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NGINX Plus vs Windows Process Activation Services comparison

F5 and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. F5 is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #21. F5 holds a 10.8% mindshare in AIS, compared to Microsoft’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of F5 users are willing to recommend the solution.
NGINX Plus
Read 31 NGINX Plus reviews
  • 1,956 Views
  • 1,647 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
Windows Process Activation ...
Read 1 Windows Process Activation Services review
  • 214 Views
  • 146 Comparison Views
0% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between NGINX Plus and Windows Process Activation Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, F5, Apache and others in Application Infrastructure.

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Buyer's Guide
Application Infrastructure
May 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

NGINX Plus
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) (6th)
Windows Process Activation ...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
21st
Average Rating
4.0
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of NGINX Plus is 10.8%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Process Activation Services is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Ritesh-Bakhru - PeerSpot reviewer
Quick installation and very easy to manage while doing orchestration or automation
NGINX cannot be a replacement for your traditional load balancer with what we use in the network today. However, with applications going toward microservices, NGINX is definitely a way forward. F5 has many traditional load balancing features, so they still need to bring some of those features to NGINX. NGINX is a very basic load balancer and cannot do as many customizations as F5. I think F5 is trying to implement those features in NGINX so they can improve the balancing on NGINX, but I think that will take some time. With the traditional F5 set up, the same OS can do load balancing, firewalls, and even policy enforcement. If we are able to bring some of those capabilities to NGINX, I think it would become a versatile solution and usage would definitely increase.
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it_user1226547 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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

"The robust software architecture allows for it to be scalable and very stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is simple to configure."
"The primary valuable feature of NGINX for me is its ability to provide a reverse proxy."
"When you use NGINX, you have more options and power."
"NGINX provides a cost advantage, value addition, and effective support."
"Supports IMAP, POP and SMTP protocols for the reverse proxy."
"The load balancing module, which is equivalent to LTM, is the focus of the PSE. So far, the features of both are identical. I believe NGINX has more features for securing these services, but in terms of load balancing, both are massive solutions."
"Valuable features include authentication, caching, reverse proxy routing, and load balancing."
More NGINX Plus 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

"Our most challenging part was to run an older PHP website reverse-proxied through NGINX. That was not fun."
"One area of improvement could be that NGINX could provide a means to generate self-signed SSL certificates."
"It would be great if there was even more automation to make it even easier to maintain."
"The solution's GUI is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"The KPI should be more focused on load balancing and the latency in application calling from the end system."
"They should do in the open source version of what they did to Advanced HTTP, TCP, and UDP load balancing."
"I would like the configuration process to be more simplified."
"The scalability could be improved."
More NGINX Plus cons
"The stability of the solution needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HAProxy is cheaper than NGINX."
"NGINX Plus is an open-source solution with limited additional features. When you try to get additional features in the solution, then you need to pay an extra amount to NGINX Plus."
"You pay for each feature that you want."
"It's an open source solution, so it's free."
"I am not so happy with their pricing policy, but this is not the worse thing in my life. I can tolerate it."
"The list price of NGINX Plus is close to $5,500."
"Compared to other similar solutions on the market, I think it's over-priced."
"The solution is free, but you can spend a lot of money with a complex solution."
More NGINX Plus pricing and cost advice
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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,...
See all answers
What do you like most about NGINX Plus?
It performs very well. That's one of the primary reasons we use NGINX.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NGINX Plus?
My use case involves using the free and open-source version of NGINX, making it cost-effective as I haven't incurred any costs.
See all answers
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Comparisons

IIS vs NGINX Plus Logo
IIS vs NGINX Plus
Compared 17% of the time
HAProxy vs NGINX Plus Logo
HAProxy vs NGINX Plus
Compared 15% of the time
NetScaler vs NGINX Plus Logo
NetScaler vs NGINX Plus
Compared 11% of the time
Kemp LoadMaster vs NGINX Plus Logo
Kemp LoadMaster vs NGINX Plus
Compared 10% of the time
Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus Logo
Apache Web Server vs NGINX Plus
Compared 10% of the time
More NGINX Plus Competitors
Microsoft .NET Framework vs Windows Process Activation Services Logo
Microsoft .NET Framework vs Windows Process Activation Services
Compared 52% of the time
IIS vs Windows Process Activation Services Logo
IIS vs Windows Process Activation Services
Compared 48% of the time
More Windows Process Activation Services Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
NGINX Plus
April 2025
NGINX Plus reportDownload NGINX Plus product report
Buyer's Guide
Application Infrastructure
May 2025
Windows Process Activation Services reportDownload Windows Process Activation Services product report
 

Also Known As

NGINX
No data available
 

Overview

NGINX Plus is a versatile solution that offers load balancing, caching, proxying, and API deployment capabilities. It can be deployed on private or public clouds and is ideal for building CDN solutions. The solution can also be used to secure web applications and replace web services like Apache. 

NGINX has helped organizations improve functioning, reduce downtimes, and offer a DevOps-friendly solution. Its community support and documentation are highly regarded, and its configuration is more straightforward, making it a recommended choice over HAProxy.

F5
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

Locaweb, AppNexus, Wix, Reliam, Montana Interactive, MuleSoft, Warpwire, Discovery Education, InkaBinka, WordPress.com, Gogo, GOV.UK, NASA
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
May 2025
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