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IBM API Connect vs Workato comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 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
6.5
IBM API Connect enabled rapid microservices development, enhancing governance, security, and integration, yielding significant financial and operational benefits within two years.
Sentiment score
8.5
Workato streamlines integration, boosts productivity, enhances database management, allows developer focus, and yields significant ROI within a week.
In my experience, we have seen a return on investment, with results visible within a week.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM API Connect's support is generally good but varies in speed and effectiveness, depending on location and ticket severity.
Sentiment score
8.2
Workato's support is highly rated for responsiveness and effectiveness, though users want availability during Singapore working hours.
Whenever we faced issues with data volume, the support team helped us by suggesting solutions like breaking the data into chunks.
Workato's support is robust, featuring first and second-level support.
I reach out to the professional services team or customer success team for technical support, and they provide immediate responses.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM API Connect is praised for its high scalability and reliability, though customization and infrastructure costs may vary.
Sentiment score
6.1
Workato's cloud-based scalability and licensing flexibility generally meet user expectations, despite some limitations with high data volumes.
There are scalability limitations with Workato.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
IBM API Connect is generally stable and reliable, particularly in newer versions, with most users rating its stability highly.
Sentiment score
6.6
Workato is stable and reliable, but faces deployment issues and performance challenges under high data volumes.
During the initial data loads with large volumes, Workato was unable to handle the data effectively, which indicates stability issues under high loads.
To handle more than 50,000 records, I use scripting actions like Python or JavaScript to process large data in chunks.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect needs better microservices, documentation, monetization, setup, multi-cloud support, development, debugging, security, automation, hybrid cloud, and performance.
Workato needs enhancements in team collaboration, feature discoverability, global cloud presence, scalability, and transparency in licensing.
Workato struggles with scalability when handling high volumes of data, such as terabytes, requiring chunking for initial data loads.
One area for improvement is the CI/CD pipeline, which lacks a version control system similar to GitHub for easier deployment.
 

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect pricing is high, escalating in cloud deployments, with some users suggesting a 20-30% cost reduction.
Workato offers flexible pricing with options like subscriptions and recipe-based plans, tailored to enterprise needs and usage levels.
While the upfront cost is high due to task-based pricing, the cost is relatively low in terms of development because Workato provides necessary connectors for integration use cases.
 

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect offers a robust interface, enhanced security, seamless integration, and comprehensive management tools for efficient API lifecycle and performance.
Workato offers an intuitive no-code platform for quick app integration, saving time with drag-and-drop and pre-built connectors.
AI automation simplifies integration development by understanding requirements from prompts and creating the necessary automation.
It comes with pre-built connectors, eliminating the need to write APIs.
Development time is significantly reduced by its automation capabilities, which are beneficial for both SQL databases and APIs.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
API Management (5th)
Workato
Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 2.6%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Workato is 4.2%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
 

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.
Rohit Sircar - PeerSpot reviewer
Great automation and strong workflows useful for integration
The initial setup is quite straightforward. When connecting Workato with your on-premises system, you have to install the Workato agent on your network. It was not complex but a long process to configure and settle. Workato has not gone live for us yet, so only the developers are currently using it. But in terms of users, we will have close to 250 and maybe 30 additional direct users. We are seeing a lot of different use cases where we can add new recipes because we started small, and there are many different areas where we can implement Workato for automation.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solutions are best for your needs.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
23%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
36%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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.
What do you like most about Workato?
Workato is low code, intuitive, and easy to use.
What needs improvement with Workato?
The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI ( /categories/edi )) capabilities could be improved.
What is your primary use case for Workato?
I use Workato ( /products/workato-reviews ) as middleware for cloud integration within my organization. It is employed to integrate systems such as ERP ( /categories/erp ) and customer planning sys...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Panera Bread, Berkshire Hathaway, Salesforce, Box, Splunk, ComScore, IBM, Complex Media, Microsoft, Home Depot, Cisco, News Corp, Braille Institute
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Workato and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.