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

10,271 Views
7,795 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Layer7 API Management

Read 111 Layer7 API Management reviews

5,269 Views
3,910 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Layer7 API Management

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

December 2024

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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) (8th)

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 December 2024, 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.

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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

"API Connect is a good product, and everything works fine. All the analytics are good, and it is easy to follow up. I like it in that sense. I'm more focused on following up on analytics by seeing how many API calls we are getting and where we see a lot of problems. I was working on that API level."

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

"Using API Connect allows us to quickly create proxy APIs and saves time on end-to-end testing, which lets us deliver quickly to clients."

"Since it runs on top of Datapower, all Datapower based custom policies can be utilized and exported to API connect but its not straightforward/simple process."

"The gateway is the most valuable aspect of this solution."

"API Connect's most valuable feature is its ability to act as a gateway. It's very easy to configure security and everything else in it. You don't have to kill yourself implementing custom configurations."

"Its speed and performance are valuable."

"IBM API Connect is a reliable and scalable solution."

More IBM API Connect pros

"Layer7 API Management's availability on an on-premises deployment model, actually decreases the production time if its users have any issues at the server level."

"The benefits are rapid development and deployment of APIs, which means that your information, your ability to handle information, to receive it and to send it, to visualize it, to report on it, to get intelligence out of it, happens fast and happens with accuracy."

"It has its own language, which make it possible to design and implement the complete flow using existing services and databases, and to create and aggregate fine-and coarse-grained APIs."

"It is able to withstand the number of API calls and handle different API requirements to secure, transform, log, and track API usage patterns."

"Mobile app capabilities is good for building mobile apps to consume developed APIs. Also, the API Portal capabilities are very nice, up to and including the ability to do monetization. Security features are exhaustive, with several adapters to all leading identity suites."

"Every API that we get from external or from internal goes through this layer first, and it should not be a bottleneck. That was the problem we had before. Now it's no longer a bottleneck. It's more like a throughput, this process is less than 10 milliseconds for any particular API."

"The product documentation helps the client and/or user to evolve quickly while using the tool."

"There are a couple aspects of performance. One is just speed and uptime, and it's stellar in that regard. The other is, how much effort is it to put it in place in the first place, and then how much effort is it to keep it operational. That's where its real strength is. I'm able to do things quickly and easily that I couldn't do before."

More Layer7 API Management pros

Cons

"We've had some issues upgrading to the latest version of the 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."

"The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support."

"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."

"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."

"The product's setup phase and its setup for the users in different environments, along with DevOps integration, are areas of concern where there is a need for improvement."

"Possible improvement is mainly around having more of the cloud oriented architecture bringing stability in adding new capabilities around security."

"It would be helpful to have access monitoring."

More IBM API Connect cons

"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."

"Some problems with response time."

"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."

"There is a need for the migration of policies, better reporting, and monitoring integration."

"The interface should be improved."

"From the last version, they have added more dashboard support, but there is still a lot they need to improve. In terms of monitoring, it's almost all covered. The interface can be improved, though."

"There is room for improvement in terms of innovation and investment, especially when compared to other leading products in the market."

"There are old algorithms that the tool does not support - and it shouldn't, in my opinion. But sometimes customers need old algorithms, from old use cases and old applications, migrated to the platform. At those times, there are hiccups that happen."

More Layer7 API Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a pretty expensive tool."

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

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

"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."

"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."

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

"API Connect is quite pricey."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"Purchase 4.0 now and wait until they flush out the 4.1 problems."

"APIs can be developed to provide security. We can show them in one single pane of glass, such as the CA API Management API Developer Portal. It is there that we can provide the monetization for their APIs and what is happening on third-party applications, like Paytm or BookMyShow."

"There is an annual license for the use of this solution. I think we are paying for some support maintenance fees, included in that license. I don't know how it works. They should provide more information."

"Layer7 API Management is cheaper than Apigee."

"It's my manager who takes care of the pricing. But I keep on hearing that it's a little pricey, it's on the higher side. That is what he says."

"There are various licensing models for Layer7 API Management. We have to buy additional licenses to get new versions."

"There are some costs for maintenance that we are charged, but that seems fair because we get the support."

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

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

21%

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

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?

It is a pretty expensive tool. The tool is expensive if I consider how products like WSO2 are available in the market. You have pretty much many options in the open-source community, considering ho...

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 24% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 23% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 16% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Tyk vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 33% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 16% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 16% 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

December 2024

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management

December 2024

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

December 2024

Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

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