IIS vs Magic xpa Application Platform comparison

Microsoft and Magic Software are both solutions in the Application Server category. Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while Magic Software is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 5.6% mindshare in AppS, compared to Magic Software’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Magic Software users who would recommend it.

IIS

Read 59 IIS reviews

2,965 Views
1,127 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Magic xpa Application Platform

Read 10 Magic xpa Application Platform reviews

1,045 Views
125 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IIS

Magic xpa Application Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 2, 2025

Magic xpa Application Platform and IIS both operate in the realm of IT solutions, each excelling in distinct areas. Magic xpa takes the lead with its user-friendly development focus and efficiency, while IIS excels in robust server capabilities and security features.

Features: Magic xpa Application Platform offers cross-platform capabilities, an integrated development environment, and rapid application development. It supports a range of databases and emphasizes ease of integration with internet applications. IIS stands out with its scalability, security enhancements, and seamless integration with Windows-based applications. It provides robust server functionalities ideal for managing web environments effectively.

Room for Improvement: Magic xpa could enhance its server management capabilities and security features. Improving integration with mobile-centric applications could also expand its appeal. Its scalability for enterprise-level solutions can be further refined. IIS may benefit from simplified configuration processes for non-technical users. Enhancing support for diverse database environments and better cost-efficiency could make it more attractive to a broader range of businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Magic xpa Application Platform offers straightforward deployment processes, supported by responsive customer service for seamless transitions. This efficiency appeals to businesses looking for a quick start. IIS provides comprehensive documentation and support for complex server setups, ensuring stable operations, which is beneficial for enterprises handling extensive server infrastructures.

Pricing and ROI: Magic xpa Application Platform presents competitive setup costs, favoring businesses prioritizing application development speed and flexibility, leading to better ROI. IIS, with a higher initial investment, offers substantial long-term ROI due to its robust security and integration capabilities, making it a favored choice for organizations focused on operational excellence.

To learn more, read our detailed IIS vs. Magic xpa Application Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

September 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

IIS

Ranking in Application Server

4th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

1st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Magic xpa Application Platform

Ranking in Application Server

9th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

14th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mobile Development Platforms (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Server category, the mindshare of IIS is 5.6%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Magic xpa Application Platform is 0.8%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Server Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IIS	5.6%
Magic xpa Application Platform	0.8%
Other	93.6%

Application Server

Featured Reviews

Krishnakumar Natarajan

Systems Engineer at Atos

Designs and manages multiple websites while ensuring data backup and disaster recovery

I have experience with AWS, and I am most familiar with the server environment, as we just use the server environment and then use Microsoft products on an AWS environment. I have experience with Windows Server IIS, which I ran on my own on-premise data center. The website was developed and then hosted, and through IIS, we managed the servers. The manageability within the IIS environment is not very difficult. For server management, you need to ensure data backup, data restore, and you have a DR configured to keep the database intact. It was done on-premises, so I had no problem doing that. If you have to go to the cloud, then you should have the storage connected to the IIS server and also have a DR set up for that. I didn't use Microsoft Azure tools, but since it is a Microsoft product, Azure has all the portability, so you don't have to worry about compatibility on the cloud. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this solution a 10.

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Mylsamy T.

Senior Associate - IT at Himalaya Wellness Company

Enables us to develop more than 90 applications in-house, which are used across our organization

It's a bit difficult to work with purely web-based applications to get the data and display it. There have been a few times when the connection was disconnected between the server and your browser. The connectivity on browser-built applications needs to be improved. The mobile application development could be easier. They could include different external applications, like finger sensors. I'm not sure whether it's in version 3.8 or not.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IIS is quite easy to set up as it comes pre-configured, so I don't have to install anything."

"The best features of IIS are that you can design your own website and manage it yourself, creating as many websites as you want."

"All the features of Microsoft IIS are valuable."

"It helps scan and mitigates our vulnerabilities using the best protocols to secure our environment."

"The solution is the easiest way to publish applications which have been designed by older development tools."

"It is a lightweight web host that is easy to configure for simple webpages."

"The solution has been reliable."

"The product is scalable."

More IIS pros

"The Magic xpa Application Platform is very suitable for production since it is easy to update. The program is simple to upgrade and deploy. The solution is convenient in production. You need to adjust the data, then adjust the program which is not difficult."

"The speed of development is the quickest for any tool on the market."

"Magic’s Database Gateway allows the logic of the program to be isolated from the underlying database. This provides the flexibility not only to move existing programs to different database environments without the need to change the logic in the program but also allows the programmer access to different databases without the need to know how to "talk" to them."

"The ability to use the same development environment for both Windows and Android applications. Magic xpa also supports iOS applications."

"Typically an experienced Magic developer can do the work of two to three experienced C#/.NET developers. Customers are amazed at how quickly most new features can be added and bug fixes implemented. I have worked for four employers - including myself - using Magic, and in most instances, bug fixes are addressed and deployed in under six hours."

"The solution makes the managing and adapting of the software very easy."

"Without the need to compile code, the time spent in the development cycle is greatly reduced, allowing the programmer to test modifications to a program immediately after they have been saved."

"xpa gives us a fast development speed."

More Magic xpa Application Platform pros

Cons

"I am using an older version of Windows Server IIS and the general management and navigation to get something done is not as straightforward as I hope it to be. The interface could be improved."

"Sometimes, we encounter difficult issues, and getting support from Microsoft to resolve those issues is not easy."

"The solution should improve the cluster environment and load balancing."

"The documentation of IIS could be better. They are not easily accessible. I had to use YouTube and other online resources to learn how to use the solution properly."

"Occasionally, we encounter performance issues with IIS where it becomes unresponsive and requires a solution restart."

"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."

"The tool needs to improve its performance."

"Finding different settings can be difficult if you don't know where to look."

More IIS cons

"The user interface could be improved to be more friendly for developers."

"The ability to display page up, page down, top and bottom buttons along the scroll bar would make my mouse-reliant customers happy."

"The Android environment is missing a number of functions for file/folder manipulation, sending receiving text messages (SMS) and the menuing options are limited. For now, it is left to the developer to write his/her own Java functions to include in the APK."

"There is room for improvement in Magic's marketing and licensing. I would like to see more integration of web functionality."

"When you have several tasks, you open a screen in a task in developing mode, and you don't see the parent screens. Debugging lacks the effects to solve problems. You have to do it first in a kind of studio. Then you have to be sure that you can do it in Magic because there is almost nothing to debug it. It's practically impossible to debug. You have to be sure before you put your snippets."

"In the next version of the Magic xpa Application Platform, I want tables or small programs where I can directly add expressions. I can do it on SQL, but it would make life much easier if that specification were added to the platform."

"The configuration of the xpa RIA mobile environment is complex and a discouragement to new developers. Also, Magic's documentation can be less than complete at times which leads to frustration for new developers. (I encourage new Magic developers to join the Magic Users Group)."

"Magic has a tradition, when it adds new technologies/features to the Magic development tool, to provide either no documentation or documentation that does not provide an organized approach for bringing this new technology/feature to experienced Magic programmers."

More Magic xpa Application Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IIS's pricing is not expensive."

"The yearly licensing cost is very high. The solution is very expensive."

"This solution comes included with Windows Server."

"The price of the cloud system is a bit high."

"I was using the trial version of IIS inside my virtual machines."

"IIS comes along with an OS license from Microsoft. Others can opt for a perpetual-based licensing model to be able to use the system."

"IIS is expensive."

"I think it's part of the Windows Server, so you won't have any other costs to add in order to use the IIS service."

More IIS pricing and cost advice

"The licensing cost varies because nowadays Magic has tailor-made offerings for clients. I think the solution is worth the money."

"The main problem with the Magic xpa Application Platform is pricing. You have to pay a lot of money for development, and you also have to pay a lot for the deployments and runtime, while in most competitors, you have to pay a lot for one of the two and not both."

"It's not cheap. The licenses are not cheap. Not at all. They cost much money. There are other tools with free licenses but Magic asks for a lot of money."

"My clients have to purchase additional licenses in order to use what I built. It's not a fair approach."

"The cost for developers is high because you have to pay for licenses as well as runtime."

"Magic is not the cheapest IDE out there. If you are considering Magic xpa, you should do a cost-benefit analysis to feel comfortable with your decision. The Magic sales staff is very helpful in providing pricing."

"The licensing is too costly."

"There are different licenses, we have the application and the online application. There are two different licenses for two different program sites for the Magic xpa Application Platform."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Insurance Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

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,...

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What do you like most about IIS?

The product is flexible.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?

For the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IIS, as a Microsoft product, I didn't think much about separately purchasing an IIS product as it is part of Microsoft Windows. We bought a developmen...

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Compared 8% of the time

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 23% of the time

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Compared 22% of the time

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Compared 19% of the time

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Magic xpa Application Platform

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Magic xpa Application Platform

September 2025

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Also Known As

Windows Server IIS

uniPaaS

Overview

Internet Information Services (IIS) provides a secure, easy-to-manage, modular and extensible platform for reliably hosting websites, services and applications. With IIS, you get choice and control without giving up reliability or security.

Microsoft

Magic xpa Application Platform is a mobile development platform that is designed to enable organizations to simplify and manage every aspect of their application development process. It enables users to construct applications while expending a minimal number of resources. Developers can leverage AI technology in a way that maximizes their ability to effectively deploy their resources toward the end of producing the best possible applications. Ultimately, Magic xpa Application Platform allows developers to rapidly develop and deploy applications across multiple platform types.

Magic xpa Application Platform Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by deploying Magic xpa Application Platform include:

Decrease time needed for application production and refinement. Magic xpa Application Platform comes with pre-built application components that can be used to quickly create iterations of the application that can then be deployed or tested. It also makes it so that any and all changes or upgrades that are applied to the application take effect across all of the devices that run the application.

Allows developers to be far more productive than they would be otherwise. Various features, such as Magic xpa Application Platform’s drag-and-drop capability, allow developers to worry less about the more technical aspects of designing the applications and have more time to design the best possible application.

Ease of use. Magic xpa Application Platform is a low-code application development platform. This means that developers do not need to have extensive programming knowledge to create applications. Solutions of this type are far more accessible to the general employee of an organization than a program that is code-heavy. Fewer resources need to be spent training users to employ Magic xpa Application Platform than would be true of other similar platforms. Organizations increase their overall productivity when the process of application development becomes something that even those employees who are not the most technically savvy can take part.

Magic xpa Application Platform Features

Some of the many useful features Magic xpa Application Platform has to offer include:

AI-powered development capabilities. Magic xpa Application Platform has a built-in AI that users can leverage to simplify every step of the development process. Users can use this AI to automate various development steps. This increases the speed at which they can produce applications.

Mobile use capability. Magic xpa Application Platform has a mobile application that organizations can use to run their product development from anywhere in the world.

Collaboration tools. Magic xpa Application Platform provides developers with tools that enable them to work with others to create the enterprise applications that their organizations need.

Reviews from Real Users

Magic xpa Application Platform is a solution that beats out the competition in a number of areas. Two major advantages are the way that it simplifies the application management process and its scalability. It greatly eases the work that developers and administrators do by providing all of the tools that they need to meet their objectives. Additionally, users never have to worry about running out of development capacity in their digital environment. Magic xpa Application Platform can scale up and provide developers with the capacity to design and create their applications in the way that best meets their needs.

Per H., the CEO of Mass Marketing Software AB, writes, “The solution makes the managing and adapting of the software very easy. When it comes to the application's service, mistakes can easily be resolved. This shortens the time it takes to progress from an idea to a new function.”

He also writes, “The solution is highly scalable, allowing one to use very large databases and systems.”

Magic Software

Sample Customers

Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute

ADD, Cape plc, Adecco, Kuno Kinzoku Industry Co., GE Capital, Dove Tree, CBS Outdoor, Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, Allstate Life Insurance Company, Titan Software Systems

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

September 2025

Free Report: IIS vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

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