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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft IIS

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft IIS is an application server and infrastructure.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft IIS
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft IIS
    Free Trial
    No
    Free/Freemium Version
    No
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    No
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft IIS
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    On Windows, Microsoft IIS is easier to implement and maintain than Apache web service. Normally if you need to host PHP or other apache native content on a Windows server, it's recommended to use WAMP or equivalent software to simplify the installation, administration, and …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    It's difficult to compare Apache HTTP Server, nginx, and IIS - they really serve a similar purpose on a different stack. IIS is well suited to the Microsoft stack. Apache HTTP Server works well for Java web applications. nginx is a multipurpose tool that we sometimes deploy …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    In terms of the configuration on a shared volume perspective, I think the Apache HTTP Server does a better job here. The Apache angle on this problem is more efficient from a man power perspective and ends up costing a little less in the long run over time. IIS tends to scale …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Microsoft IIS is a lot more easier for Microsoft .NET developers to integrate and configure. It is MUCH more easier to install and therefore less time consuming to deliver applications to end users. IIS can be installed with a few clicks of a button by anyone with …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    After using both Microsoft IIS and free Linux alternatives, like NGINX and Apache, I have to say I much prefer the Linux products in every way. Configuration is clearer (you have to edit config files deep in Linux somewhere, but once you've done it once, it's easy). Logging is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Microsoft IIS is more simple to configure and also to maintain against other solutions. Often IIS help me to troubleshoot with its administartive tool.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Apache is java. Java is unnecessary complex. No developer wants to invest in learning all the hundreds of text based configuration files to get something done. Also, apache gives you the most evil and un-usable user interface possible. [Microsoft] IIS makes [life] after …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    We have always been a IIS company so we haven't used any other products like it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Positive: Better integration with Active Directory
    Negative: Appache Tomcat is open source and can be deployed on all operating systems including Linux, which allows for easier cross-platform deployments.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    I have had a couple of tries at using Apache and Linux as a whole but I guess I am not of the right mindset to get over the learning barrier to make this work.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Microsoft IIS stacked up well with Apache, but since we are a Microsoft shop primarily, we had more resources that were familiar with managing the operating system and the server itself. While there are some benefits to Apache, you can find most of them in Microsoft IIS if you …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Microsoft IIS was selected long ago as it was included with the Windows licensing. As such no new servers or costs were needed to host a site. We now host nearly 4,000 sites on Microsoft IIS. We do still use other platforms as needed but we always start with Microsoft IIS …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Nginx is hard to support for smaller multiple projects, which is one reason we use the Microsoft IIS server, which is best fit for a set-up once and forget scenario. The Apache server is more recommended for smaller sized projects due to its cost factor, as the Microsoft IIS …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    IIS is easier to configure and manage. Doesn't require deep knowledge of the product to manage it. Doesn't require for IT team to learn Linux/Unix OS for basic web hosting. However, for advanced IT specialists, all three solutions could be useful and can work together.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Apache and Nginx are both lower overhead solutions compared to IIS, but require extensive configuration through files or command lines. For someone creating a website for the first time, these solutions are difficult to understand and implement.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS

    Two factors drove our implementation of IIS.

    1) Staff familiarity. IIS' ubiquity in the marketplace and its' already-familiar developer tools made IIS implementation straightforward.

    2) Vendor support. Most of our external software publishers use IIS for their applications. …

    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    IIS much easier to install, configure and maintain in a Windows environment. Tomcat is more appropriate when it comes bundled with third party applications.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Apache and Nginx are what we use for our large websites and public data. When dealing with the type of traffic we see on our sites IIS just doesn't scale out well. For our staff levels, Apache and Nginx are very hard to support for all of our projects so we can't always use …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    We actually use both platforms in conjunction with each other.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Many support teams are not comfortable supporting Linux platforms which is where Apache can really shine; also, application vendors often do not support Apache on Linux whereas they do support their products on Microsoft servers running IIS. In our case, the applications that I …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    I feel each has their own strengths, when it came to developing the in house applications ASP gave us more features so we went with IIS to support those features.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    IIS is a different animal than most webservers. I don't know that I'd compare IIS to other products. The differences and reasons to use each are so diverse.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    In my experience, Microsoft IIS was definitely easier to wrap my head around and also to troubleshoot. The GUI was a great visual way to see what "sites" and "app pools" you have, what is running, what is currently up. Microsoft IIS also offers the flexibility to have multiple …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Microsoft IIS is the only official way to run ASP.NET framework sites and for Microsoft System management tools (SCCM and WSUS). While open source options like Apache and NGINX are more commonly used in our department, to maintain the best compatibility we use IIS in certain …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft IIS
    Again Microsoft IIS is perfect for us due to the ease of use by our support team.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    91%
    Would buy again
    10 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft IIS
    Application Servers
    Comparison of Application Servers features of Microsoft IIS
    Feature
    Microsoft IIS
    7.5
    28 Ratings
    5% below category average
    IDE support8.020 Ratings
    Security management7.028 Ratings
    Administration and management8.028 Ratings
    Application server performance8.028 Ratings
    Installation9.028 Ratings
    Open-source standards compliance5.017 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft IIS
    Small Businesses
    NGINX
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Oracle WebLogic Server
    Score7.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    NGINX
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft IIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (28 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (9 ratings)
    Availability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    7.8
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft IIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    Publishing applications or websites is easy with Microsoft IIS. You don't need external software or complicated tutorials involving command lines and editing configuration files. On other hand, sometimes the troubleshooter needs a high knowledge of Windows Server, Registry, and tools to debug the application. If you need to host non-Microsoft technology as PHP pages or have a low budget, I recommend IIS equivalent software as Apache.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • A big advantage that we use all the time is reviewing the logs that automatically get generated in IIS. It has helped us troubleshoot various problems in our applications over the years.
    • IIS integrates really well with Visual Studio and TFS. We are able to quickly deploy new applications and changes to applications when requested by the business.
    • IIS has proven that it is easy to configure and maintain with minimal effort.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • Angular/node apps don't run on IIS, or at least we never figured out how. Rather we ended up using nginx.
    • There are still occasional memory leaks - check your recycle settings!
    • If you have very heavy usage for web APIs, IIS requires regular restarts for reasons unknown.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    We have no intention to replace all applications running on top of the IIS platform. Not all applications support other platforms and not all support staff are skilled in Linux/Apache platform support. Whereas IIS may not be the best performing or most secure web platform available, for the aforementioned reasons, it is impossible not to continue use of this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Microsoft
    As I've mentioned earlier, Microsoft IIS is very simple and easy to use. The user interface is a little bit overloaded with a huge number of different options, but once you have a little clue of what you are doing and what you need - no issues at all.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    ARR (application request routing) in Microsoft IIS Server enables the web-admins to increase the web app reliability and availability through the rule based routing and load balancing of HTTP requests which in turn provides highly available server. IIS 7.0 Manager also provides kernel as well as user mode caching for faster performance and in case if the server fails, the IIS server has good amount of details logged in its log files which help understand and debug the cause quickly. Load balancing facilitates IIS server to fight against availability issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Microsoft
    In my experience, I have never had significant issues with IIS performance. Sometimes I've experienced issues with loading time, but it is mostly related to the web site code. However Amazon, Microsoft and Google providing free cloud services with very limited resources, and in that scenario, "heavy" websites on IIS could be the issue. In other situations - performance is good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    As mentioned earlier there is so much documentation or guides or stack overflow questions out there that someone will have faced the same or very similar scenario to what you are going through that you will almost certainly find a solution to what you are after.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Apache is java. Java is unnecessary complex. No developer wants to invest in learning all the hundreds of text based configuration files to get something done. Also, apache gives you the most evil and un-usable user interface possible. [Microsoft] IIS makes [life] after development easy, which is already complex enough to be bothered by something as mundane as exposing your work over the internet.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    Microsoft IIS Server is scalable if the underlying server configuration is done correctly. Use x64 edition v/s 32bit and using 32bit mode application pools are some of the tweaks to be done to make the IIS server scalable. There are too many small configurations need to be carried out in order to make a highly scalable IIS server hence not giving full score in this area.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • Allowing us to internally host our monitoring websites allows quick access to data that can be quite hidden, saving developer time.
    • It was inexpensive compared to more bulky solutions saving upfront cost.
    • It’s easy to install and enable allowing more developer savings.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots