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IIS vs Zend PHP Engine comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

IIS
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Application Server (4th)
Zend PHP Engine
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IIS is 6.2%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zend PHP Engine is 2.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IIS6.2%
Zend PHP Engine2.7%
Other91.1%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Frederic Hautecoeur - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Integrations Architect at bs-team
Integrated web hosting has simplified secure services and has supported long-term growth
To be honest, I do not see any major areas for improvement. Perhaps something simple and minor. It should not go more complex than it is at the moment. The only disadvantage I see is that the documentation is a bit difficult to find. There is a lot of configuration that is very hard to get information about.
MW
CEO at VonatelNetworks
Effective network data analysis with customization capabilities and an open-source model
We use Zend PHP Engine in a government project to develop a tool for network monitoring analysis. We utilize the tool to collect all the network data for a platform PHP allows us to personalize a solution if the customer desires. This flexibility is beneficial. Zend PHP Engine is a good tool for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The graphical user interface makes it easy for users to configure the sites."
"IIS is useful for the deployment of web applications...Its stability is good."
"IIS is Internet Information Services, which is application infrastructure, and the main benefits include security control where you can control different access levels and integrate with other services to manage application security."
"I think that the IIS includes most features that are required by web applications so that they can run smoothly on Windows operating system."
"The tool shows us the operating systems where our servers and applications are running."
"The solution has been reliable."
"The solution is easy to use."
"It's very easy to publish."
"The fact that it is available open-source is the best feature."
"Offers a complete environment to develop PHP applications. It is valuable because it allows you to have a complete stack (PHP, MySQL, Zend Server) enabling the building of a development environment, and to deploy to the production system."
"It offers good support for various types of classes, along with many open source libraries that we can readily utilize in our application development process. This gives us a lot of options when it comes to custom development solutions, without having to worry about licensing or other programming-related issues."
"It makes web design easy and quick and gives well finished websites."
"​Zend Engine is the core of PHP. It makes PHP fast, efficient, and basically, the language of choice for web applications."
"The solution's initial setup process is easy."
"The cache modules that Zend provides have been able to optimize and accelerate the loading of the pages when there was exponential growth in data volume and quantity of requests. At the same time, the monitoring console allowed us to have a real-time understanding of the resources and to make decisions when they were at the limit."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the speed at which it compiles and sends the dynamic cache."
 

Cons

"It should be more user-friendly because unless you know how IIS works as a Microsoft product, a system admin cannot just manage it."
"Finding different settings can be difficult if you don't know where to look."
"The documentation is not very detailed."
"In the next release, I would like to see better integration between the cloud environment and the on-premises environment."
"Finding the correct options are not more intuitive, and it should be."
"The initial setup was somewhere in the middle. It wasn't complicated but it wasn't easy either. The documentation isn't very good and the options are very complex."
"IIS could improve the error logging. There are times we are not able to see the errors."
"This solution needs to be easier for cases where you want to have an IIS cluster."
"Integration of MVC with ORM tools for PHP is okay, but lacking a short list of decent ORM tools for PHP to choose from; there is ample room for improvement in both areas."
"Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features."
"Its object oriented programming language needs improvement."
"The process of installing and configuring the product is a bit complex and could be improved."
"The solution can be quicker."
"Although it offers a complete environment to develop and deploy PHP applications, it has some limitations. For example, when the volume of data increased exponentially, I had problems scaling the system."
"In terms of improvement, it doesn't support concurrent processing. When we want to process anything on a concurrent basis, we have to divide it into a number of things, like a queue, or we have to run it using Cron jobs. We would like to have the capability to run any thread or process in parallel."
"The biggest problem with PHP is you have to write lot of conditions or have to use a framework."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I didn't need to get an additional license for the solution since it was included in my server."
"The licensing cost is dependent on the usage."
"The price of the cloud system is a bit high."
"The solution provides multiple licensing options."
"There is an annual license to use this solution and the price could be better."
"I give the price of the solution a five out of ten."
"There is a license needed for the solution."
"IIS comes along with an OS license from Microsoft. Others can opt for a perpetual-based licensing model to be able to use the system."
"Zend PHP Engine is not an expensive solution."
"No problem with pricing and licensing, as tools are open source. You have to consider training cost, mindset setup cost, as part of the TCO."
"Its pricing depends on the number of users."
"The Zend PHP engine is open source technology, so there's no need for us to worry about licensing or other costs."
"The solution is open source and you just pay for the server cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
14%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - IIS or NGINX Plus?
IIS is a flexible, secure, and manageable web server to host anything on the web. IIS’s scalable and open architecture can handle the most demanding tasks. From media streaming to web applications,...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IIS?
For the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for IIS, as a Microsoft product, I didn't think much about separately purchasing an IIS product as it is part of Microsoft Windows. We bought a developmen...
What needs improvement with IIS?
I see that IIS has maintained the same interface for a long time, so they could potentially use more automation or integrate Copilot into it to make it easier to use. I have not accessed or checked...
What needs improvement with Zend PHP Engine?
Integrating AI tools would make PHP more competitive, as other tools already have AI features.
What is your primary use case for Zend PHP Engine?
We use Zend PHP Engine in a government project to develop a tool for network monitoring analysis. We utilize the tool to collect all the network data for a platform.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Windows Server IIS
PHP Engine
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Erste Bank Group, NJVC, Samsung Electronics, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Tata Steel Europe, Urban Software Institute
Cisco
Find out what your peers are saying about IIS vs. Zend PHP Engine and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.