We performed a comparison between IBM API Connect and Layer7 API Management based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two API Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Security is well organized and managed within the solution."
"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD."
"The support is good and active. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten."
"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."
"API Connect's most valuable feature is its ability to act as a gateway. It's very easy to configure security and everything else in it. You don't have to kill yourself implementing custom configurations."
"We are able to share those APIs instantly within the organization; even if we want to share it outside publicly, then we can have those capabilities."
"API Connect's data gateway is one of the strongest in the market."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"Security is the most important parameter of the solution, for me, because whenever you are exposing your APIs to third-parties, it is critical that the data remains anonymous and that data is retained within the system, that it is not leaked. CA API Management provides good security features."
"It's pretty easy to use, and once we have templating set up we can add new APIs, at least through the gateway, and apply the security to them; it takes a minute."
"The most valuable feature was the gateway because it has a good dashboard which shows all the hits, misses, and issues, how often you are viewing, what was the response time, etc. The gateway was very easy to deploy."
"It has improved API governance and gives analytics to API performance."
"The most valuable feature is that it enables me to present data in the format that the client wants to consume it. That client might be a visualization tool, that client might be a report, that client might be a customer's API requirements."
"It is helpful to have a central API that is hosted and managed."
"Initial setup is straightforward. It is simple and easy to do."
"You can create little, custom Java assertions that you can insert to do your business logic, which might not be covered by the commercial product out-of-the-box."
"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."
"The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."
"Installation is weak."
"The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support."
"In the next version, I don't know if they've already been included it or not, but the designer and all the tools should be on the cloud. I don't want any external installation or local installation."
"We ran it on top of the Kubernetes cluster, so it wasn't a standalone service. In the worst-case scenario, API Connect couldn't stay online if all the containers went down. We had to restart all the services. We shut down all the containers automatically one by one."
"It would be nice to have a SaaS solution that can be deployed into the cloud."
"We would have more capability to interact with the catalog and inventories, so a more DevOps-friendly solution is needed."
"The product's initial setup phase is not very straightforward, making it an area where improvements are required."
"feel like Apigee's API product is more interactive. You can drag and drop with those, but it's a little more difficult in Layer7. It's less user-friendly compared to that Apigee product."
"The OTK, however, is a complex upgrade. They tend to change the schemas on the database behind it, between the versions, which can be a pain to have to migrate all of our existing clients from one database schema to the other."
"It needs better mobile features and HA configuration."
"Increase tools for manipulation of JSON messages."
"What is really important is that they offer the solution as a service, on a subscription or monthly basis, which will make it more attractive. That is where the market is headed. There are competitors within the industry that are doing that currently. I would encourage CA to do that."
"The overall cost of Layer7 API Management is high, they can improve it by making it less expensive."
"CA double up portal is a pain. It is something that we are struggling with right now."
IBM API Connect is ranked 5th in API Management with 73 reviews while Layer7 API Management is ranked 10th in API Management with 110 reviews. IBM API Connect is rated 8.0, while Layer7 API Management is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of IBM API Connect writes "Good speed and performance, but it's based on a bit dated architecture". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Layer7 API Management writes "Has great drag-and-drop features and it requires minimal coding ". IBM API Connect is most compared with IBM DataPower Gateway, Apigee, Microsoft Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, whereas Layer7 API Management is most compared with Apigee, Kong Gateway Enterprise, Amazon API Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager and IBM DataPower Gateway. See our IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management report.
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We monitor all API Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
