's stability could be improved, especially when handling more memory-intensive, large-scale applications."
"The solution's interface and backup features could be better."
"Sometimes we face issues with the private and public networks and ensuring that once Tomcat is installed, that it is secure."
"The disability and memory management is a problem with the solution and has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost is 1,000 of euros for a 30-year table."
"I don't remember the price, but there are no additional costs."
"The pricing is a little 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 costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"When you purchase Maximo, you get WebSphere for free."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"Tomcat is an open source solution."
"The price of the solution is good."
"We are using the open-source version."
"Tomcat is not costlier than other solutions."
"Tomcat's pricing is very cheap."
"It is an expensive product."
"I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price."
"It is an open-source tool and is free of cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Educational Organization
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
10%
 

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.
What do you like most about Tomcat?
Tomcat's ease of use has positively impacted project timelines. Tomcat already has high availability – it doesn't go down so often and doesn't require a lot of maintenance. As long as your applicat...
What needs improvement with Tomcat?
Regarding improvements in Tomcat, I personally haven't used it very extensively, but all Apache products are very useful for our web applications. Although the web server setup is a little differen...
What is your primary use case for Tomcat?
We use Tomcat for various purposes, and our company finds it to be perfect; we are getting all the solutions out of that. There is still no chance of any migration to any other technology, but addi...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Application Server
No data available
 

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
1. Adobe Systems 2. Amazon 3. Apple 4. AT&T 5. Bank of America 6. Boeing 7. Cisco Systems 8. Citigroup 9. Dell 10. eBay 11. Facebook 12. General Electric 13. Google 14. Hewlett-Packard 15. IBM 16. Intel 17. JPMorgan Chase 18. Microsoft 19. Netflix 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Salesforce 23. Samsung 24. Sony 25. Target 26. Twitter 27. Uber 28. Verizon 29. Visa 30. Volkswagen 31. Walmart 32. Yahoo
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Application Server vs. Tomcat and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
860,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.