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Akana API Management vs IBM DataPower Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Akana API Management
Ranking in API Management
27th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
3.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM DataPower Gateway
Ranking in API Management
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (6th), Application Infrastructure (6th), SOA Application Gateways (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Akana API Management is 0.6%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 3.8%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Saurav Krishna - PeerSpot reviewer
Authentication mechanism is easy to implement but improvement is needed in documentation
For API security purposes, we use the tool to host all our APIs. This allows us to take advantage of the security features provided by the platform. With the solution, we can implement rules such as rate limiting and restricting the number of API calls for each user. It acts as a secure gateway…
Mehdi El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Security features meets compliance needs and offers MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) that simplifies integration efforts
While I like IBM products, I'm not an evangelist. I work with Java, Microsoft ASP.NET, and various technologies. I'm not tied to any specific vendor. However, I do find IBM to be a bit greedy. It's a large, profit-driven company. The support team is mostly based in India, and they follow a very structured process and protocol. Sometimes, it feels like playing ping pong with them – lots of back and forth before the problem gets escalated. You might even have to get your sales rep involved to push things along. For me, the support it could be better. Indian support teams aren't inherently bad, but with IBM, it feels impersonal. They respond, sure. But if it's a complex technical issue, they might ask you a lot of questions that just seem designed to waste your time. Sometimes it feels like they hope you'll get frustrated and solve the problem yourself.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It allowed us to publish and replace pre-essential transactions in one place, with a uniformity in terms of control and policies."
"The tool's authentication mechanism is easy to implement. We had to define a few parameters."
"Good interface, intuitive solution."
"I like the tool's security. Also, all functionalities are integrated within on platform."
"Support for PCA and non-PCA services is valuable."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"The product's most valuable features are AAA policies and security features."
"You don't have to have a separate DMC proxy because DataPower Gateway is an appliance and will take care of a lot of security features. These include data validations, encryption, as well as XML or any type of scripting or security threats that are present."
"The solution is scalable, our customers are mostly South African banks and they handle mostly transactions with this solution."
"The solution is very easy to work with."
"The performance is good. It's been very stable."
 

Cons

"Akana API Management needs to improve its documentation."
"The product has new features that we are going to implement in the next few months, such as API management and analytic reporting."
"Lacks an integrated billing feature."
"Its support services could be better."
"The product's cost for data appliances or hardware is quite high. It needs improvement."
"The programming language is only supported in XSLT and Gateway script."
"Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement."
"Traceability could be improved, especially for business operations. The traceability of the transactions could be an improvement point for DataPower to work on. It would be better if they provided JSON support. JSON protocol data has changed format. It started performing internal transformation to JSONx. This might be an additional complexity."
"An area for improvement in IBM DataPower Gateway is its price point because it's a relatively expensive product. Sometimes, when the customer use case is just a very small subset of what's being offered in IBM DataPower Gateway, then the product can be expensive, making my company lose some of the opportunities because of the expensive pricing. A lower price point for IBM DataPower Gateway, even if that results in a less feature-rich version, would be appreciated. In terms of additional features that I'd like to see in the next release of IBM DataPower Gateway, nothing specific comes to mind because IBM constantly improves its standards and provides quarterly updates to the product, so it's quite fine."
"For the workloads that are not too high, appliance is a little bit expensive."
"We are always looking for more features wherein it could be easily integrated with cloud applications. We are looking for either a cloud solution or a cloud integration option."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For us, the pricing and licensing policies were for an on-premise installation with a fixed cost structure, that matched our budgeting policies."
"The solution has a return on investment but is a little expensive."
"The cost is very high and requires all five components in the API management solution."
"The solution is expensive in comparison to other products."
"It's expensive when you compare it with others."
"The appliance is a bit on the expensive side for the workloads that are not too high."
"The total cost of IBM DataPower Gateway would depend on the configuration, but in my experience, it can amount to 60,000 Euros per box, even for the virtual version. Usually, customers need high availability and a non-production environment, so the total price for IBM DataPower Gateway can be quite a lot. It can be 200,000 Euros or a similar figure."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Healthcare Company
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
31%
Insurance Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Akana API Management?
The tool's authentication mechanism is easy to implement. We had to define a few parameters.
What needs improvement with Akana API Management?
Akana API Management needs to improve its documentation.
What do you like most about IBM DataPower Gateway?
The MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) is great because it allows you to easily expose services using various protocols – web services, REST (JSON), and others. This flexibility simplifies things.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being high price, and ten being low price. It's high-priced for smaller companies. But it is okay for enterprises. So, the price could be more fl...
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
The price could be more flexible for different clients.
 

Also Known As

No data available
WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

British American Tobacco, Credit Suisse, Daimler, eBay, FOX, Liberty Mutual, Marriott, Mayo Clinic, Skandia, Tata communications
RBL Bank, Availity
Find out what your peers are saying about Akana API Management vs. IBM DataPower Gateway and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.