A method, system and article of manufacture for providing differentiated quality of service in an application server may include receiving a request and accessing pre-determined policy data in a server system. The pre-determined policy data may depend upon the particular client sending the request. A request may include identity, role, requested service, and/or time constraint information. Based upon the request and policy data, a quality of service context may be established, possibly including service class, priority, and/or deadline attributes. The quality of service context may be propagated in the server system with the request.