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 #11 with an average rating of 7.6. IBM holds a 6.5% mindshare in APIM, compared to Broadcom’s 3.2% 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

10,770 Views
8,108 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Layer7 API Management

Read 110 Layer7 API Management reviews

5,509 Views
4,074 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Layer7 API Management

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM API Connect and Layer7 API Management based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two API Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)

Layer7 API Management

Ranking in API Management

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

110

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 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 3.2%, 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

Jan 15, 2024

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

May 15, 2023

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.

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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

"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."

"The centralized management: this provides a management module that can deploy and apply security policies to all APIs, including all the gateways that are deployed on-premises and on any cloud because the gateway component can run at a VMware or in a Kubernetes cluster."

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

"The functionalities on offer are very good."

"In-built policies and security functions."

"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 developer portal has been the most useful feature."

"It is a complete all-in-one solution."

More IBM API Connect pros

"This improved our organization, because it gives the management data to discuss for the next course of action and it suggests what to work on, as the next thing."

"Key features include: lightweight mediation, transformation from JSON to XML and XML to JSON, API portal and API key management, the Developer Portal, and Circuit Breaker is a cool feature, too."

"I appreciate Layer 7 API management for its comprehensive approach to the entire API lifecycle, including governance, management, and analytics."

"The Gateway can front our APIs very easily."

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

"We are able to go to market very quickly and deploy our functionalities very quickly."

"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."

"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."

More Layer7 API Management pros

Cons

"One thing about API Connect that could be improved is the security schemes. There are so many security schemes, and from a product perspective, IBM could improve the user experience of the configuration security scheme."

"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."

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

"The documentation needs to be a bit better."

"The new version is very unstable."

"In terms of what needs improvement, some of the product documentation could be better."

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

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

More IBM API Connect cons

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

"One area where it certainly needs to improve is the way it allocates requests, in terms of rate limiting. Also, there is no native Kafka connectivity."

"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."

"The Portal is not stable."

"I would like for the new release to allow us to speed up code generation. The integration with CICD could also be more seamless."

"feel like Apigee's API product is more interactive. You can drag and drop with those, but it's a little more difficult in Layer7. It's less user-friendly compared to that Apigee product."

"Layer7 API Management should give a clear roadmap of the product and where it is going, and they should not change the underlying layers."

More Layer7 API Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"I do not have experience with the pricing or licensing of the product."

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

"Our customers found the product’s cost a little higher. They are looking for open-source solutions."

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

"The product is moderately priced."

"Layer7 API Management is cheaper than Apigee."

"I think it's competitive. It's not that expensive when you compare CA with the Oracle product."

"If the CA pricing for API management would be a little lower, they would be able to cover a broader market."

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

20%

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

14%

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.

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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...

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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.

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What do you like most about Layer7 API Management?

The solution's technical support is good.

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

Licenses are required to operate the product, but I don't know much about the validity periods attached to it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?

Layer7 API Management should have more stability towards the operating system. I think we were planning to go to version 11, and then Layer7 API Management said you need to move from CentOS to some...

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 7% 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

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 16% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 11% of the time

3scale API Management vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 2% of the time

More Layer7 API Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

October 2024

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management

October 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

October 2024

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: October 2024.

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