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IIS pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft

4.1 out of 5

61 reviews
90% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

IIS is lightweight, easy to configure for simple webpages, and integrates well with Microsoft tools for straightforward deployment. It comes pre-configured, saving setup time, and offers stability and security. However, users face challenges due to its high pricing, scalability issues, and non-comprehensive documentation. Finding settings can be difficult, requiring proper guidance. Technical support is satisfactory but needs improvement in response time and quality to enhance issue resolution.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IIS is lightweight and easy to configure for simple webpages.

The integration with Microsoft products and tools makes deployment straightforward.

The setup is quick as IIS comes pre-configured, saving installation time.

Users appreciate the stability and security features offered by IIS.

Technical support from Microsoft is praised for being satisfactory.

CONS

Finding different settings in IIS can be difficult without proper guidance, leading to configuration challenges.

Scalability issues are noted, particularly when IIS is used on a single server without proper clustering or load balancing setup, affecting its capability.

The documentation for IIS is not comprehensive, with users finding it difficult to locate information, indicating an area needing improvement.

Support from Microsoft related to IIS needs to improve in response time and quality, as users encounter challenges with issue resolution.

The pricing of IIS is considered high, and there are calls for better cost-effectiveness regarding its licensing and purchasing.

IIS Pros review quotes

BG

Systems Analyst/DBA at Vecima Networks

Dec 18, 2017

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

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AR

DevOps at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

Sep 5, 2019

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

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Senior System Administrator at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sep 29, 2019

This is definitely a stable solution.

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DK

DavidKurdgelaidze

Head of Department of Infrastructure Development at SDA

Oct 24, 2019

The solution is easy to use, easy to maintain and isn't too technical.

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BS

Budhi-Soeprijanto

Geospatial Services Systems Administrator at EDIC Bayanat

Oct 29, 2019

The graphical user interface makes it easy for users to configure the sites.

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MT

ICT Manager at Africa International University

Dec 9, 2019

The solution integrates well with most Microsoft products.

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Oliver Baharanyi

ICT Superintendent at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees

Dec 25, 2019

The solution is very easy to use and offers a quick deployment.

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reviewer1255719

Techincal CIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Dec 25, 2019

The solution is easy to use and connects with Microsoft.

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reviewer1192332

Technical Pre-Sales Manager at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jan 12, 2020

What I like the most is that it is easy to use.

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reviewer1015428

Data Platform Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 16, 2020

Microsoft's technical support has always been very good.

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IIS Cons review quotes

BG

Systems Analyst/DBA at Vecima Networks

Dec 18, 2017

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

Read full review

AR

DevOps at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

Sep 5, 2019

The scalability depends on how you have set it up. If you're running IIS on a single server, it might not be as capable as if you are on many in a cluster or with load balancing and so on.

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Senior System Administrator at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Sep 29, 2019

The areas of this solution that need improvement are monitoring, debugging, and troubleshooting.

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Free Report: IIS Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IIS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.

879,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.

DK

DavidKurdgelaidze

Head of Department of Infrastructure Development at SDA

Oct 24, 2019

The solution should improve the cluster environment and load balancing.

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BS

Budhi-Soeprijanto

Geospatial Services Systems Administrator at EDIC Bayanat

Oct 29, 2019

This solution needs to be easier for cases where you want to have an IIS cluster.

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MT

ICT Manager at Africa International University

Dec 9, 2019

If Microsoft IIS could work well with AppOptics or things like PHP, Python, and other custom languages that run on the webserver, it would be ideal. I think there are cases where people need to use Apache instead of IIS when IIS doesn't work well with other web languages.

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Oliver Baharanyi

ICT Superintendent at a mining and metals company with 11-50 employees

Dec 25, 2019

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.

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reviewer1255719

Techincal CIO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Dec 25, 2019

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.

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reviewer1192332

Technical Pre-Sales Manager at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jan 12, 2020

In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the cloud environment and the on-premises environment.

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reviewer1015428

Data Platform Manager at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 16, 2020

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

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 57)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Application Server

Application Infrastructure

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Application Server

Application Infrastructure

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

NGINX Plus vs IIS

IBM WebSphere Application Server vs IIS

Oracle WebLogic Server vs IIS

Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) vs IIS

Apache Web Server vs IIS

Oracle SOA Suite vs IIS

Microsoft .NET Framework vs IIS

Oracle Fusion Middleware vs IIS

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs IIS

Oracle Application Server vs IIS

Oracle GlassFish vs IIS

Windows Server AppFabric vs IIS

Fujitsu Interstage Application Server vs IIS

SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal vs IIS

See all alternatives

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