IBM API Connect vs webMethods API Portal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)
webMethods API Portal
Ranking in API Management
24th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 15, 2024
Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features
While Azure API Management offers configurable scalability, IBM API Connect relies on Kubernetes clusters. This might seem manual and require defining cluster instances upfront, but it's completely customizable and not on-the-fly scaling. It's completely custom-driven, not on-the-fly scaling, which some may consider cumbersome. Overall, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Almost all applications we've been exposing lately go through this middleware, so it's used extensively. There are around sixty applications directly using it, but six Kubernetes clusters serve those applications. It's heavily used for integration, including system-to-system integration and product integrations. Our usage has been increasing year-on-year based on our needs.
RK
Jun 3, 2021
Stable, with good technical support, but the on-premises version can be difficult to set up
The solution can scale quite well. A company that needs to scale can do so. API management is all about internally leveraging the software development life cycle, across various domains. Typically, most customers, when they adopt API management, they are delivering it for their entire IT software development organization, not just the integration team. The application team and the database team and so on will also use it. Everybody will be on board. Sometimes we have seen customers onboard about 60, 70 developers and then maybe a few additional external consumers. However, we also see some customers with very small teams of around 10 people. It works well for both.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Its speed and performance are valuable."
"The functionalities on offer are very good."
"What's best about IBM API Connect is the excellent administration. The development tool that builds the API is also very simple, and user-friendly, and it doesn't consume too much time. Another valuable feature in IBM API Connect is its good reporting feature, particularly for operations, but the most valuable feature of the solution for the customer is security. IBM API Connect provides a DMZ and a security gateway between the external and internal environment, so you can publish your API safely. IBM API Connect can also integrate with any tool or middleware that works on open standards without the need for development or coding, so integration with the solution is easier."
"I have found the API Management to be most valuable."
"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."
"The most valuable features are stability and security."
"WSRR is a powerful component for getting the endpoints."
"The statistics component is easy to use."
"We have found the pricing of the solution to be fair."
"It is good for communicating between the systems and for publishing and subscribing. We can easily retrieve data. It is good in terms of troubleshooting and other things."
"webMethods API Portal is overall very valuable. It is now a comprehensive API catalogue that serves various purposes, including API assessment and evaluation."
 

Cons

"Business applications could be exposed to users."
"The new version is very unstable."
"Extracting the data could be improved."
"I would like to see support for non-Java based services. We struggle a bit to be able to deploy and connect our .NET services because of things like data types. We had to map a couple of things. For one solution provider, we had to move them to .NET Core before we could use it properly. I would like to see more agnostic tool service platforms rather than moving it more towards Java or open source."
"Improving the documentation would be beneficial as it currently presents navigation challenges. Incorporating a step-by-step guide could facilitate the integration or migration of various systems, including databases. The existing documentation only comprises plain text, hence incorporating more interactive instructions could enhance its usefulness."
"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."
"The administration of the user interface and the technical documentation are areas of concern in the solution where improvements are required."
"We've had some issues upgrading to the latest version of the solution."
"Some of the things that we use cannot be done in this solution. For these things, we have to either use a Java service or a util service. There is no predefined or existing service that we can use. So, we have to work on the util service and write on top of it. Its price can also be better. It is pretty costly because they charge us for each transmission."
"The on-premises setup can be difficult."
"The improvement needed is related to the model's position. As of now, it seems to be more of a conceptual idea rather than a widely implemented solution. For how long"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."
"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"API Connect is quite pricey."
"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"It can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."
"The price of the solution is very expensive, it can turn many customers away."
"I don’t have much idea about prices, but webMethods API Portal is not something cheaper."
"Based on our team discussions and feedback, it is pretty costly because they charge us for each transmission."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Educational Organization
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
12%
Retailer
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM API Connect?
Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?
I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
The platform’s integration with the payment gateway needs enhancement. The setup process and support services could be improved.
What do you like most about webMethods API Portal?
webMethods API Portal is overall very valuable. It is now a comprehensive API catalogue that serves various purposes, including API assessment and evaluation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for webMethods API Portal?
I don’t have much idea about prices, but webMethods API Portal is not cheap.
What needs improvement with webMethods API Portal?
The improvement needed is related to the model's position. As of now, it seems to be more of a conceptual idea rather than a widely implemented solution. Monetization is currently on the rise, driv...
 

Comparisons

 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. webMethods API Portal and other solutions. Updated: June 2024.
787,104 professionals have used our research since 2012.