Flowgear vs IBM API Connect comparison

Flowgear and IBM are both solutions in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category. Flowgear is ranked #23, while IBM is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.2. Flowgear holds a 0.4% mindshare in PaaS, compared to IBM’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Flowgear users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Flowgear

Read 7 Flowgear reviews

157 Views
41 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Read 75 IBM API Connect reviews

367 Views
299 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Flowgear

IBM API Connect

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and Flowgear compete in the API management category. Flowgear tends to have the upper hand in modern features, while IBM API Connect excels in support and pricing.

Features: IBM API Connect is known for robust security, scalability, and integration capabilities. Flowgear is recognized for its ease of use, flexibility, and automation features. Flowgear's feature set is more user-friendly and adaptable to various workflows.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect users seek a less complex setup and better documentation. Flowgear users want more advanced reporting tools and integration enhancements. Each product has distinct improvement areas reflecting varied user needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect has a streamlined deployment process; however, assistance might be necessary. Its customer service is highly rated for responsiveness. Flowgear deployment is straightforward with minimal support needed, but its customer service could improve in response times.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect users like its competitive pricing and notable ROI due to its extensive capabilities. Flowgear's pricing is higher, but the ROI justifies the cost due to efficient performance and advanced features. IBM API Connect is cost-effective, while Flowgear reflects its premium functionality.

To learn more, read our detailed Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

March 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Flowgear

Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

23rd

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM API Connect

Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

API Management (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category, the mindshare of Flowgear is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 2.6%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

Featured Reviews

Yugan Pillay

DevOps Engineer at Astute

A nice interface and good training with helpful data transformation connectors

The data transformation and use of the pre-connectors have been really useful. We are able to clean and convert files before data is ingested into SQL. The workflow allows us to find errors and fix them as well easily. The interface is really nice and easy to learn. The workflow process helps us save time when we need to figure out which part of the workflow is failing. The time spent on fixing issues is reduced drastically. The data transformation connectors are really nice since we are able to work with data in any format. The training material is really good.

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KavitaChavan

Associate Manager at Baariz

Quite flexible and provides excellent performance for API gateway

The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive. In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The no-code visual front end, along with pre-built samples, allows someone with very little technical ability to get an integration up and running."

"Well-managed version control of workflows and the simplicity in promoting workflows through each environment has aided my team in developing workflows for various environments without the risk of losing development work."

"Great for data flow."

"It has improved our integration with our data supplier."

"The Flowgear tool is helping us reduce the manual work that is done."

"The solution has increased efficiency and productivity and saved us time and money."

"Being able to seamlessly make changes to how one can do mapping visually without having to be a seasoned developer is great."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is very easy to use and is something that is easily configurable."

"Security is well organized and managed within the solution."

"The services that I consume through IBM API Connect are beneficial. It can handle multiple API management."

"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."

"API Connect's data gateway is one of the strongest in the market."

"The most valuable features of IBM API Connect are its performance and user-friendliness."

"The product gathers data to measure API performance."

"The solution provides a common place for all APIs, allowing for easy sharing and exchange of information between internal and external stakeholders."

More IBM API Connect pros

Cons

"We would like to see more learning videos for beginners."

"Currently, when designing and testing larger workflows, the sessions timeout and re-authentications are frequently required."

"The software itself needs to keep up with the daily demand to service all clients as the need arises."

"The product would be nice if it could provide the deployment features in the lower packages."

"The product needs to improve the self-help tools and samples."

"The UI could be improved."

"The initial setup was a bit complex as we were new."

"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."

"The integration of an API gateway that implements the sidecar pattern, which can be deployed in cloud applications, and expose the microservices directly in each pod, this can be more decentralized components."

"The developer portal could be easier to customize."

"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."

"The installation was difficult with the IBM toolkit."

"Business applications could be exposed to users."

"Components, like caching, should be implemented as policies, not requiring dependency on an external solution."

"The design time setup has a lot of customizable fields, but we need certain standard fields to be added, such as what all of the consuming systems are. This needs to be very clearly articulated during the design time."

More IBM API Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."

"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."

"It is expensive when compared to other products in this class. There were no extra fees for add-ons or technical support."

"It is an expensive solution. The licensing model is based on a per-subscription and per-subscriber end-user basis, meaning the price is determined by the end-users of the platform."

"API Connect's license cost could be a little lower. But, unfortunately, there aren't many open-source API gateways. Ideally, some new developers could come up with a minimum-functionality open-source solution."

"API Connect was highly expensive for us, but the decision to switch was made before I joined the company. It seems like the company bought it, but they didn't know how to use it. After two years, they decided to reevaluate and conduct some cost estimates."

"I haven't seen anyone go from on-premise to the cloud. In fact, I am seeing people go from the cloud to on-premise because the costs can quickly grow on the cloud."

"The price for IBM API Connect is reasonable. It's $20,000 to $30,000 yearly for a subscription, and the pricing could vary around $40,000 per year, per subscription. Its price is reasonable for customers who have around sixty million API calls yearly for unlimited environments."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

23%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Flowgear?

Great for data flow.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Flowgear?

I think the UI could be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Flowgear?

We use it for bringing data into Salesforce, it deals with data flow, bringing in data from a third-party source into our CRM. I'm a CX specialist and we are customers of Flowgear.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?

Price depends on many factors like size of the deal, competitive factors, timing, customer profile or where the pricing for API Calls is very competitive comparing to any of the leader players.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?

The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side. Scalability is an issue with IBM API Connect, making it an area where improvements are required.

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 26% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Flowgear

April 2025

Download Flowgear product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

April 2025

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Overview

Flowgear enables companies of all sizes to increase efficiency and reduce cost by integrating their apps, services, API’s and databases. No coding with 200+ pre-built connectors, reusable workflows and APIs.

Flowgear

IBM API Connect facilitates API management and integration in the financial sector. Companies use it to expose, secure, and manage APIs for banking, insurance, and fintech, deploying it on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid solution.

IBM API Connect focuses on creating and monetizing APIs while enabling seamless transactions and integration with third-party services. It is vital for compliance with regulations and enhances external communication among institutions. With deployment options suitable for different environments, it supports centralized gateway management, robust security features, and comprehensive API lifecycle management. Users benefit from powerful analytics, user-friendly interfaces, and high performance with capabilities in message transformation and efficient monitoring.

What are the most important features?

Centralized Gateway: Manages all APIs through a single entry point.
Robust Security: Ensures API protection with advanced security measures.
Comprehensive API Lifecycle Management: Covers creation, deployment, and retirement of APIs.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies API creation and management tasks.
Powerful Analytics: Provides insights into API usage and performance.
Seamless Integration: Connects easily with third-party services and internal systems.
Flexible Deployment Options: Supports on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
High Performance: Optimizes API performance and reduces latency.
Message Transformation: Manipulates and formats messages between different systems.
Visualization Tools: Enables clear and detailed views of API usage statistics.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

API Monetization: Generates additional revenue streams from APIs.
Enhanced Compliance: Ensures adherence to industry regulations and standards.
Improved External Communication: Facilitates integration and communication among financial institutions.
Technical Support: Benefit from reliable customer support and easy configuration.
Deployment Flexibility: Choose from on-premises, cloud, or hybrid options.

IBM API Connect is extensively implemented in the financial sector, enabling banking, insurance, and fintech services to manage APIs efficiently. Companies use it to ensure secure transactions, integration with third-party services, and compliance with regulatory standards. Its deployment flexibility accommodates different infrastructure needs, making it suitable for a wide range of financial applications.

IBM

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

Buyer's Guide

Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

March 2025

Free Report: Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

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