IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

IBM and Zend are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0, while Zend is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 1.5% mindshare in AIS, compared to Zend’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

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244 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Zend PHP Engine

Read 11 Zend PHP Engine reviews

503 Views
210 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Zend PHP Engine

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Zend PHP Engine and IBM WebSphere Message Broker compete in the web application development and enterprise integration domains. Zend PHP Engine offers a cost-effective solution and efficient PHP application development, while IBM WebSphere Message Broker is unmatched in its comprehensive middleware capabilities and enterprise integration features, justifying its higher price point.

Features: Zend PHP Engine supports seamless PHP execution, robust database integration, and advanced performance optimization. IBM WebSphere Message Broker provides extensive connectivity options, sophisticated message routing, and transformation features, and it integrates smoothly with legacy systems.

Room for Improvement: Zend PHP Engine could enhance its scalability features and broaden its support for more complex enterprise-level tasks. Improving documentation quality and user interface might benefit its users. IBM WebSphere Message Broker could work on simplifying its deployment process, improving cost efficiency, and reducing setup complexity for smaller organizations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zend PHP Engine is appreciated for its straightforward setup, making it particularly accessible for smaller teams and developers, along with having responsive customer support. IBM WebSphere Message Broker requires a more intricate deployment process, supported by comprehensive professional services and detailed documentation suitable for large-scale enterprise implementations.

Pricing and ROI: Zend PHP Engine offers an affordable alternative with a rapid ROI for PHP development environments. IBM WebSphere Message Broker's pricing reflects its robust and versatile enterprise capabilities, providing long-term value despite a higher initial investment.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Zend PHP Engine Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Zend PHP Engine

April 2025

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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

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (8th)

Zend PHP Engine

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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 Zend PHP Engine is 1.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar

Technical Architect at HCL Technologies

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.

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SatyendraGupta

External Consultant (Digital Tool Developer and Intervention Specialist) at IQVIA

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature. A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it. I have been Zend PHP Engine for nine years. Multiple people are using the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"

"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."

"Straightforward development and deployment."

"Performance-wise, this solution is really good."

"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."

"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."

"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"The cache modules that Zend provides have been able to optimize and accelerate the loading of the pages when there was exponential growth in data volume and quantity of requests. At the same time, the monitoring console allowed us to have a real-time understanding of the resources and to make decisions when they were at the limit."

"We have not encountered issues with scalability as long as we effectively use caching to optimize performance of our web applications as well as a proper use of database connectivity."

"Zend Engine gives the flexibility to use external modules to easily expand the functionalities you need for your web project."

"This solution is really easy for me to use."

"The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature."

"It offers good support for various types of classes, along with many open source libraries that we can readily utilize in our application development process. This gives us a lot of options when it comes to custom development solutions, without having to worry about licensing or other programming-related issues."

"Zend PHP Engine is more secure than any other framework, and I usually prefer Zend PHP Engine for big applications."

"Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for developing and collecting data, offering strong performance."

More Zend PHP Engine pros

Cons

"The product's features are not being upgraded or enhanced by the vendor"

"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."

"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."

"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."

"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"SQL queries have always been an issue with PHP, especially if you use large tables, which require caution from the side of the developer."

"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."

"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."

"The main area that Zend needs to improve is to support asynchronous programming tasks, which is facilitated in PHP 7, but not at the same degree as HHVM."

"Zend PHP Engine needs to improve the loading time of its libraries and make it faster."

"A general scripting language should be further developed and should be embedded into it."

"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."

"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."

More Zend PHP Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."

"Its pricing depends on the number of users."

"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."

"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."

"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

University

10%

Construction Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Zend PHP Engine?

The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zend PHP Engine?

PHP is an open-source solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?

Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.

See all answers

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Compared 11% of the time

IBM BPM vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 8% of the time

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Apache Web Server vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2025

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Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

PHP Engine

Overview

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

The Zend PHP Engine is designed to optimize PHP code and improve performance, making it a popular choice for web developers. It is easy to use, stable, does not require a lot of code, is open source, and only requires payment for server costs. The initial setup is straightforward, and there is no real need to set up the solution because it's built into the deployment.

Zend

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Cisco

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Zend PHP Engine

April 2025

Free Report: IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Zend PHP Engine

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