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."DataPower Gateway holds significant value for us as it serves as the cornerstone of our enterprise security controls."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"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."
"It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data."
"The ability for all of our web applications to share standard functions and documents easily is valuable."
"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD."
"API Connect's data gateway is one of the strongest in the market."
"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."
"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."
"When I have used technical support they helped me a lot. Sometimes they took a long time to respond because we had very complex issues that we asked them for help with, but I think it is a very good service."
"The security checking authentication is our primary use case for this solution."
"What I found most valuable in Layer7 API Management is that you can launch the API from the gateway quickly and securely, making it less complicated to deploy APIs. I also like that Layer7 API Management has a good portal and dashboards and that the dashboards show you statistics regarding how many people used the API, etc."
"It's a comprehensive tool that allows us to perform all the necessary tasks in one place."
"The Gateway can front our APIs very easily."
"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."
"It is a stable product."
"The solution is overly complex."
"The solution would be better if it had cloud functionalities."
"The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support."
"Possible improvement is mainly around having more of the cloud oriented architecture bringing stability in adding new capabilities around security."
"The implementation of IBM API Connect is complex, as it's an enterprise solution with many components that require more than one person. It's not a single product that you work on, and this is an area for improvement, but normally, it's good. Having a more structured model for IBM API Connect support is also room for improvement that would help customers better."
"It's based on a little bit dated architecture. A lot of evolution has happened after that. It's an evolving field. Kong is a Kubernetes-based platform. Kong runs on Kubernetes, but all the other ones are in microservices. So, there's a lot of improvement that can be done."
"The product's setup phase and its setup for the users in different environments, along with DevOps integration, are areas of concern where there is a need for improvement."
"The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."
"Provide complete documentation with examples of usage on its build in assertion/function."
"The development portal could be improved."
"Layer7 API Management should improve the quota policy for the number of API calls."
"Layer7 API Management’s price could be reduced."
"Layer7 API Management could have a live API creator feature, so my team can easily create APIs. Right now, the product doesn't have that feature."
"The solution should prioritize ease of use and align with the growing trend of cloud-native environments."
"Some users say that the API lacks some features and is lagging behind the competition although that has not been my personal experience."
"We are looking for improvements related to integration. We want to see them add integration tools to the CA bundle. That would be helpful."
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 "Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features". 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, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, Amazon API Gateway 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.
