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Microsoft IIS VS Azure API Management

Compare Microsoft IIS VS Azure API Management and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Microsoft IIS logo Microsoft IIS

Internet Information Services is a web server for Microsoft Windows

Azure API Management logo Azure API Management

Microsoft Azure API Management enables user to create consistent and modern API gateways for existing back-end services hosted anywhere, secure and protect them from abuse and overuse, and get insights into usage and health.
  • Microsoft IIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-25
  • Azure API Management Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-19

Microsoft IIS features and specs

  • Integration with Windows Server
    Since IIS is developed by Microsoft, it offers seamless integration with Windows Server, leveraging features like Active Directory, .NET Framework, and PowerShell for enhanced performance and manageability.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    IIS features a graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies the server setup and management process, making it easier for administrators to configure and maintain web applications.
  • Extensive Documentation and Support
    Being a product from Microsoft, IIS offers comprehensive documentation, extensive online resources, and professional technical support, which can be highly beneficial for enterprise users.
  • Security Features
    IIS includes various built-in security features, such as dynamic IP restrictions, request filtering, application pooling, and integration with Windows authentication, making it a secure choice for hosting web applications.
  • Performance and Scalability
    IIS is optimized for performance and can effectively handle multiple requests and high-traffic websites. It also supports load balancing and server farms to enhance scalability.

Possible disadvantages of Microsoft IIS

  • Cost Considerations
    Unlike some other web servers that are open-source and free, IIS may incur licensing costs as it requires a Windows Server license, making it potentially expensive for small-scale deployments.
  • Platform Dependency
    IIS runs exclusively on the Windows platform, which can be a limitation for organizations that use a diverse set of operating systems or prefer open-source ecosystems like Linux.
  • Complex Configuration for Advanced Features
    While IIS offers a user-friendly interface for basic setups, configuring advanced features may require considerable expertise and can become complex, particularly for those unfamiliar with Microsoft's environment.
  • Performance Overheads
    IIS may introduce performance overhead due to the multiple layers of abstraction and integration with Windows features, which can affect performance in some high-demand scenarios compared to lightweight, minimalist web servers.
  • Lower Community Support
    Open-source web servers like Apache and Nginx have large, active communities that contribute to continuous improvement and troubleshooting. IIS, being a proprietary product, has a smaller community in comparison.

Azure API Management features and specs

  • Comprehensive API Gateway
    Azure API Management offers a robust API gateway that helps in managing, securing, and analyzing APIs effectively. It supports complex policies, rate limiting, IP restrictions, and transformation of requests and responses.
  • Seamless Integration
    It seamlessly integrates with other Azure services like Azure Functions, App Services, and Logic Apps, streamlining workflows and enhancing functionality.
  • Developer Portal
    Comes with a customizable developer portal that enables easy onboarding and interactive documentation, improving developer experience and speeding up API adoption.
  • Multi-Region Deployment
    Supports multi-region deployments, ensuring high availability and low latency by replicating APIs across different geographic regions.
  • Scalability
    Azure API Management scales easily to meet the demand, allowing businesses to start small and grow with their customer base without worrying about infrastructure management.
  • Security Features
    Offers advanced security features such as OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and JWT token validation to ensure secure API access.
  • Analytics and Monitoring
    Provides comprehensive analytics and monitoring capabilities that help in tracking performance, usage patterns, and diagnosing issues quickly.

Possible disadvantages of Azure API Management

  • Cost
    Azure API Management can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups. The cost can quickly ramp up with increased usage and advanced features.
  • Complexity
    The service can be complex to configure and manage, particularly for users who are not familiar with Azure services or API management concepts.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a steep learning curve associated with Azure API Management. It requires significant time and effort to become proficient in using and optimizing its features.
  • Dependency on Azure
    Heavily depends on the Azure ecosystem, which can be a limitation for organizations using a multi-cloud strategy or preferring other cloud providers.
  • Performance Overhead
    Introducing an API gateway can add some performance overhead, potentially affecting latency and response times if not properly optimized.
  • Limited Customization
    While it offers a range of features, some businesses may find the customization options limited compared to building an in-house solution tailored to specific requirements.

Microsoft IIS videos

Analyzing Microsoft IIS Web Logs - Part 1

More videos:

  • Review - My SEO Video 2017 Microsoft IIS SEO Toolkit

Azure API Management videos

Getting Started with Microsoft Azure API Management REST API

More videos:

  • Review - Using Products in Microsoft Azure API Management

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Microsoft IIS and Azure API Management)
Web And Application Servers
API Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Web Servers
100 100%
0% 0
APIs
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Microsoft IIS and Azure API Management

Microsoft IIS Reviews

Apache, IIS, NGINX, GWS : What’s Your Choice?
Utilizing a specific type of virtual or physical server determines the type of web server software you use. If you prefer Microsoft, then you will prefer to use IIS (Internet Information Services / Server) by Microsoft as your primary web server application solution. If you use Linux distribution, you have other alternatives like Apache, NGINX and LiteSpeed.
Source: www.milesweb.in
What Is the Most Popular Web Server Application in 2021?
Despite being bundled with most modern Microsoft software, IIS loses out to Apache on its own devices. The main selling point here is performance. While IIS has kept up with Apache in recent times, Apache has historically been performing much better, which still gives it an edge over IIS.

Azure API Management Reviews

Top 10 Best API Management Tools with Feature Comparison
Using Microsoft Azure API management platform, you will be able to manage all your APIs at one place. It will provide you a token, key, and IP filtering functionalities to secure your APIs. You will get insights through API analytics.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Azure API Management seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Microsoft IIS mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Microsoft IIS yet. Tracking of Microsoft IIS recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Azure API Management mentions (8)

  • 10 Lightweight API Gateways for Your Next Project
    Azure API Management is Microsoft's managed API gateway, offering request routing, policy enforcement, and telemetry collection. It supports both fully managed and self-hosted gateway deployments for hybrid or on-prem environments. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Serverless Security Best Practices
    Moreover, integrating rate limiting can thwart DDoS attacks, and schema validation can prevent malformed requests, ensuring only legitimate and well-formed traffic reaches your serverless functions. Tools like Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, and Google Cloud Endpoints offer these capabilities, allowing you to set up custom authorization workflows and request validation rules that align with your security... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • No Token in the Browser Pattern using Azure API Management
    This pattern uses Azure API Management in a Backend for Frontend pattern where it handles the OAuth2 access token acquisition from Azure Active Directory; AES encryption and decryption of the access token into an HttpOnly cookie; and to proxy all API calls requiring authorization. This is performed by the use of Azure API Management Policies. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • How to choose the right API Gateway
    Because the configuration is a highly critical feature, we need to authenticate via an API key or by means of other auth methods. For example, most API Gateway providers such as Apache APISIX enabled token-based access to Admin API and they highly advise generating your own token and regularly changing it. Or Azure API Management relies on Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which includes optional features such as... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Is auth WAY too hard in .NET?
    Check out https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/api-management/. Source: almost 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Microsoft IIS and Azure API Management, you can also consider the following products

Apache HTTP Server - Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform - Anypoint Platform is a unified, highly productive, hybrid integration platform that creates an application network of apps, data and devices with API-led connectivity.

Apache Tomcat - An open source software implementation of the Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

LiteSpeed Web Server - LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is a high-performance Apache drop-in replacement.

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform