--- title: Apache Tomcat Reviews meta_title: 'Apache Tomcat Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 128 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Apache Tomcat works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.5 review_count: 128 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-15' parent_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # Apache Tomcat Reviews **Vendor:** The Apache Software Foundation **Category:** [Application Server Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/application-server) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 128 ## About Apache Tomcat Apache Tomcat is an open-source implementation of the Jakarta EE platform's core specifications, including Jakarta Servlet, Jakarta Pages, Jakarta Expression Language, Jakarta WebSocket, Jakarta Annotations, and Jakarta Authentication. Developed and maintained by the Apache Software Foundation, Tomcat provides a "pure Java" HTTP web server environment for running Java code, making it a robust and reliable solution for deploying Java-based web applications. Key Features and Functionality: - Servlet Container (Catalina): Catalina is Tomcat's servlet container that implements the Jakarta Servlet specification, enabling the execution of Java Servlets. - JSP Engine (Jasper): Jasper is the JSP engine that compiles JavaServer Pages into servlets, facilitating dynamic web content generation. - HTTP Connector (Coyote): Coyote is the HTTP connector component that supports HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 protocols, allowing Tomcat to function as a standalone web server. - WebSocket Support: Tomcat provides support for the Jakarta WebSocket specification, enabling real-time, bi-directional communication between clients and servers. - Security Realms: Tomcat includes configurable security realms for user authentication and authorization, enhancing application security. Primary Value and User Solutions: Apache Tomcat offers a lightweight, efficient, and scalable platform for deploying Java-based web applications. Its adherence to Jakarta EE standards ensures compatibility and portability across different environments. Tomcat's modular architecture allows developers to integrate it seamlessly into existing infrastructures, whether as a standalone server or in conjunction with other web servers. Its open-source nature and active community support provide continuous improvements, security updates, and a wealth of resources for troubleshooting and development. By using Tomcat, organizations can deploy robust, high-performance web applications while maintaining flexibility and control over their server environments. ## Apache Tomcat Reviews ### 1. Lightweight, Highly Customizable Apache Tomcat for Hosting Applications **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shivanand L. | Senior Software Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 09, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Since I am from middleware background usage of Apache tomcat is one of the daily need for me run any application so we hosted majority of applications in tomcat as its one of the best opensource highly customisable product I would say this applications servers list and it can fit to any applications especially at the monolithic kind of architecture and its very light weight application which can handle good amount load and loosing performance and it can be integrated woth multiple tools which is hightlight of this one. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** Since its a open source its support is very minimal we need to handle troubleshooting part majorly and it alone cant handle and security part is always a concern because without hardening its risky to use openly since it is opensource and default configs can be easily compromised if we dont make properly and also we see lots of memory leakage problems if codes are poor. **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** We hosted majority of applications into apache tomcat as a application server and its open source so not paying anything for it and its running flowlessly from decades without making any noise also it can be customised at any requirement we made use of that to fit our application which make huge savings on part of other products licensing. ### 2. Reliable and lightweight, but definitely shows its age **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yogesh S. | Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 12, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Our engineering team primarily uses Tomcat to host several of our older internal Java web applications and a few core REST APIs that feed data to our main administrative dashboards. It typically sits behind an Nginx reverse proxy in our production environment, serving as the dependable workhorse for our servlet and JSP-based projects.The absolute best thing about Tomcat is that it just quietly does its job without demanding a massive server footprint. Compared to full-blown enterprise application servers, it boots up incredibly fast and is highly focused on doing exactly what it was designed to do. Because it has been an industry standard for so long, the community support is basically unmatched. If you run into a weird deployment error or a specific thread-hanging issue, chances are high that someone else solved that exact same problem on a forum ten years ago. Furthermore, being completely free and open-source means we can spin up as many instances as we need across our testing and staging environments without ever worrying about complex licensing roadblocks. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** Honestly, configuring Tomcat can sometimes feel like stepping back in time. Everything relies on heavily nested XML files, which can be a real pain to read and edit when you just want to make a simple tweak to a server port or adjust a database connection pool. The built-in manager dashboard is visually stuck in the early 2000s, and while it is functional, it isn't exactly intuitive for newer developers joining the team. Additionally, tuning the Java garbage collection and memory allocation settings for applications that experience sudden spikes in traffic often requires a lot of frustrating trial and error before the server remains perfectly stable under load. **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** A while back, we had a major issue where a critical legacy employee management portal was eating up far too many resources on a much heavier, expensive enterprise server. By migrating that specific application over to Tomcat, we solved the immediate problem of high licensing costs and heavy server overhead. It provided a totally free, highly stable environment for an older codebase that we simply did not have the time or resources to rewrite. This benefited our team immensely because it kept the internal tools running smoothly for our staff, while instantly freeing up our IT budget and engineering hours to focus entirely on building out our newer architecture. ### 3. Transparent, Lightweight Apache Tomcat with Clear Logs and Readable Config **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** shanavaz a. | Cloud Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 17, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** What I like most about Apache Tomcat is how transparent it feels. When something breaks, I can actually trace it: the logs are clear, the configuration files are readable, and nothing feels “hidden” behind heavy abstraction. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** What I dislike about Apache Tomcat is that it can sometimes feel a bit too minimal. Even though its lightweight nature is a big plus, I often end up having to manually configure things that are built in with full application servers—such as advanced security features, clustering, or enterprise-level monitoring. **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** Apache Tomcat solves the problem of running Java web apps easily, without needing a heavy application server. For me, it makes deployment straightforward, keeps resource usage low, and gives me better control when troubleshooting. It focuses on what’s needed and avoids unnecessary complexity. ### 4. Lightweight, Fast, and Easy Java App Deployment with Apache Tomcat **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kumar G. | Associate - Principal, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2025 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** 1. I have used Apache Tomcat as web server and its Lightweight & easy to setup on any environment i.e windows or unix based system. 2. Low infrastructure requirement for installation and configuration. So the developers can quickly deploy the static web apps and jsp/servlets. 3. Startup time is superfast and application is up and running within few seconds. 4. Apache tomcat is open source, so we don't need to worry about the subscription and cost initially. 5. Community support is appreciated. 6. I use this web server mostly on weekly basis and easy to debug for any issues. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** 1. Support for JavaEE apps is unavailable 2.The UI/UX of the manager pages are developed with simple UI and lagging modern web apps capabilities. 3. Not suitable for large scale apps **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** So, we have a lot of in-house lightweight applications requirement where Apache tomcat fits well for deployment. We are able to develop and deploy some static apps and java (jsp & servelets) apps. Considering the lifespan of the lightweight applications short, Apache Tomcat serves the purpose well. ### 5. Community-Driven and Easy to Configure **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Guhan M. | Director / Principal Engineer, Financial Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** community support and ease of configuration **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** cloud native compatibility and integrated support within AWS environment **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** Front-end support and proxy configuration between the front end and back end. ### 6. Lightweight Servlet Runner with Simple Installation and Setup **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 10, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Light weight application for running servlet. Simple Installation and Configuration **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** lacking session cluster support for Redundancy environmet **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** provides a light weight servlet environment ### 7. Lightweight and Stable for Java Apps, but Manual Tuning Needed **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2026 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Light weight, stable and simple to run java apps **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** Manual tuningand ops overhead at scale needed **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** Run and serves Javaweb apps without a fulljava EE stack.it provides the following benefitslight weight,low-cost and fast to deploy. Ideal for simple, scalable java servies ### 8. Apache tomcat review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rajesh J. | Lead Consultant, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** This is a very good app server . Used to use this while running app on local..to deploying app on Test or staging or Prod infra. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** There is nothing as such .It's a very good app server . **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** App deployment in local, test, stag, product infra. ### 9. Helpful tool to run Java applications **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2025 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Its easy to integrate with the other IDEs to run my Java applications. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** Nothing really, my experience so far has been amazing. **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use it to run our around 15 Java Web applications that I support for one of our clients. ### 10. Apache Tomcat Review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zaid M P. | Cloud Administrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 12, 2024 **What do you like best about Apache Tomcat?** Apache Tomcat is is a container for Java applications. It is a lightweight and has robust functionality and easy to configure that makes it faster. **What do you dislike about Apache Tomcat?** The thing I dislike about Apache Tomcat is their support. It only supports jar and war. Sometimes updated code is not applicable unless restarted. **What problems is Apache Tomcat solving and how is that benefiting you?** First of all it is open source. It is incredibly lightweight and has capability to do various functionalities. ## Apache Tomcat Discussions - [What is Apache Tomcat used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-apache-tomcat-used-for) - 1 comment - [Is Tomcat still used?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-tomcat-still-used) - 1 comment - [What is the latest Apache Tomcat version?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-latest-apache-tomcat-version) - 1 comment - [View Apache Tomcat pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-tomcat/reviews/apache-tomcat-review-244846?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-06+10%3A45%3A36+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=e81b5d43-2542-4337-a80f-924d28e2ab86&secure%5Btoken%5D=b33eb9ff32b55e8d5c862f85c1a2753633ca7f45c66e8ec72613ed95d55224d0&format=llm_user) ## Apache Tomcat Integrations - [IBM MQ](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-mq/reviews) - [Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server](https://www.g2.com/products/internet-information-services-iis-for-windows-server/reviews) - [Oracle Database](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-database/reviews) - [Red Hat JBoss Web Server](https://www.g2.com/products/red-hat-jboss-web-server/reviews) - [Sakai](https://www.g2.com/products/sakai/reviews) ## Apache Tomcat Features **Data Management** - Data Redundancy - Server Management - Version and Profile Support - Web-based frameworks - Data exchange **User Features** - Centralized offering - Security updates - Real-time visibility **Modernization** - Cloud deployment - Microservices development - On-premises support - Modular architecture **AI Performance Improvement - Application Server** - AI Application Scaling - AI Error Prediction - Intelligent Resource Forecasting - AI Anomaly Detection - AI Intrusion Detection **Agentic AI - Application Server** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance - Decision Making ## Top Apache Tomcat Alternatives - [F5 NGINX](https://www.g2.com/products/f5-nginx/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (106 reviews) - [Payara Server](https://www.g2.com/products/payara-server/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (84 reviews) - [Oracle WebLogic](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-weblogic/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (66 reviews)