IBM API Connect vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration comparison

IBM API Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM API Connect is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is ranked #27 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM API Connect holds a 5.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to IBM Cloud Pak for Integration’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM API Connect users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 79 IBM API Connect reviews

6,314 Views
5,998 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Read 5 IBM Cloud Pak for Integration reviews

1,196 Views
574 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration are key competitors in the integration technology sector. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration holds a slight edge due to its expansive feature set, which appeals to enterprises needing comprehensive solutions.

Features: IBM API Connect delivers essential API management capabilities such as lifecycle management, powerful security protocols, and monitoring options. It also supports seamless integration with multiple service providers. Conversely, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration provides an extensive suite with features like application, data, and messaging integration, ensuring a holistic approach to complex enterprise needs.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could enhance its user interface for simpler navigation and increase its scalability for larger deployments. It would also benefit from enhanced automation features to streamline processes further. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration could improve by simplifying its setup process and improving documentation. It could also offer more native integrations to avoid reliance on third-party solutions and reduce implementation times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect is known for its ease of deployment, making it attractive for organizations seeking quicker integrations. Its responsive customer service supports users through implementations smoothly. On the other hand, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration offers a flexible deployment model suited to more intricate systems. Its customer service effectively assists clients through complex setups, enhancing its appeal for large enterprises.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect stands out with a cost-effective pricing strategy and relatively low initial costs, offering quicker returns for straightforward API management tasks. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration demands a higher upfront investment, but its extensive features potentially deliver higher ROI by optimizing broader business operations.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

December 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

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (10th)

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Ranking in API Management

27th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Integration (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 5.4%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM API Connect	5.4%
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration	0.7%
Other	93.9%

API Management

Featured Reviews

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Have addressed performance challenges while benefiting from flexible subscription models and reliable user access

To improve IBM API Connect, based on customer experience, you could work on latency. You can increase scalability and availability. If you're connecting with any other cloud, it connects to the infrastructure which needs to be managed with the customers and cloud providers, so if you have a setup, we can handle it easily. I have faced latency issues on the server, related to our management. If you need to stabilize your server based on peak traffic, you need to configure the scalability model. You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes. If the application is not in use, the value should be zero, and it starts from zero. Based on customer experience, the value will increase, and when there is no customer servicing, the peak would be reduced, making the value remain zero. Following this approach, you should be able to optimize costs and satisfy customer experience.

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Igor Khalitov

Owner/Full Stack Software Engineer at Maraphonic, Inc.

Manages APIs and integrates microservices with redirection feature

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration includes monitoring capabilities to track the performance and health of your integrations. You can quickly roll back to a previous version if an issue arises. Additionally, it supports incremental deployments, allowing you to shift traffic to a new version of an API gradually. For example, you can start by directing 10% of traffic to the new version while the rest continue using the legacy version. If everything works as expected, you can gradually increase the traffic to the new version over time. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration has a client base that includes numerous organizations using AI and machine learning technologies. We leverage an open-source machine learning framework and integrate it with Kafka to help create and manage various products and data retrieval processes. For companies with private data, the framework first retrieves relevant data from a GitHub database, which is then combined with the final request before being sent to a language model like GPT. This ensures that the language model uses your specific data to generate responses. Kafka plays a key role by streaming real-time data from file systems and databases like Oracle and Microsoft SQL. This data is published to Kafka topics, then vectorized and used with artificial intelligence to enhance the overall process. It's like an old-fashioned approach. The best way is to redesign it with products such as Kafka. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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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 developer portal has been the most useful feature."

"It acts as a central gateway for both external APIs and underlying systems. It's basically a central middleware for hosting APIs to the internet and consuming APIs from internal systems. It provides central governance for any APIs going outside the network, ensuring security and a common contract for API definitions."

"This product is well integrated with other products. Its ability to interact with IBM Secure Gateway and other integration products is the core feature. Also, the lead time to put it into production is relatively short ."

"The most valuable features are stability and security."

"The most valuable feature for me is the ability to distribute work among our API developers, so we don't have to do all the work as IBM API Connect administrators and IBM DataPower administrators."

"The solution offers a pretty good SLA."

"IBM API Connect has positively impacted my organization because it provides better detailed analytics, which makes things easier for us."

"One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it protects our backend system. We are exposing services to external parties and using this solution to protect the backend system, and to have a navigation in between."

More IBM API Connect pros

"Redirection is a key feature. It helps in managing multiple microservices by centralizing control and access."

"It is a stable solution."

"Cloud Pak for Integration is definitely scalable. That is the most important criteria."

"The most valuable aspect of the Cloud Pak, in general, is the flexibility that you have to use the product."

"The most preferable aspect would be the elimination of the command, which was a significant improvement. In the past, it was a challenge, but now we can proceed smoothly with the implementation of our policies and everything is managed through JCP. It's still among the positive aspects, and it's a valuable feature."

Cons

"Firstly, the pricing model, when compared to other open sources, is high. Secondly, the availability of resources in the market, specifically the developers available in the market, is not so much."

"We have encountered challenges with IBM API Connect, particularly during significant upgrades. These upgrades demand substantial labour and financial resources, including consulting services from IBM. I'd like to see increased flexibility, more frequent updates with new features, an efficient upgrade process, and additional AI capabilities for future releases."

"I have faced latency issues on the server, related to our management."

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

"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."

"It would be helpful to have access monitoring."

"IBM API Connect could improve the security of the application and the integration."

"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."

More IBM API Connect cons

"Its queuing and messaging features need improvement."

"The initial setup is not easy."

"Setting up Cloud Pak for Integration is relatively complex. It's not as easy because it has not yet been fully integrated. You still have some products that are still not containerized, so you still have to run them on a dedicated VM."

"The pricing can be improved."

"Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is significantly high."

"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."

"It's an expensive product."

"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 is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."

"Pricing for IBM API Connect varies, e.g. it could be subscription-based. Deploying it on private cloud also means you have to own most of the software licensing."

"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."

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

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"It is an expensive solution."

"The solution's pricing model is very flexible."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

12%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	61

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.

See all answers

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

I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?

We are relatively new to IBM API Connect, so I do not have significant improvements to suggest at this time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

It manages APIs and integrates microservices at the enterprise level. It offers a range of capabilities for handling APIs, microservices, and various integration needs. The platform supports thousa...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 30% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 13% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Tyk vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

IBM App Connect vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 28% of the time

webMethods.io vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 11% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 10% of the time

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 7% of the time

Apigee vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Cloud Pak for Integration Competitors

Product Reports

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IBM API Connect

December 2025

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API Management

December 2025

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Overview

IBM API Connect is an API management tool providing robust security, seamless REST and SOAP conversion, and flexible deployment options for diverse cloud environments. It aids organizations in securing and monetizing their APIs while streamlining the development process.

IBM API Connect offers features like a security gateway, API lifecycle management, and integration with DataPower. Its intuitive interface enhances ease of use, supporting extensive analytics and traffic management. However, there are areas for improvement in automation, system integration, and user configuration. Organizations can deploy API Connect on-premises or in the cloud, delivering secure access control and analytics for banking, financial services, and government sectors. Compliance with standards like PSD2 ensures secure external API exposure and integration with multiple systems.

What are the most important features of IBM API Connect?

Security Gateway: Provides robust protection and data security for APIs.
Seamless Conversion: Facilitates easy conversion between REST and SOAP protocols.
API Management: Supports full API lifecycle management for efficient development.
DataPower Integration: Integrates seamlessly with DataPower for enhanced functionality.
Developer Portal: Offers a user-friendly interface for managing APIs and developers.
Analytics: Delivers powerful insights through comprehensive API analytics.
Flexible Deployment: Supports deployment on different cloud platforms for versatility.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from IBM API Connect?

Traffic Management: Efficiently manages high volumes of API traffic without compromising performance.
Data Protection: Ensures data is protected during API communication.
API Monetization: Facilitates API monetization strategies to drive revenue.
Scalability: Provides scalable solutions to handle growing demands seamlessly.

In specific industries like banking, financial services, and government sectors, IBM API Connect plays a crucial role in API management, orchestration, and regulation tasks. It provides secure access, control, and compliance with industry standards, serving as an essential gateway for data exchange and integration across multiple systems.

IBM

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration gives you complete, flexible integration using capabilities you need to move at today's speed of business, including the tools to help you achieve your application modernization goals as part of your journey to the cloud.

IBM

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

CVS Health Corporation

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

December 2025

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