Apache HTTP Server vs Microsoft IIS | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.8 out of 10

Based on 80 reviews and ratings

Score 8.9 out of 10

Based on 73 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

IDE support

Security management

Administration and management

Application server performance

Installation

Open-source standards compliance

Pros

Apache server is a free and open source multi-platform software which gives ample amount of possibilities and options to use it without worrying about the hardware configurations much; it runs on almost everything!
It is easy to configure quickly for a new project requires to set up a barebone server to serve any type of HTTP request.
It allows us to configure https with encryption and configure virtual hosts easily.
Log files are detailed enough to determine vulnerabilities by providing multiple params which makes it easy to diagnose and debug the root cause of any server issue.

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Web Technologist

Left Right MindInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Ease of access for users.
Not having to have a fat client installed for particular applications; just access from browser or mobile device.
Ease of manageability for web applications and websites.
Easy to troubleshoot.
Easy to maintain and perform system maintenance.
Many many features, functions, and very customizable.

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Systems Engineer

ScentAirMarketing and Advertising, 51-200 employees

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Cons

The one thing that I worry about Apache is the PHP language which is integrated into the platform. I am not sure if PHP has a relevant future. I worry about this because Python is becoming very popular.
Some, not so sharp developers, might complain about the configuration file. Yes, it is complex. You need to learn it.
Apache SSL documentation can be better.
I would like to see video streaming, that would be fantastic.

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Jason Smith, DPA

Instructional Technologist

Pomona CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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For some web applications, it takes additional time to configure IIS to make a website work.
IIS logging - it is not the strongest side of the product.
Compared to Apache or Nginx, IIS uses way more system resources.
Even with regular patches, IIS has many vulnerabilities.

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Valery Mezentsau

IT Department Manager

Acceptance Solutions GroupFinancial Services, 51-200 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft IIS 10.0

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Information Security Architect

CareFusionMedical Devices, 10,001+ employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft IIS 9.1

Based on 8 answers

Microsoft IIS is a very intuitive tool and quite easy to use. Most of its main features are located in the GUI. It is only when you get in to some of the more advanced feature sets that you will need to view logs or use the command line tools to complete a task.

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Technical Lead

Newell RubbermaidConsumer Goods, 10,001+ employees

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Reliability and Availability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft IIS 8.0

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Web Technologist

Left Right MindInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Performance

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft IIS 7.8

Based on 2 answers

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.

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Valery Mezentsau

IT Department Manager

Acceptance Solutions GroupFinancial Services, 51-200 employees

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Support Rating

Apache HTTP Server 9.4

Based on 4 answers

I give this rating because there is so much Apache documentation and information on the web that you can literally do anything. This has to do with the fact that there is a huge Open Source community that is beyond mature and perhaps one of the most helpful to be found. The only thing that should hold anyone back from anything is that they can not read. RTFM, my friend. And I must say that the manual is excellent.

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Jason Smith, DPA

Instructional Technologist

Pomona CollegeHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Microsoft IIS 8.5

Based on 6 answers

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.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Retail Company, 201-500 employees

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Alternatives Considered

By having a similar purpose, which is to publish and manage access to services, sites, and/or web systems, I have had to implement them to analyze their qualities and virtues, but stability, the power of implementation of different solutions and to be able to expand through own modules and Apache HTTP Server third-party makes it simply the best.

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Ing. de Sistemas Informaticos

Corte Suprema de JusticiaGovernment Administration, 5001-10,000 employees

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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 situations that require it

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IT Specialist IV

University of North TexasHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Scalability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Microsoft IIS 8.0

Based on 1 answer

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.

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Web Technologist

Left Right MindInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

It's hard for us to determine ROI from Apache since most of our sites don't receive high traffic and we don't benchmark performance as often or aggressively as we could.
Apache is well documented and extremely common in web hosting offerings, so configuring it and working with it becomes easier.
Apache supports cPanel which is a web hosting control panel that makes performing tasks such as implementing SSl, managing files, and administrating databases rather easy.

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Product Marketing Manager

nLyten Media LLCManagement Consulting, 1-10 employees

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IIS is enabling us to rapidly deploy and maintain new products for our staff and customers. It is difficult to assign an ROI on such efforts, but we have seen improvements in our Net Promoter Scores - both internally and externally - as a result of these efforts.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Banking Company, 201-500 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

Apache HTTP Server

Microsoft IIS

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