TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft IIS

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft IIS is an application server and infrastructure.N/A

    Plesk

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/APlesk is a server control panel, providing a solution that enables usres to build and manage multiple sites from a single dashboard. Users can also run updates, monitor performance and onboard new prospects all from the same place. Plesk also boasts a robust toolkit for Wordpress management, and supports other CMS. It is available on the public cloud of the user's choice.

    $12

    per month

    Pricing
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Web Admin Edition - Dedicated
    $12
    per month
    Web Admin Edition - VPS
    $12
    per month
    Web Pro Edition - VPS
    $18.50
    per month
    Web Pro Edition - Dedicated
    $18.50
    per month
    Web Host Edition - VPS
    $30.50
    per month
    Web Host Edition - Dedicated
    $54.50
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Discounts available for an annual subscription.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    10 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Application Servers
    Comparison of Application Servers features of Microsoft IIS and Plesk
    Feature
    Microsoft IIS
    8.2
    29 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Plesk
    -
    Ratings
    IDE support8.020 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security management8.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Administration and management7.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Application server performance9.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Installation10.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Open-source standards compliance7.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Small Businesses
    NGINX
    Score9.1 out of 10
    cPanel
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Oracle WebLogic Server
    Score7.3 out of 10
    VMware vCenter
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    NGINX
    Score9.1 out of 10
    VMware vCenter
    Score8.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.0
    (29 ratings)
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.0
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft IISPlesk
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    Plesk is well-suited for website creators who have been developing websites on a regular basis. If one is new to website development, Plesk could be a bit confusing and difficult to navigate. However, if one has experience on another type of platform, like CP (Control Panel) which is used by other web hosts out there, then it will be much easier to navigate the Plesk panel. Keep in mind there is definitely a learning curve, as Plesk really is quite different. Overall, new users will learn to love the ability to have more control over their websites.
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    • Automatically update the CMS, plugins, and templates of all your websites, depending on your CMS, all at the same time, with just a few strokes of your keyboard.
    • Enables one to set up a schedule to back up your websites, automatically, and easily download/save the backup files off-site, for safety.
    • Makes it easy for users to use a backup file to reinstall a website, with just a few strokes of the keyboard. Excellent service!
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    • Interface Improvement: It is a bit hard to find specific functions
    • Additional integration with third party services would be great
    • categorization of services to make management easier
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    Plesk has a much more intuitive platform that allows for customization and scalability within an organization. It has the advantage when it comes to the ability to adapt to the current state of the company and grow with it organically. There are a few limitations that would make me choose a competitor, and there is good value for the price.
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Plesk International GmbH
    • We're spending less on server costs by having Plesk manage multiple clients on one server.
    • We're spending less on support costs as Plesk is doing all the heavy lifting for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots