We performed a comparison between Apigee and Layer 7 API Management based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Apigee has very high availability and makes it easy for users to manage the entire lifecycle of the API. It offers vast opportunities for easy customization. Users find some of Layer 7 API Management’s tools and features difficult to implement and bulky, causing processes to slow down. Layer 7 could also use more cloud-native features.
"The analytics function and the developer portal are the two valuable features of Apigee. The analytics part is very good, and the developer portal is quite rich in features."
"Apigee has better scalability than WSA."
"The initial setup was easy - there was an onboarding document with steps that we followed."
"The most valuable feature is monetization."
"It has a very efficient logging system which is easy to maintain."
"The analytics feature is quite good."
"Items around the mobilization of the API interface and the ability to automate validations for our APIs are the most valuable aspects."
"Great flexibility with its features."
"It is helpful to have a central API that is hosted and managed."
"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."
"Some of the performance matrix that API Gateway gives off, we monitor them via SNMP traps, and then we tie them into our monitoring system. You can actually monitor some of the latencies and some of the performance aspects of both API Gateways, as well back end services. So having that line of sight surely helps in terms DevOps."
"The mobile access gateway (MAG) is tremendous."
"There are a few assertions which are built-in for threat protection. I have used them for vulnerabilities, like for DDoS attacks, XML schema validation, IP restriction, and for cross-domain."
"It has improved API governance and gives analytics to API performance."
"The most valuable feature of Layer7 API Management is that their policy is really easy to develop and it is flexible."
"Containerization and the monetization module are quite unique for an API tool... In addition, the development time and rollout time are pretty quick."
"Drag and drop of features would be more beneficial, rather than manually working on the configuration and updates."
"In terms of the functionalities of a typical API gateway, Apigee is actually doing its job, but when it involves integration with backend applications, which some gateways have, I don't believe it has this functionality. You have to do Java or do some other low-level coding before you are able to do the integration. Apigee has a lot of components, which means that management will be a bit difficult. It probably has ten different components, and all of these components leverage open-source utilities, such as NGINX. When those open-source vendors upgrade their utility, Apigee usually lags behind because they need to do a lot of tests and any required development in their own platform. They need to do rigorous testing to make sure that nothing breaks. Because of that, it takes them a while to upgrade whatever components have been upgraded by the open-source vendor that owns the utility. We've been chasing them for a particular upgrade for well over a year and a half, and they have not done that upgrade. It is creating a security risk for us as an enterprise, but that upgrade has not been done, even though the open-source vendor, the owner of the utility, has upgraded it a long time ago."
"The pricing of the solution could be improved upon. We'd like it if it was less costly."
"The pricing for the product was a bit higher. I also found it challenging to manage sometimes."
"The solution tends to hide the limitations to keep selling the product."
"What my clients don't like is that the on-premises solution is not being treated and maintained as well as the cloud solution."
"It needs predictive analysis of consumption."
"I'd like this solution to improve on releasing new features; I'd like it to be more frequent."
"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."
"Some users say that the API lacks some features and is lagging behind the competition although that has not been my personal experience."
"One specific feature that we need is the ability to authenticate directly to the server with API data. It's not complex nowadays. This is a feature that we need and CA doesn't have it."
"The portal is not the most intuitive and the way things are displayed makes it difficult to find the information we need."
"The security protocols in CA's product, for financial services, weren't as good as those in API Connect."
"I would like to be able to see the publisher role be able to be organized within organizations, so somebody within that role can only manipulate their particular policies."
"It would be nice if we could create APIs directly from Swagger files. We're doing that ourselves with a middle layer. But if you could integrate with open API Swagger specs, and then just create a Swagger and upload it to the gateway and it would create all my API template policy, and would apply the OAuth restrictions, the types of security restrictions I have on there, that would be pretty cool."
"I understand that clients are often concerned about costs. They might be exploring other options due to the high cost associated with our current package."
Apigee is ranked 2nd in API Management with 82 reviews while Layer7 API Management is ranked 10th in API Management with 110 reviews. Apigee is rated 8.2, while Layer7 API Management is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Apigee writes "Has a robust community and outstanding performance". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Layer7 API Management writes "Has great drag-and-drop features and it requires minimal coding ". Apigee is most compared with Microsoft Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, WSO2 API Manager, Amazon API Gateway and MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, whereas Layer7 API Management is most compared with Kong Gateway Enterprise, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, Amazon API Gateway, Microsoft Azure API Management and IBM API Connect. See our Apigee vs. Layer7 API Management report.
See our list of best API Management vendors.
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.
