IBM API Connect vs Layer7 API Management comparison

IBM and Broadcom are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1, while Broadcom is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.6. IBM holds a 6.5% mindshare in APIM, compared to Broadcom’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 75 IBM API Connect reviews

9,857 Views
7,484 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Layer7 API Management

Read 111 Layer7 API Management reviews

5,068 Views
3,774 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Layer7 API Management

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Layer7 API Management and IBM API Connect are competitors in the API management category. Based on the available data, IBM API Connect appears to have an edge due to its strong integration with legacy systems and robust features suitable for large enterprises.

Features: Layer7 API Management supports REST-to-SOAP conversions and security token translation, essential for mobile-first strategies. It offers built-in identity management, content-based routing, and comprehensive security features. IBM API Connect integrates well with IBM DataPower for enhanced security and monitoring, supports strong enterprise integration, and facilitates efficient legacy system integration.

Room for Improvement: Layer7's documentation and developer portal need improvements, and additional purchases might be required for complete functionality. IBM API Connect faces challenges with pricing complexity and requires better documentation and feature enhancements like API rate-limiting and non-Java service support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Layer7 is flexible across multiple deployment environments, including on-premises and hybrid cloud. However, inconsistencies in technical support were noted post-Broadcom acquisition. IBM API Connect supports cloud-native solutions with broad deployment options, offering robust technical support, though pricing issues were mentioned.

Pricing and ROI: Layer7 is seen as cost-effective with varied licensing models, although some consider it pricey. It delivers good value with proper negotiations. IBM API Connect is generally perceived as expensive, posing a barrier for smaller businesses, yet justifies its cost with enterprise-level features and the potential for high ROI depending on use case and scale.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

January 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 831,265 peers since 2012

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

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)

Layer7 API Management

Ranking in API Management

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.5%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 3.1%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan

Solutions Architect at Synechron

Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features

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. Overall, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Almost all applications we've been exposing lately go through this middleware, so it's used extensively. There are around sixty applications directly using it, but six Kubernetes clusters serve those applications. It's heavily used for integration, including system-to-system integration and product integrations. Our usage has been increasing year-on-year based on our needs.

Read full review

Ronald D'Souza

Presales Consultant for CA Southern Africa at Hyperion Holding Pty Ltd

Has great drag-and-drop features and it requires minimal coding

I have mainly implemented using Layer 7 API Management. Some of the major challenges we were able to meet with a quick release to market methodology. Some of the tasks which we achieved for our customers were: 1. Translation service from SOAP to REST and vice versa. 2. API service to DB (Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, Snowflake, SAP HANA) -- Created Swagger APIs that were able to perform CRUD operation to the backend API mentioned above and provided routes to query and get data. 3. Integration with Payment gateway service providers to perform (transaction on behalf of the customer with third-party payment gateway service providers white labeled with our APIs ) -- Followed TMF standards for payment gateway integration with the Telcom world. 4. Orchestration of the API. Build multiple microservers and provided orchestration based on route, path, and data in the request and perform actions that would be communicated with multiple APIs and provide a single consolidated response. 5. Provided API-driven security (Oauth 2.0, JWT, SAML, Basic, and a variety of means) to access the API giving the developer the freedom to concentrate only on application/service/microservice and let the gateway handle the threat. 6. Seamless Mutual Authentication allowed good segregation between APIs in the DMZ and internal network.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution offers a pretty good SLA."

"It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data."

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

"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."

"It's quite flexible and easy to deploy, especially for beginners. It has almost all the features that an API gateway should have."

"I have found IBM API Connect to be highly secure, efficient, easy to deploy, and has a great GUI. It can operate and integrate well with other vendors, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft."

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

"We are able to share those APIs instantly within the organization; even if we want to share it outside publicly, then we can have those capabilities."

More IBM API Connect pros

"Compared to other vendors, this product is much faster in coming up with new features, which is good."

"Easy to use, nice UI, and good search functionality."

"I work for an information security company. CA API Management is capable of using tokens for authorization to manage access control for the APIs."

"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."

"The Gateway can front our APIs very easily."

"It is flexible in how it creates custom policies and uses builds with impressive methods."

"It's a comprehensive tool that allows us to perform all the necessary tasks in one place."

"It impresses me as a product because it never goes down. It always does what it is supposed to do."

More Layer7 API Management pros

Cons

"The solution is overly complex."

"The new version is very unstable."

"The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."

"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."

"IBM info-center help documentation also needs improvement. Competitive product like Apigee provide out of the box policies to run Javascript, JAVA and better/flexible logging policies."

"The installation was difficult with the IBM toolkit."

"Our main pain points are in these two areas: creating a better developer portal and improving stability in terms of synchronization and monetization."

"Understanding the architecture, deployment criteria, and communication methods of the installation can be time-consuming."

More IBM API Connect cons

"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."

"As well as the SOA Gateway - that is, the API Gateway; we call it the SOA Gateway - we also are now deploying the developer portal component of the SOA Gateway. That has limitations."

"The entire lifecycle management approach needs improvement: from the API management, development, deployment, some of the settings around the quotas, and some security policy applications, etc. for the APIs. We found the Apigee platform a lot more robust in that area."

"The developer portal needs to fully supported SOAP services (including WSDL publication with security), it would certainly push adoption for us."

"The implementation of CA API Management was complex. It is a complicated solution. You have to know so much IT knowledge to do the implementation."

"The initial setup was very complex."

"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."

"The CA API Management solution has good security features, but when it comes to being used in areas like enterprise integration, where it is being used as middleware for all the IT environments, that particular feature is quite limited. It doesn't support as many protocols as an industry standard, competing product should."

More Layer7 API Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a pretty expensive tool."

"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."

"There was a need to purchase an upfront license or a one-time license or upfront license, but I cannot remember the details about it clearly."

"The price of the solution is very expensive, it can turn many customers away."

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

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

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

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"CA has great pricing for gateways, so negotiate with your sales team."

"If you do a TCO of more than five years, then you will see a big jump in costs for some vendors."

"Pricing for Layer7 API Management is excellent, so it's an eight out of ten. The product is less expensive than other solutions. Layer7 API Management charges you based on the number of transactions, so the enterprise-level pricing my company got was excellent."

"It was very high at that time. We are a Broadcom CA partner, and we got it only for testing purposes. We didn't pay anything for it."

"The price of Layer7 API Management is too high and should be reduced. However, it is a good solution in the market."

"It is a pricey product, although not extremely overpriced compared to competitors in the market."

"Layer7 API Management is cheaper than Apigee."

"Do not buy piecemeal."

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

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

What do you like most about Layer7 API Management?

The solution's technical support is good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Layer7 API Management?

The pricing is expensive compared to other products.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?

Layer7 API Management could be improved in its logging and alert mechanisms. Furthermore, although cloud deployment has been introduced, I am not familiar with all recent updates. In previous versi...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 25% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 16% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

WSO2 API Manager vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 33% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 16% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 11% of the time

webMethods.io vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 2% of the time

More Layer7 API Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

January 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management

January 2025

Download Layer7 API Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway

Learn More

IBM

Broadcom

Overview

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.

Layer7 API Management is a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to securely expose, manage, and monetize their APIs.

It provides features such as API gateway, developer portal, analytics, and security to ensure seamless integration and control over API traffic.

With Layer7 API Management, businesses can streamline their API operations and drive innovation.

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Oracle 4. Salesforce 5. SAP 6. Cisco 7. Dell 8. HP 9. Adobe 10. VMware 11. Accenture 12. Capgemini 13. Deloitte 14. PwC 15. Ernst & Young 16. Infosys 17. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) 18. Wipro 19. Cognizant 20. HCL Technologies 21. Tech Mahindra 22. Fujitsu 23. Hitachi 24. NEC 25. NTT Data 26. Ericsson 27. Nokia 28. Siemens 29. AT&T 30. Verizon 31. Vodafone 32. Orange

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

January 2025

Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM API Connect 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.