JSP/Servlet Containers (Engines/Servers)

Free JSP and Servlet Containers

These servers are free for use as development servers on your desktop. Except for Tomcat and Jetty, you must pay to use them as deployment servers. Unless noted otherwise, these servers support servlets 2.3 and JSP 1.2. Send corrections and additions to resources@coreservlets.com.

• Apache (Jakarta) Tomcat. Runs on almost all operating systems that support JDK 1.3 or later. See also:
  • Tomcat 5 Download Page. Choose the latest version. Supports JSP 2.0 and servlets 2.4, but is still in beta version.
  • Tomcat 4 Download Page. Choose the latest non-beta version (e.g., 4.1.24). You must have JDK 1.4 if you download the smaller "LE" version.
  • Quick Configuration and Usage Guide for Tomcat 4 and 5.
• Macromedia JRun. JRun is a servlet and JSP engine that can be used in standalone mode for development or plugged into most common commercial Web servers for deployment. It is free for development purposes, but you must purchase a license before deploying with it. It is a popular choice among developers looking for easier administration than Tomcat.
• Caucho Resin. Resin is a fast servlet and JSP engine with extensive XML support. Along with Tomcat and JRun, it is one of the three most popular servers used by commercial Web hosting companies that provide servlet and JSP support. It is free for development and noncommercial deployment purposes.
• New Atlanta ServletExec. ServletExec is another popular servlet and JSP engine that can be used in standalone mode for development or, for deployment, plugged into the Microsoft IIS, Apache, and Sun ONE servers. You can download and use it for free, but some of the high-performance capabilities and administration utilities are disabled until you purchase a license. The ServletExec Debugger is the configuration you would use as a standalone desktop development server.
• Jetty. Jetty is an open-source server that supports servlets and JSP technology and is free for both development and deployment. It is often used as a complete standalone server (rather than integrated inside a non-Java Web server), even for deployment.

Deployment-Quality Containers that Support Servlets and JSP

This section describes servlet and JSP engines that can be used for commercial deployment. Please see the previous section for free development servers. Please see the next section for full J2EE servers. Send corrections and additions to resources@coreservlets.com.

• Apache (Jakarta) Tomcat.
  • Tomcat 5 Download Page. Choose the latest version. Supports JSP 2.0 and servlets 2.4, but is still in beta version.
  • Tomcat 4 Download Page. Choose the latest non-beta version (e.g., 4.1.24). You must have JDK 1.4 if you download the smaller "LE" version.
  • Quick Configuration and Usage Guide for Tomcat 4 and 5.
• Macromedia JRun.
• Caucho Resin.
• New Atlanta ServletExec.
• Jetty.
• Zeus Web Server. No builtin support for servlets/JSP, but has native support for the JRun and Tomcat engines.
• Sun ONE (formerly iPlanet/Netscape) Web Server.
• W3C (WWW Consortium) Jigsaw. Servlets 2.2 and JSP 1.1 only.

J2EE Application Servers

Send corrections and additions to resources@coreservlets.com.

• BEA WebLogic.
• IBM WebSphere.
• Oracle 9i Application Server.
• JBoss. Free.
• Sybase EAServer Application Server.
• HP AS (J2EE App Server). Free. Formerly Bluestone.
• Borland App Server.
• Orion.