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IBM API Connect vs MuleSoft API Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
IBM API Connect enhances profitability and efficiency by reducing development time, improving security, and enabling seamless system integration.
Sentiment score
6.9
MuleSoft API Manager improves reusability and efficiency by automating processes, expediting development, and simplifying maintenance, enhancing organizational value.
Reducing development hours from eighty to four for an API was possible due to reusing existing scripts from DataPower.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM API Connect support is proactive and expert but variable in speed, with regional availability challenges noted by users.
Sentiment score
7.5
MuleSoft API Manager's support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though premium charges and priority confusion occasionally occur.
Support is excellent when it comes to APIC.
Our enterprise pays for a special success program, which provides priority support.
They can be slow in addressing security vulnerabilities.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM API Connect offers excellent scalability through on-premise and cloud solutions, supporting enterprise-level operations and customization features.
Sentiment score
7.1
MuleSoft API Manager is scalable and flexible, yet concerns exist about its cost, setup complexity, and hardware demands.
With container versions, scaling up or down the gateways deployed into pods is a two to three-minute task for the operations team.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM API Connect is generally stable and reliable, especially in government and banking, despite occasional upgrade issues.
Sentiment score
7.9
MuleSoft API Manager is reliable and stable, though it may face minor scaling issues with JMS or Kubernetes.
The runtime engine for the APIC Gateway is still a DataPower component, which has been stable in the industry for about fifteen years.
There was an issue when trying to implement a request-reply pattern using JMS, which was not functioning as expected despite being documented.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect needs better integration, automation, monitoring, documentation, and usability, facing issues in setup, costs, and support.
MuleSoft API Manager struggles with usability, integration, pricing, migration, and seeks improvements in security, automation, and scalability.
Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ.
Managing the cost of MuleSoft, particularly the billing model based on the number of active cores/threads, has been challenging.
Introducing features related to auto governance without manual effort would make the API Manager smarter and more efficient for enterprises with complex landscapes.
 

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect offers scalable solutions with high costs, suitable for large enterprises, available in SaaS and on-premise versions.
MuleSoft API Manager is often seen as costly, with pricing per core impacting expenses and necessitating growth planning.
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.
The cost for using MuleSoft is approximately $500,000 USD per year.
MuleSoft is typically more expensive compared to using Java or Spring Boot APIs hosted in containers.
 

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect excels with strong security, integration, usability, analytics, flexibility, and scalability, enhancing API management and monetization.
MuleSoft API Manager excels with robust development tools, security, scalability, integration, and analytics for efficient API management.
It offers significant development efficiency, reducing man-hours from eighty to four when creating APIs.
MuleSoft's ability to connect to third-party monitoring platforms like AWS, Datadog, and Elastic makes operational analysis more efficient.
It also enables us to create additional layers of authentication, like integrating external providers for OAuth, within reduced timelines.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)
MuleSoft API Manager
Ranking in API Management
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.4%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MuleSoft API Manager is 4.7%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Q&A Highlights

 

Featured Reviews

KavitaChavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Quite flexible and provides excellent performance for API gateway
The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive. In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.
Dipanjan_Nandi - PeerSpot reviewer
Valuable testing stubs and policy enforcement with room for better security and cost management
From an API management perspective, MuleSoft's API Manager is not as powerful as some other tools available. Features like monetization and advanced security, which are present in Apigee, are missing. I also want the API Manager to be used as a separate product apart from MuleSoft's other integration solutions. Additionally, the licensing cost is high, and many clients are looking to switch due to this.
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Answers from the Community

SM
Dec 2, 2022
Dec 2, 2022
MuleSoft Anypoint
See 2 answers
reviewer1315965 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 2, 2022
MuleSoft Anypoint
WK
Dec 2, 2022
Of those three: MuleSoft Anypoint. But, cost-friendly is another term, I would choose a different solution. We are happy with Gravitee.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
23%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
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?
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.
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 Kong Enterprise compare with Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager was designed with its users in mind. Though it is a reasonably complex piece of software, it is easy to install and upgrade. While there are different things that ...
How does Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager compare with Amazon API Gateway?
I have found that Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager is the best integration tool out there for API management. It is easy to implement and learn; it provides several options for deployment, (including ...
What do you like most about Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The most valuable features of the solution for securing APIs stem from the tool's ability to allow users to deploy policies.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Anypoint API Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Coca-Cola, Splunk, Citrix, UCSF, Vertu, State of Colorado, National Post, TiVo, Deakin, LLS, Oldcastle Precast, ParcelPoint, Justice Systems, Ube, Sumitomo Corporation, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Groupe Initiatives, Camelot, Panviva
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. MuleSoft API Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.