IIS vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

Microsoft and Zend are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zend is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.5. Microsoft holds a 9.9% mindshare in AIS, compared to Zend’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zend users who would recommend it.

IIS

Read 61 IIS reviews

3,651 Views
2,373 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Zend PHP Engine

Read 11 Zend PHP Engine reviews

609 Views
609 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IIS

Zend PHP Engine

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Zend PHP Engine and IIS are competing in the web server technology category. Zend PHP Engine has the upper hand in offering flexibility and developer-centric features, while IIS may be superior for businesses reliant on Microsoft technologies.

Features: Zend PHP Engine provides compatibility and performance enhancements in PHP development, seamless PHP execution, and an extensive library of extensions. IIS stands out with strong integration within Windows Server, native support for multiple languages, and exceptional management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Zend PHP Engine could refine its centralized support options and improve documentation. IIS could enhance flexibility beyond Windows environments and streamline the complexity in non-Windows server integration. Both technologies could advance user interfaces for better user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IIS benefits from streamlined deployment within the Windows ecosystem, supported by extensive documentation. Zend PHP Engine offers straightforward deployment processes and ample community resources but lacks the centralized support infrastructure provided by Microsoft.

Pricing and ROI: Zend PHP Engine's open-source model results in lower setup costs, promoting a favorable ROI for PHP-focused companies. IIS, while potentially having higher initial costs, offers significant ROI for organizations deeply invested in Windows technologies due to cohesive integration and robust support.

To learn more, read our detailed IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine

March 2026

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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 (4th)

Zend PHP Engine

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 9.9%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IIS	9.9%
Zend PHP Engine	1.8%
Other	88.3%

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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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

"The product is stable."

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

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

"The product's most valuable features are performance and security."

"This is definitely a stable solution."

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

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

"IIS is scalable."

More IIS pros

"Scaling up is an important factor for large projects, and with PHP 7 and its performance improvements, this becomes even easier."

"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."

"Faster web app implementation, when PHP dev is required by customers."

"Zend Engine is the core of PHP. It makes PHP fast, efficient, and basically, the language of choice for web applications."

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

"The Zend Framework provides an easy, open source way to produce coding based on the needs of our customers."

"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."

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

More Zend PHP Engine pros

Cons

"The security must be improved."

"In the next release, the tool should be more easily integrated and configured with other provisions. The pricing should also be made cheaper since it's very expensive now."

"Performance-wise, certain improvements in IIS are needed...IIS is not scalable. Its scalability is less."

"The level of technical support the solution offers could be improved."

"The documentation is not very detailed. They need to improve it and add to it. They should ensure there are lots of visuals to help users better understand the solution."

"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 solution's scalability needs improvement."

More IIS cons

"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 biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."

"In terms of improvement, it doesn't support concurrent processing. When we want to process anything on a concurrent basis, we have to divide it into a number of things, like a queue, or we have to run it using Cron jobs. We would like to have the capability to run any thread or process in parallel."

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

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

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

"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."

"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."

More Zend PHP Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

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

"Users can get a subscription-based license or a perpetual license for IIS."

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

"The price of Windows Server IIS is expensive. They have a large user base, and they charge a little bit too much."

"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."

More IIS pricing and cost advice

"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."

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

"Its pricing depends on the number of users."

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

"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Large Enterprise	2

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,...

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IIS?

I see that IIS has maintained the same interface for a long time, so they could potentially use more automation or integrate Copilot into it to make it easier to use. I have not accessed or checked...

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

Comparisons

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Compared 19% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IIS

Compared 18% of the time

Tomcat vs IIS

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IIS

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Compared 5% of the time

More IIS Competitors

NGINX Plus vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 33% of the time

Apache Web Server vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 24% of the time

Atos DirX Directory vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft .NET Framework vs Zend PHP Engine

Compared 21% of the time

More Zend PHP Engine Competitors

Product Reports

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IIS

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Application Infrastructure

March 2026

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Also Known As

Windows Server IIS

PHP Engine

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

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

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

Cisco

Buyer's Guide

IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine

March 2026

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