Updated March 6, 2023
Difference between Weblogic and Tomcat
Oracle Weblogic is a Weblogic Server compliant with Java Enterprise Edition specification and developed by Oracle Corporation. It was licensed under a proprietary license. It was completely written using Java programming language. It was initially developed and maintained by BEA systems and was later acquired by Oracle Corporation in the year 2008. It handles the system and configuration level functionalities, and the application level logic or business logic can be concentrated by the developer, which eases the development and deployment of the application into a web container, i.e., application server or web server. It is one of the best servers available in the industry nowadays. Oracle Weblogic Server handles a lot of services or functionalities for the different modules and serves many details of the application instantly without any programming or extra effort. Oracle Weblogic also support EJB.
Tomcat is a web application server often called Apache Tomcat Server, an open-source application server compliant with Java EE specification and is also called a Java Servlet container. It is open-source software and free to use by anyone and even for commercial purposes. It was developed and is maintained by Apache Software Foundation. It was purely written using Java programming language. James Duncan Davidson originally developed it. Tomcat can also be used as an HTTP server. It was released in the year 1999.
Head To Head Comparison Between Weblogic and Tomcat (Infographics)
Below is the top 9 difference between Weblogic vs Tomcat
key Difference Between Weblogic and Tomcat
Both are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major difference:
- Oracle Weblogic Server has different features such as transaction management, message queues, database connection handling and many other features, whereas Apache Tomcat Server has a lightweight, open-source, flexible, stable, servlet, JSP, embedding applications into tomcat asynchronous logging etc.,
- Oracle Weblogic Server is a fully loaded container with EJB support, whereas Apache Tomcat Server is a Servlet and JSP support container.
- Oracle Weblogic Server is a licensed version and commercial Java EE based web server with an extremely scalable, fast, secure and high performance featured web server, whereas Apache Tomcat Server is open source and is based on the reference implementation of Servlet and JSP specification.
- Oracle Weblogic Server is the best server available in the market with database pooling and a bit expensive to buy the license, whereas Apache Tomcat Server is free and has limitations in the features for large-scale applications.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has top clients and customers who are using this server and is being used by top clients in the industry, whereas Apache Tomcat Server is also being used by many clients but was limited and had fewer users compared to the Oracle Weblogic.
- Oracle Weblogic Server provides support for deploying business logic and also web applications, whereas Apache Tomcat Server allows the only deployment of http based or web-based applications.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has a good performance, whereas Apache Tomcat Server has less performance compared to WebLogic.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has good service management features along with automation possibility, whereas Apache Tomcat Server has less IT service management possibilities.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has faster updates for any new features or new JDK versions, whereas Apache Tomcat Server does not provide JDK version updates or any other feature updates immediately but takes a longer time.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has an application versioning feature, messaging engine, troubleshooting, database tuning, data source pooling, whereas Apache Tomcat Server does not have this feature.
- Oracle Weblogic Server has EJB clustering, JMS clustering, failover, migration, upgrading, patches, security updates, and recovery features, whereas Apache Tomcat Server does not have these features.
Weblogic vs Tomcat Comparison Table
Below is the topmost comparison between Weblogic vs Tomcat
| The Basis of comparison | Weblogic | Tomcat |
| Definition | Weblogic has different features apart from being a web server and handles Http services, distributed naming, session handling, transaction management, and lookup services. | Tomcat can be used as an HTTP server and also supports JSP and Servlet-based web applications. |
| License | Weblogic is licensed and requires to buy the license to use for commercial purposes. | Tomcat is free and open-source and can be used for free commercially |
| Owned by | Weblogic is owned and developed by Oracle Corporation | Tomcat is owned and being maintained by Apache Software Foundation. |
| Supporting
Features |
Weblogic Support EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) and other features | Tomcat does not support EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) |
| Server Type | Weblogic is an application server | Tomcat is a web server type |
| Transaction
Management |
Transaction management can be handled in Weblogic | Transaction management cannot be handled in Tomcat |
| HTTP/ FTP | Weblogic supports HTTP and FTP as well | Tomcat supports the only HTTP |
| Package | Weblogic belongs to Fusion Middleware packages of the Oracle family | Tomcat supports different open source-based applications or specifications |
| Flexibility | It depends on the project cost and requirement | It is flexible for small companies where the cost parameter is important. |
Conclusion
Weblogic is an enterprise and commercial software which requires a license and has a wide variety of features for large-scale industrial applications that eases the life of a developer whereas Tomcat is a lightweight and free open source software which is suitable for small web application or companies where it is cost-effective to invest money on licensed versions. The choice of selecting the software depends on the requirement and size of the project and the required functionalities and the requirements of the customer and the same approach can be followed to any application server or web server to be chosen while designing the architecture of the application during the design phase of SDLC.
Oracle Weblogic is one of the top web applications server being used nowadays in almost all organizations to deploy complex and large-scale web applications. The choice of web application server depends on the project requirements and complexity, resource handling capacity, and size of the project. Oracle Weblogic server is always preferred as it has extra functionalities and features such as database management transaction handling, EJB support, and many other features apart from all the features in the Tomcat server.
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