Comparison of application servers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Proprietary application servers provide system services in a well-defined but proprietary manner. The application developers develop programs according to the specification of the application server. Dependence on a particular vendor is the drawback of this approach.

An opposite but analogous case is the Java EE platform discussed below.

Java EE application servers provide system services in a well-defined, open, industry standard. The application developers develop programs according to the Java EE specification and not according to the application server.

A Java EE application developed according to Java EE standard can be deployed in any Java EE application server making it vendor independent.

This article compares the features and functionality of application server

Application server

An application server is a software framework that provides an environment in which applications can run, no matter what the applications are or what they do...

s, grouped by the hosting environment that is offered by that particular application server.

BASIC

Run BASIC
Run BASIC
Run BASIC is a web application server, based on the Liberty BASIC version of the BASIC programming language. Run BASIC is developed by Shoptalk Systems; v1.01 was released in November 2008.-Programming model:...

http://www.runbasic.com - An all-in-one BASIC scriptable application server with automatic management of session and state

C++

Barracuda Web Server SDK Embeddable Application Server with C and Lua support.
Snorkel Embedded Web Server SDKhttp://sites.google.com/site/snorkelembedded Embeddable Application Server with C/C++ support.
Tuxedo
Tuxedo (software)
Tuxedo is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environments...

http://www.bea.com/tuxedo Based on the ATMI standard, is one of the original application servers.
Tntnet
Tntnet
Tntnet is a free in C++ coded Web server, which enables other C++-programs to bundle requests modules. This way, users are enabled to develop Web applications in C++...

http://www.tntnet.org Tntnet comes with a template engine which allows the programmer to embed C++-code into HTML pages. Templates are compiled prior to run-time, and therefore very fast. Tntnet is multi-threaded and supports object lifetime through scoped variables.
cppserv
CPPSERV
CPPSERV is C++ Servlet Engine. It provides Servlet-like API to C++ programmers. This allows them to write small, extremely efficient web applications, with an ease that was only available to Java programmers...

C++ servlet container
Wt
Wt - Web toolkit
Wt is an open source widget-centric web application framework for the C++ programming language developed by Emweb. It has an API that resembles the C++ desktop application library Qt, using also a widget tree and event-driven signal/slot programming model....

is a web toolkit similar to Qt permitting GUI-application like web development with built-in Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...

capabilities.
Wexus http://labs.wexussoftware.com C++ Library for web development
libapache2-mod-raii http://blackmilk.fr/www/cms/dev/libapache2_mod_raii_en C++ application server module for Apache 2

Common Lisp

Core Server http://labs.core.gen.tr Common Lisp Application Server for Linux

Haskell

HAppS
HAppS
Happstack is a free application server for websites written in the functional programming language Haskell...
Happstack
Snap
WASH

Java

Product	Vendor	Edition	Release Date	Java EE Compatibility	Servlet Spec	JSP JavaServer Pages JavaServer Pages is a Java technology that helps software developers serve dynamically generated web pages based on HTML, XML, or other document types... Spec	License
Blazix	Desiderata Software	1.2	March, 2005				Proprietary
Enhydra	Lutris	5.1.9	March 23, 2005				GPL
Jetty Jetty (web server) Jetty is a pure Java-based HTTP client/server, WebSocket client/server and servlet container developed as a free and open source project as part of the Eclipse Foundation...	Mort Bay Consulting	7.0.1	November 25, 2009		3.0	2.1	Apache 2.0
Sun JSWS	Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...	7.0u5	December 21, 2007	Yes	2.5	2.1	Free of charge, no changes allowed

Java EE

Product	Vendor	Edition	Release Date	Java EE Compatibility	Servlet Spec	JSP JavaServer Pages JavaServer Pages is a Java technology that helps software developers serve dynamically generated web pages based on HTML, XML, or other document types... Spec	License
GlassFish AS	GlassFish Community	3.1	2011-02-28	6	3.0	2.2	Common Development and Distribution License Common Development and Distribution License Common Development and Distribution License is a free software license, produced by Sun Microsystems, based on the Mozilla Public License , version 1.1.... /GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
JBoss AS	Red Hat Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....	7.0.2.Final	2011-09-22	see ³	3.0	2.2	LGPL GNU Lesser General Public License The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
Siwpas Siwpas Siwpas is a lightweight Java application server platform for running enterprise quality Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 web applications. Siwpas integrates ASF Java EE 6 related projects for providing a Java EE Web Profile compatible runtime platform...	MechSoft	2.0.0	2011-07-29	see ²	3.0	2.2	Proprietary
Sun JSAS Sun Java System Application Server The Oracle GlassFish Server , is a platform for delivering server-side Java applications and Web services. Produced by Sun Microsystems, the SJSAS is a Java EE 5 certified application server and is a core part of the Java Enterprise System...	Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...	9.1	2007-09-17	5	2.5	2.1	Free of charge, no changes allowed
Geronimo	ASF Apache Software Foundation The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...	2.2.1	2010-12-11	5	2.5	2.1	Apache License Apache License The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer....
WebSphere Application Server WebSphere Application Server IBM WebSphere Application Server , a software application server, is the flagship product within IBM's WebSphere brand. It was initially created by Donald Ferguson, who later became CTO of CA Technologies, and the first version launched in 1998....	IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...	8.0.0.0	2011-06-17	6	3.0	2.2	Proprietary
Interstage Application Server powered by Windows Azure	Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....	1	2011-07-29	6	3.0	2.2	Proprietary
WebSphere AS Community Edition	IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...	3.0.0.0	2011-09-27	6	3.0	2.2	Free to use, embed and distribute IBM ILANWP
WebLogic Server Oracle Weblogic Server Owned by Oracle Corporation, Oracle WebLogic consists of a Java EE platform product-family that includes:* a Java EE application server, WebLogic Application Server* an enterprise portal, WebLogic Portal* an Enterprise Application Integration platform...	Oracle Corporation BEA Systems BEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...	11gR1 (10.3.2)	2009-11	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
Resin Resin Server Resin is a software product, a web server and Java application server from Caucho Technology. Resin is provided in two versions, Resin Professional and Resin Open Source ....	Caucho Technology	3.1.6	2008-05-05	5	2.5	2.1	Dual GPL
JOnAS JOnAS JOnAS is an open-source implementation of the Java EE application server specification, developed and hosted by the ObjectWeb consortium ....	OW2 Consortium (formerly ObjectWeb ObjectWeb The OW2 Consortium is a not-for-profit, international consortium mainly devoted to producing open source middleware, EAI, e-business, clustering, grid computing. It was founded by INRIA, Groupe Bull, and France Télécom... )	5.1.2	2010-05-04	5	2.5	2.1	LGPL
JEUS	TmaxSoft TmaxSoft TmaxSoft is a South Korea-based multinational corporation specializing in enterprise software system. It was founded in 1997 by former KAIST professor Daeyeon Park...	6	2007-06-07	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
SAP NetWeaver Application Server	SAP AG SAP AG SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...	7.1	?	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
WebOTX	NEC	8.1	2008-06-24	5	2.5	2.1	?
Interstage Application Server	Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....	9.2	2009-08	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
ColdFusion ColdFusion In computing, ColdFusion is the name of a commercial rapid application development platform invented by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database, by version 2 it had...	Adobe Adobe Systems Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...	9.0.1	2010-07-13	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
Borland ES Borland Enterprise Server Borland Enterprise Server, also known as Borland Application Server, was Borland's Java EE Application Server. The product was developed in 1999 within the team of former Visigenic company that was acquired by Borland in 1997. Borland's Java Studio was supposed to have BES and JBuilder tightly...	Borland Borland Borland Software Corporation is a software company first headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, Cupertino, California and finally Austin, Texas. It is now a Micro Focus subsidiary. It was founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn.-The 1980s:...	6.7	2007-01	1.4	2.4	2.0	Proprietary
Cosminexus	HITACHI Hitachi Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:Hitachi, Ibaraki, JapanHitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...	7.0	2006-03	1.4	2.4	2.0	Proprietary
EAServer	Sybase Sybase Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....	6.0	2006-11	1.4	2.4	2.1	Proprietary
Apusic	Kingdee Kingdee Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited is a listed company on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.It is a player in the China software industry, an enterprise management software and middle-ware provider in Asia-Pacific region and an online management and e-business...	4.0	2005-03-23	1.4	2.4	2.0	?
OnceAS	CAS Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...	2.0	2005-03-23	1.4	2.4	2.0	?
Oracle Containers for Java (OC4J)	Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...	10.1.3.5.0	2009-08	1.4	2.4	2.0	Proprietary
Pramati	Pramati	6.0 SP2	2009-04-10	5	2.5	2.1	Proprietary
Trifork T4 Enterprise Application Server	Trifork	T4	2005-03-23	1.4	2.4	2.0	?
Dynamo AS Dynamo Application Server Dynamo Application Server was a Java EE-conformant application server developed by Art Technology Group .-See also:Comparison of application serversIBM WebSphereJBoss application serverOracle WebLogic Server...	ATG Art Technology Group Art Technology Group was an independent Internet technology company specializing in eCommerce software and on-demand optimization applications until its acquisition by Oracle on January 5, 2011...	6.3	2005-03	1.3	2.3	1.2	Proprietary
Orion Application Server Orion Application Server Orion Application Server is a Java EE application server developed by Swedish company IronFlare AB, founded by Magnus Stenman and Karl Avedal. First released in 1999, Orion claims to be the first commercially available application server with full Java EE support...	IronFlare	2.0.7	2006-03-09	1.3	2.3	1.2	Proprietary
WebObjects WebObjects WebObjects was a Java web application server from Apple Inc., and a web application framework that ran on the server. It was available at no additional cost. Its hallmark features were its object-orientation, database connectivity, and prototyping tools...	Apple Inc.	5.4.3	2008-09-15	partial¹			Proprietary

Java EE Compatibility
¹: Java EE based deployment is possible (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/WebObjects/JSP_and_Servlets/About/chapter_1_section_1.html)
²: Siwpas Web Profile Compliance (http://siwpas.mechsoft.com.tr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=117)
³: Java EE 6 Web Profile Compliant (http://community.jboss.org/wiki/AS600FinalReleaseNotes)

JavaScript

firecat http://firecat.nihonsoft.org - Server-side JavaScript Web Application Server.
Jobo.TV http://jobo.tv - Server-side JScript Standalone Web Application Server, with built-in search, index, database (SQLite), Video and Desktop broadcast for Windows XP and Vista (x32 and x64)
BroadVision
Broadvision
BroadVision is an international software vendor of self service web applications for enterprise social software, electronic commerce, Enterprise Portals, CRM....

http://broadvision.com - Server side JavaScript AS. One of the early birds to the marketplace during the eCommerce boom time, they have vertical solution packages catering to the eCommerce industry.

Microsoft

Microsoft positions their middle-tier applications and services infrastructure in the Windows Server

Windows Server

Windows Server is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by Microsoft Corporation. All are part of Microsoft Servers.- Members :This brand includes the following software:* Windows 2000 Server* Windows Server 2003...

operating system and the .NET Framework

.NET Framework

The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

technologies in the role of an application server:

Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...

web server
Windows Server AppFabric
.NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

(Windows Communication Foundation
Windows Communication Foundation
The Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...

, Web Services, .NET Remoting
.NET Remoting
.NET Remoting is a Microsoft application programming interface for interprocess communication released in 2002 with the 1.0 version of .NET Framework. It is one in a series of Microsoft technologies that began in 1990 with the first version of Object Linking and Embedding for 16-bit Windows...

, MSMQ
Microsoft Message Queuing
Microsoft Message Queuing or MSMQ is a Message Queue implementation developed by Microsoft and deployed in its Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. The latest Windows 7 also includes this component...

, ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...

, ADO.NET
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...

)
Distributed Transactions
Microsoft Transaction Server
Microsoft Transaction Server was software that provided services to Component Object Model software components, to make it easier to create large distributed applications. The major services provided by MTS were automated transaction management, instance management and role-based security...

/COM+
Active Directory Application Mode, Active Directory Federation Services
Active Directory Federation Services
Active Directory Federation Services is a software component developed by Microsoft that can be installed on Windows Server operating systems to provide users with Single Sign-On access to systems and applications located across organizational boundaries...

, Authorization Manager

Third-party

Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....

, developed by Novell, Inc., licensed under GPL.
Base4 Application Server, an open source project
TNAPS Application Server
TNAPS Application Server
TNAPS is a freeware .NET cross-platform application server for .NET, Mono, and Java, with component-driven architecture. It is based on the concept of application business logic separation into middleware layer. This is also called three-tier software architecture...

, freeware application server, developed by TN, LLC.

Objective-C

GNUstepWeb
GNUstepWeb
GNUstepWeb is a development environment and an application server for Web Applications. It is characterized by strict separation of data storage, processing and user interface development....

http://www.gnustepweb.org/ WebObjects 4.5 compatible, released under the LGPL.
SOPE
Sope
A sope is a traditional Mexican dish originating in the city of Culiacán. Originally called gordita or pelliscadas in Culiacán. It is an antojito which at first sight looks like an unusually thick tortilla with vegetables and meat toppings...

http://sope.opengroupware.org/en/ inspired by WebObjects extended with Zope concepts, used as Foundation for OpenGroupware.

Perl

Catalyst
Catalyst (software)
Catalyst is an open source web application framework written in Perl, that closely follows the model–view–controller architecture, and supports a number of experimental web patterns. It is written using Moose, a modern object system for Perl...

http://www.catalystframework.org/
Dancer http://perldancer.org/

PHP

Quercus http://quercus.caucho.com/
Zend Server
Zend Server
Zend Server refers to a PHP application server product line offered by Zend Technologies, released in early 2009 with production support available for Windows and Linux. It is available in two versions, Zend Server and Zend Server Community Edition. Zend Server is supported on x86 and x86-64...

http://www.zend.com/en/products/server/

Smalltalk

Seaside software http://www.seaside.st - A continuations based web application server based on Smalltalk

Tcl

AOLserver
AOLserver
AOLserver is America Online's open source web server. AOLserver ismultithreaded, Tcl-enabled, and used for large scale, dynamic web sites.AOLserver is distributed under the Mozilla Public License....

Released as NaviServer before being bought by AOL in 1995, this was a pioneering web application server - for the first time integrating a multi-threaded HTTP server with built in scripting language and database pools with abstraction layer.