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IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs IIS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 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 Message Broker
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (8th)
IIS
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 1.5%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IIS is 12.0%, down from 13.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability
I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.
DanielWildermuth - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides integration with Eggplant but problems with stability
We use Windows Server only for Eggplant Manager. Otherwise, I'm not using it   At the moment, we have big problems with stability, and I'm not very happy at the moment. So, the stability could be improved. I have been using it for a few years.  The initial setup is complex.  We have an…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The solution has good integration."
"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."
"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."
"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."
"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"
"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."
"IIS works natively with Windows Server without any issues in publishing certificates."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It is a lightweight web host that is easy to configure for simple webpages."
"IIS's best features are its management console and stability."
"The most valuable feature of IIS is it does not consume a lot of resources. It does not consume a lot of resources, such as memory."
"The initial setup is simple."
"IIS has a very simple and user-friendly interface, which helps a lot in effective and efficient management."
 

Cons

"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."
"The solution can add container engines such as docker."
"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."
"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."
"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."
"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."
"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."
"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."
"The cost is a bit too high."
"There is an issue with the network. The tool's price is also high."
"IIS has some stability issues and needs restarting."
"The visibility feature of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"We've never had any issues with the solution, but it's still nice to have overall improvements on it. It could be easier and faster to use, for example."
"If Microsoft IIS could work well with AppOptics or things like PHP, Python, and other custom languages that run on the webserver, it would be ideal. I think there are cases where people need to use Apache instead of IIS when IIS doesn't work well with other web languages."
"Sometimes if you are using IIS in large-scale scenarios, meaning that if you are deploying an application within IIS service and you are expecting a large number of users to use this application, you can sometimes find some problems, meaning that the service can shut down by itself unexpectedly if you don't configure your IIS with the correct configuration that can handle this number of users."
"The only issue I've encountered is with certificates not working fine sometimes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."
"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."
"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."
"The solution is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."
"This product is more expensive than competing products."
"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"
"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
"The price of Windows Server IIS is expensive. They have a large user base, and they charge a little bit too much."
"IIS's pricing is reasonable."
"There is no license required for the product as it is role-based. Whenever you go for a Windows platform server, the role has to be installed directly from the server manager. There is no additional cost that has to be paid for that. It is free to use."
"I didn't need to get an additional license for the solution since it was included in my server."
"I was using the trial version of IIS inside my virtual machines."
"The product's price is not high."
"The solution provides multiple licensing options."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...
Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?
If you have a Windows license, there is no additional cost for IIS. However, you may need to pay for SSL publishing at times.
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker
Windows Server IIS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire
Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. IIS and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.