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IBM API Connect vs Microsoft Azure API Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)
Microsoft Azure API Management
Ranking in API Management
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
76
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 Microsoft Azure API Management is 20.9%, up from 20.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Allan Møller - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 12, 2024
Transforms internal APIs with secure, manageable cloud compatibility
Our primary use case for Microsoft Azure API Management is to front internal APIs and make them cloud-compatible. It adds extra authentication on top of old APIs and acts as a proxy towards internal APIs, providing a single endpoint that can manage multiple APIs behind it. This is particularly…

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."
"It is a complete all-in-one solution."
"What's best about IBM API Connect is the excellent administration. The development tool that builds the API is also very simple, and user-friendly, and it doesn't consume too much time. Another valuable feature in IBM API Connect is its good reporting feature, particularly for operations, but the most valuable feature of the solution for the customer is security. IBM API Connect provides a DMZ and a security gateway between the external and internal environment, so you can publish your API safely. IBM API Connect can also integrate with any tool or middleware that works on open standards without the need for development or coding, so integration with the solution is easier."
"API Connect is a very good platform for the development of APIs."
"Its speed and performance are valuable."
"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."
"It is easy to use and stable."
"This is a very easy to use solution."
"Azure API Management is an API gateway that can be used for different purposes, for example, to monetize APIs."
"I like the stability and the ease of use."
"The solution is reliable and very stable."
"I like API Management's sandbox feature. It's an environment where you can test out the API before putting it into production and connecting it to a live environment."
"Azure API is scalable."
"Ease of integration into the entire Microsoft environment."
"Most of the features are valuable to me."
"The solution has significantly improved our organization by providing a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy API management system."
 

Cons

"The developmental process is not quite user-friendly."
"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 automation and the simplicity could be improved."
"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 monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."
"Extracting the data could be improved."
"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."
"The external policies are impossible to look at and configure."
"If I compare this solution to others I have used in other phases of my life, having APIM being an Azure resource, it is easy to configure and deploy. However, this conversely reduced the flexibility. The difficulty is how do we configure it in a manner that a larger enterprise would probably want it to be. This creates a bit more complexity, working around the constraints of the resource itself. If comparing it to other solutions, it is more of a legacy design with an older approach. The various level components are still around resembling an on-premise type of design similar to other solutions, such as Apigee or Mulesoft. They are still predominantly carrying some legacy design. Which might be suited for organizations where they have a more complex network layout. APIM is easy to deploy, but on the other side of that, it is constrained to how Azure has designed it to be."
"From my understanding, there are some constraints around governance and service-to-service intercommunication managing priorities and our own governance."
"Other products have more customization options."
"Microsoft Azure API Management needs to improve stability."
"The solution’s security and performance could be improved."
"The cloud deployment performance could be better."
"I could that the UI could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"It should be cheaper. It has a yearly licensing."
"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."
"The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."
"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."
"API Connect is quite pricey."
"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'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."
"The price is comparable."
"The price of the solution is reasonable compared to others."
"Because of our partner relationship, our pricing is pretty decent. But in general, if I compare pricing, I think the initial offer that we got from Microsoft until the relationship kicked in was more expensive than AWS. There were some unexpected expenses because we had to pause. This was due to our inexperience and because we were doing this significant public cloud migration for the first time. We were using SAP on a public cloud for the first time."
"The solution appears cheaper because it's a cloud SaaS model."
"Compared to other solutions the cost is a seven out of ten."
"It costs around 30,000 Kronas a month, which translates to about $3,000 dollars monthly."
"I would describe the tool's price as being in the mid-range category."
"Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
20%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
 

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.
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...
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.
How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?
Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a cloud-based solution. Both solutions are easy to use. Apigee allows for the ability...
Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure API Management?
Microsoft Azure API Management is a good, comprehensive solution for enterprise implementation.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure API Management, MS Azure API Management
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH, Opensistemas
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.