No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Azul Zing vs IBM WebSphere Application Server comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

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

Azul Zing
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
12th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
AI Customer Experience Personalization (24th)
IBM WebSphere Application S...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of Azul Zing is 2.8%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere Application Server is 4.7%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM WebSphere Application Server4.7%
Azul Zing2.8%
Other92.5%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Mohakhan Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Technical Expert at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real-time charging has stayed consistent and cuts GC incidents while reducing cloud costs
The best features Azul Zing offers include no stop-the-world during the full GC. No stop-the-world pauses during full GC, and we hit higher TPS with fewer JVMs -- a real win for maintenance and cost. As an online charging system, we can't afford crashes or latency spikes. Before Zing, JVMs would hang and drop from the grid on missed heartbeats. GC tuning is also out-of-the-box -- no more time consuming manual tuning like with Oracle/OpenJDK with no significant outcome.
CF
Senior Manager, MW & DB Automation at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has worked seamlessly in complex clustered environments and supports long-term development efforts
IBM WebSphere Application Server is currently at version 9.0.5.23. In recent months, they released fix 23, as they periodically release fixes. Previously, they frequently increased versions, but now they maintain 9.0.5 with different releases. It's based on Java J2EE 7 and Java SDK 1.8. Oracle announced that 2030 will be the last year when Java SDK 1.8 will be supported. Oracle currently deploys Java 2.x in parallel, with the latest being version 25. The future of IBM WebSphere Application Server remains uncertain since it's based on Java 1.8 and Java 7. I haven't found any white papers or official documentation from IBM outlining their trajectory post-2030.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"With minimal effort, Zing has helped us improve our latency performance drastically."
"Zing has completely solved the garbage collection problem for us."
"Performance of the JVM, especially the C4 Pauseless Garbage Collection, for continuous application execution is the most valuable feature."
"The non-stop garbage collector (C4 - Continuously Concurrent Compacting Collector) is the most valuable feature."
"With minimal effort, Zing has helped us improve our latency performance dramatically."
"No other JVM on the market even comes close to competing with the Azul Zing."
"GC Pause times are maintained in low milliseconds, which is beneficial for applications with high volume, high memory allocation rate, and a high memory footprint, and it also increases throughput by approximately 20-25% as compared to Oracle Java Development Kit based on some tests that I have done with real applications."
"With Zing, we've now been able to re-allocate those tuning resources to general product development."
"The VPN service is quite useful."
"I would not compare WebSphere and WebLogic because both servers are really good."
"IBM WebSphere Application Server is the ultimate product; there is nothing superior to IBM WebSphere Application Server, and while there are other options such as Tomcat, JBoss, and Oracle's solution, IBM WebSphere Application Server stands above them all."
"Security: It is compatible with the latest Java 8 security features, supports FIPS 140-2 and NIST SP 800-53 with strong ciphers and cryptography keys, and supports TLS 1.2 completely. Also, configuring client and server certificates is relatively easy."
"IBM WAS is the backbone for our enterprise content management suite which delivers the primary processes for our customers."
"I find IBM support to be very nice."
"One of the most valuable features might be the stability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server."
"If you want a product you can have confidence in, and a product with good availability, then IBM WebSphere Application Server is for you."
 

Cons

"We have encounter stability issues and that has been a source of frustration at times."
"The licensing over non-production environments considerably affects the cost of our solution as a software vendor."
"It is extremely expensive."
"Although Azul claims to have a fast warmup, we still experience higher latency for the first trade when our system starts up on Sundays."
"Although Azul claims to have a fast warmup, we still experience higher latency for the first trade when our system starts up on Sundays."
"The profiling tools included with Zing lag behind those available for Oracle's Java implementation."
"However, like every other great product, there is always something that can be improved."
"I find the server okay, however, using the Maker instance, the Moving instance, and the Change instance is a little bit complicated without WebSphere knowledge."
"The solution could improve the integration."
"I think in some moments, the security was a little bit more complex to configure when it was delegated to other systems, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The business logic side of it is sort of missing in the sense that if I want to track and measure velocity, it is not really available. You have to buy another application and embark on a separate implementation. Instead of having different licensing, IBM DataPower should be integrated with WebSphere. It will allow us to build the business layer and rules a lot more efficiently, rather than developing rules within the application. It would be good if we can set up the business layer through parametrization rather than development. IBM DataPower has the business rule and the controls, and if it can be integrated, it would be fantastic. It will help the application in working better in terms of security features and business logic. If you're going to use it for open banking, you will be able to monitor velocity on the total pricing."
"The installation has room for improvement."
"The future of IBM WebSphere Application Server remains uncertain since it's based on Java 1.8 and Java 7."
"Its price is a bit expensive. They should improve its price to compete with other applications that are out there, which we are also exploring."
"IBM needs to pay attention to market changes more quickly. We now have Java 9 and very soon Java EE8. We do not want to wait for two or three years after their release until they are supported by the new version."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is very expensive."
"The pricing is a little expensive."
"It costs more than some of the others, but, you get what you pay for."
"Room for improvement would only be in the licensing. As with all IBM products the licensing can be complex and expensive. Bargain well and try to get as much discount as possible. Discounts of 85% are possible. Without the discount, I think the product is overrated."
"WebSphere Application Server is expensive, so it may not be a good option for small companies."
"If your application is just a web app that does not need to scale big, you can obtain a single core license of WAS Express edition, which has almost the same features with limited processing cores. If you manage a very big application farm (i.e. need to run 10 or more WAS servers) it is better to get IBM WAS Hypervisor Edition."
"We pay around $200,000 annually."
"It's expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Infrastructure solutions are best for your needs.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azul Zing?
Setup cost isn't significant, the documentation is clear and straightforward, and licensing is simple. I'm not directly involved in pricing negotiations, but given we run it across many production ...
What needs improvement with Azul Zing?
Nothing major, but one nuance: Zing auto-adjusts internal config based on available CPUs, which can cause brief CPU spikes every few minutes. These are harmless, but can give ops/monitoring teams a...
What is your primary use case for Azul Zing?
We run a large in-memory data grid to store millions of customers -- clusters of up to 30-40 JVMs, each with ~90GB heap, deployed across a variety of infrastructure including Azure, AWS, and on-pre...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
At Royal Bank, which is a major IBM customer with mainframes and numerous IBM products, they have a specific agreement regarding pricing. The pricing structure for large enterprise customers differ...
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Application Server?
IBM WebSphere Application Server is currently at version 9.0.5.23. In recent months, they released fix 23, as they periodically release fixes. Previously, they frequently increased versions, but no...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Application Server?
I was part of an application where I integrated IBM WebSphere Application Server with Node.js and Blue Prism. I did a lot of REST applications because at my core, I'm a developer. Currently, I'm an...
 

Also Known As

No data available
WebSphere Application Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Priceline, RBS, Credit Suisse, ING, Creditex, Nielsen, Workday, Saks Fifth Avenue, Entergy, Quotix, Puma and many more.  Visit azul.com for more.
TalkTalk, Property management group, E.SUN Bank, Ohio National Financial Services, Aviarc, Cincom Systems, FJA-US, D+H, Staples, Michigan Municipal League
Find out what your peers are saying about Azul Zing vs. IBM WebSphere Application Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.