IIS vs Windows Process Activation Services comparison

IIS and Windows Process Activation Services are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. IIS is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Windows Process Activation Services is ranked #25. IIS holds a 10.1% mindshare in AIS, compared to Windows Process Activation Services’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IIS users are willing to recommend the solution.

IIS

Read 61 IIS reviews

3,023 Views
1,995 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Windows Process Activation ...

Read 1 Windows Process Activation Services review

215 Views
213 Comparison Views

0% willing to recommend

IIS

Windows Process Activation ...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IIS and Windows Process Activation Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, IBM, Apache and others in Application Infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Application Infrastructure Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

November 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 Infrastructure

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Server (5th)

Windows Process Activation ...

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

25th

Average Rating

4.0

Reviews Sentiment

2.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 10.1%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Process Activation Services is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IIS	10.1%
Windows Process Activation Services	1.0%
Other	88.9%

Application Infrastructure

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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it_user1226547

Senior IT Systems Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Central console enables us to see all of the activated and deactivated computers but it has poor alerts and frustrating technical support

The solution needs to allow for other company product licenses to be included if possible. The solution needs to include other Microsoft products, like Exchange, SharePoint, etc. Right now, it's only for Windows and Office. The solution needs to be made web-based. Right now, we have to install some tools and to use these tools we have to log into a specific server. If that server has an issue we cannot manage it. The solution needs to be able to be managed from any machine. Alerting capabilities should be improved. If a license expires or there is a breach, or something is non-compliant, the solution should send out alerts.

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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

"The solution is very stable. The solution is very simple and easy to use."

"IIS fits properly for my business needs, with a lot of possibilities to upgrade the out-of-the-box functionalities, so it is really great."

"The most valuable feature of IIS is the database it provides."

"The solution is easy to use."

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

"IIS works natively with Windows Server without any issues in publishing certificates."

"IIS is scalable."

"It has an intuitive user interface and provides a lot of options for building reports."

More IIS pros

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the central console, that allows you to see all of the activated and deactivated computers."

Cons

"The solution's pricing and stability need improvement."

"The documentation isn't very good and the options are very complex."

"The solution's black box is not fast."

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

"Presently, some developers do not have technical knowledge of managing IIS, so that needs to be improved in the next release."

"IIS could improve by having some features related to ASR and HTTPS certificate generation."

"We'd like future versions to be more stable."

"The visibility feature of the product is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

More IIS cons

"The stability of the solution needs improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license to use this solution and the price could be better."

"The solution’s pricing is yearly. The pricing is affordable and not high."

"The cost for IIS is already included in Windows services. We don't have to pay anything extra."

"The tool is included with Windows."

"The tool's pricing is on a yearly basis."

"IIS's pricing is reasonable."

"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."

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

More IIS pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	22

No data available

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.

See all answers

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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Comparisons

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 27% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 24% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

Fujitsu Interstage Application Server vs IIS

Compared 2% of the time

More IIS Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IIS

December 2025

Download IIS product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

November 2025

Windows Process Activation Services report

Download Windows Process Activation Services product report

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS

No data available

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

Windows Process Activation Service generalizes the Internet Information Services (IIS) process model, removing the dependency on HTTP. All the features of IIS that were previously available only to HTTP applications are now available to applications hosting Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services, by using non-HTTP protocols. IIS 7.0 also uses Windows Process Activation Service for message-based activation over HTTP.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Harris Farm Markets, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, John Keells Holdings, Green Prefab, 343 Industries, SM Prime, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

November 2025

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