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IIS vs Microsoft .NET Framework 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
IIS offers positive ROI with authentication benefits, affordability, and security, though user-friendly improvements are suggested for accessibility.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft .NET Framework offers substantial annual returns, enhancing efficiency and value, often outweighing outsourcing costs for companies.
It should be more user-friendly overall, because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft support gets mixed reviews; praised for efficiency and resources, but criticized for slow response and entry-level understanding.
Sentiment score
6.5
Customer service excels with responsive assistance, though delays and challenges sometimes occur; online resources are frequently used.
There are typically no significant issues.
Microsoft provides a lot of online documentation to consult before speaking to an expert.
I would rate the support from Microsoft very high because I definitely got all the help during the testing time of the development kit while we were configuring features on our on-premises server.
The support from Microsoft deserves a rating of 10 out of 10.
Microsoft is better in backward compatibility compared to others.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
IIS is scalable for varied applications, though dependent on hardware, with improvements in clustering and flexible service management.
Sentiment score
7.1
The .NET Framework offers strong scalability, especially with Azure, influenced by architecture, developer expertise, customization, and modular development.
It depends on the server environment and the presence of a UPS for power backup.
I would rate the scalability of IIS as a six, mainly due to integration issues since it cannot integrate with other environments.
SQL server clusters run effectively in complicated environments such as banks, handling tasks such as deleting millions of records.
I have not encountered any significant issues with scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
IIS is stable and reliable, excelling with .NET but facing stability issues with non-Microsoft technologies. Rated 7-9/10.
Sentiment score
7.5
The .NET Framework is praised for stability, though minor issues arise with older versions and under high load.
I would give it a nine out of ten for stability.
It was secured for us, as we launched the product, and people were accessing it from India and Virginia, and we had no problem.
I would rate IIS's stability as an eight out of ten.
We once had a Linux server running smoothly for five years without physical maintenance.
When systems need updates, they require proper long-term support (LTS) versions.
It is stable overall.
 

Room For Improvement

IIS struggles with compatibility, user-friendliness, integration, performance, security, and documentation challenges, posing significant user and scalability issues.
Microsoft .NET Framework needs better security, pricing, flexibility, integration, scalability, performance, AI, cloud, interoperability, support, and training.
It's influenced by the server's service performance.
If I compare IIS to other web servers such as Apache, which can be deployed in other environments like Linux, I find IIS is mostly used for simple things.
It should be more user-friendly because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it.
Their IDE, Visual Studio Code, is open source and multi-platform.
Since it is now open source, it could be easier to progress further.
It's still possible with Microsoft .NET Framework, which isn't the case with many other products. That's a positive aspect.
 

Setup Cost

IIS licensing is bundled with Windows Server, offering flexible options but may incur extra costs for services and fees.
Microsoft .NET Framework is free but may involve costs for enterprise editions, additional tools, and Microsoft ecosystem compatibility.
If you have a Windows license, there is no additional cost for IIS.
We never had any pricing issue, but I don't know if it is competitive or not.
There is a free version available for the old version and also for the new version.
 

Valuable Features

IIS is user-friendly, efficient, secure, and integrates well with Microsoft, offering scalability and control for IT administrators.
Microsoft .NET Framework is preferred for its Windows integration, robust tools, scalability, performance, and support for modern technologies.
It is easy to publish websites with SSL, and it integrates well within the local environment and cloud.
The configurations are simple, making it very easy to use and to set up everything.
The best features of IIS are that you can design your own website and manage it yourself, creating as many websites as you want.
There are many cutting-edge features that have surpassed Java, including delegates, lambda expressions, and async calls.
The structure that can be created is beneficial because once you have the structure, you can be more productive and faster to create and interact with different clouds and implementations.
It's a good environment with many features and many libraries that help developers work quickly and efficiently.
 

Categories and Ranking

IIS
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (4th)
Microsoft .NET Framework
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 10.5%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft .NET Framework is 5.8%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IIS10.5%
Microsoft .NET Framework5.8%
Other83.7%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Krishnakumar Natarajan - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Muhammad Qasim - PeerSpot reviewer
Has enabled building responsive multi-threaded applications while supporting rapid deployment workflows
Microsoft .NET Framework has already made significant improvements by becoming open source. Many developers are contributing to Microsoft .NET Framework, not just Microsoft itself. They have ported it to many platforms and allow a healthy ecosystem of open source tools. They have moved from Visual SourceSafe to supporting Git with Microsoft Visual Studio. Their IDE, Visual Studio Code, is open source and multi-platform. There are many third-party tools available, including AI-based tools such as Cursor and Bolt, which are forks of Visual Studio Code. Based on my understanding, I don't have any suggestions for improvement as they are already doing an excellent job.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
15%
Real Estate/Law Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise23
 

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,...
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...
What do you like most about Microsoft .NET Framework?
Microsoft .NET Framework continually innovates, particularly in Visual Studio, which focuses on improving languages, debugging, and .NET functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft .NET Framework?
I don't know about pricing. I'm paying for Visual Studio, even though I'm not using the new version yet. Prices can always be better, but I think for the environment provided, the prices are accept...
What needs improvement with Microsoft .NET Framework?
Since the version I'm using is many years old, they have been continuously improving. They are always adding features to the language and framework, but I cannot comment from a very old version on ...
 

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS
MS .NET Framework
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Curtin University, Rockwell Automation, Aruba Networks, Insurity Inc., City of Barcelona, Pennsylvania DCNR, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, A1 Telekom Austria AG, Eastman Chemical Company
Find out what your peers are saying about IIS vs. Microsoft .NET Framework and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.