IBM App Connect vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform comparison

IBM and Salesforce are both solutions in the Cloud Data Integration category. IBM is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.2, while Salesforce is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1. IBM holds a 4.7% mindshare in CDI, compared to Salesforce’s 6.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

IBM App Connect

Read 24 IBM App Connect reviews

1,711 Views
980 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Read 58 MuleSoft Anypoint Platform reviews

2,956 Views
1,925 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IBM App Connect

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and IBM App Connect compete in the integration solution category. MuleSoft appears to have an advantage due to its comprehensive integration options and ease of use.

Features: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform offers a powerful combination of API management, iPaaS, and a solid ESB, allowing for efficient API and microservices management. It includes over 200 connectors and provides rapid API development and cloud deployment support. IBM App Connect is recognized for its strong security, scalability, and extensive integration with IBM products, offering many connectors that simplify integration tasks.

Room for Improvement: MuleSoft could enhance its batch processing component, accelerate its feature release cycle, and improve pricing models. Simplifying initial setup and documentation could also benefit smaller organizations. IBM App Connect should focus on improving its user interface, container installation process, event streaming support, and logging and CI/CD capabilities. Enhancing integration with external systems and user experience is also recommended.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform supports flexible deployment across public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises environments, but users desire better response times. IBM App Connect is primarily on-premises with hybrid and cloud options, providing customer service praised for its responsiveness even if its deployment options are less varied.

Pricing and ROI: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is seen as expensive but provides significant value with its API-led model, offering strong ROI, especially for large enterprises. Its pricing structure can be complex for smaller firms. IBM App Connect also has a high cost justified by reliability, priced based on containers, delivering strong ROI for enterprise-level deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

April 2025

Download the complete report

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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

7.2

IBM App Connect enhances ROI and operational efficiency with integration, requiring skilled personnel for optimal long-term benefits.

Sentiment score

7.2

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform reduces TCO, simplifies integration, and offers high ROI, though pricing may challenge smaller companies.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

IBM App Connect's customer support is mostly praised, with effective escalation, though first-tier and onsite assistance require improvement.

Sentiment score

6.8

Users praise MuleSoft's responsive support but suggest documentation and response time improvements; satisfaction varies with support levels.

The technical support from IBM is good.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at Wipro Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

The Salesforce team offers different levels of support.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

The support team is responsive and helpful.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.4

IBM App Connect is praised for scalability and flexibility, despite some challenges with Hypervisor Edition and XML payload sizes.

Sentiment score

7.6

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is highly flexible and scalable but faces challenges with file sizes and scaling costs.

I would rate the scalability of IBM App Connect as nine out of ten.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at Wipro Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is quite scalable, and it meets our use cases with no issues preventing implementation.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

MuleSoft provides the ability to scale, yet it is costly to do so.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

IBM App Connect is praised for stability, with rare issues quickly resolved, maintaining high user satisfaction and performance.

Sentiment score

7.9

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform shows improved stability, minimal issues, and high reliability with optimized resource management in cloud environments.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Room For Improvement

IBM App Connect needs better logging, support, connectors, UI, command line integration, and simpler installation to address user concerns.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform needs enhancements in processing, support, integration, and user interface for improved efficiency and usability.

I find it particularly good for on-premises and now cloud use.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at Wipro Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

Currently, it uses other standards, but adopting OpenAPI, the standard in the market, would be beneficial.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

When dealing with multiple transactions or trading, the system can lose control, and tracking becomes hectic.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

MuleSoft is considered expensive, so pricing is a major concern.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Setup Cost

IBM App Connect pricing is high, dependent on volume and status, yet offers flexibility and quality justifying its cost.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform's pricing is complex and high, potentially deterring smaller organizations despite offering enterprise support.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

I do not know the specific costs, but given that it is part of MuleSoft, I suspect it is not cheap.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

MuleSoft is considered one of the more expensive products in the market.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

The platform reduces manual workload in maintaining infrastructure, but it does come with some cost considerations.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Valuable Features

IBM App Connect offers user-friendly integration with minimal coding, scalability, and security, supporting complex environments and efficient automation.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform excels with API management, integration features, a user-friendly interface, and robust data management capabilities.

The features I find most valuable are message routing, message transformation, and protocol translation.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at Wipro Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM App Connect report

The most valuable feature is the full lifecycle management, including Anypoint Designer and Exchange, as well as Discofolio API.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform helps to standardize data integration approaches, making it easier to implement integration projects.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The platform is integrated with Salesforce, making it preferable when using Salesforce products.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Categories and Ranking

IBM App Connect

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Message Queue (MQ) Software (4th), Business-to-Business Middleware (1st), Workload Automation (8th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Cloud Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM App Connect is 4.7%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is 6.7%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Mehdi El Filahi

Co-Founder at tenekit

Offers flexible adapters, good scalability but logging can be difficult at times

There is room for improvement in the logging messages. Sometimes, if you put someone new into App Connect, they can abandon it the same day. The logging is really painful. However, IBM has made efforts to integrate with Elasticsearch for logging, so that's an improvement. Overall, the logging can be difficult at times. One more important point is that if IBM improves its CI/CD capabilities, it will make a big difference. Right now, I have to create my own CI/CD setup from scratch for every client, which is inefficient. Back in 2013, I worked with Sonic ESB, and even then, it had CI/CD with Maven. With App Connect, you need to build everything yourself when using tools like Jenkins, Bamboo, or CircleCI. IBM really needs to provide official support for this.

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Vijay Subramanyam

Delivery Head at cblsolutions

Robust, reliable, and stable, ensuring high availability for critical integrations

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten; it is a highly scalable solution. We have around 200 end users using this solution in our company. We use it to its maximum capacity. However, it's not for P1 applications, but definitely for severity two cases (P2 level). It integrates critical applications, but it's not a platform that, if it stops, the entire system would come down. So, it's more like a severity two level. However, it has the potential to eventually become a P1 platform. Not exactly P1 applications, but a P1 platform. Because now we are still in the transition to migrate everything, all the integrations to Mule Anypoint Platform. But once it's done, then this platform becomes critical. Because even now, we have point-to-point connections.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

50%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM App Connect?

I like the adapters. The adapters help us achieve scalability. If you want to connect to SAP, there's an adapter. Salesforce? There's an adapter. You want to connect to another system? There's like...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM App Connect?

IBM App Connect's pricing is high compared to other products.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM App Connect?

Our company has a big project for delivery and e-commerce sites. We use IBM App Connect to deliver information to our end users after they buy our products. We get information from many places, suc...

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What advice do you have for others considering Mule Anypoint Platform?

I architected solutions using Oracle SOA/OSB, Spring Boot, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform on cloud / on-premises and hybrid modes; What I see is though if you are an enterprise and have enough money th...

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How does TIBCO BusinessWorks compare with Mule Anypoint Platform?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether TIBCO BusinessWorks or Mule Anypoint platform integration and connectivity software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Mule...

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What can Mule Anypoint Platform be used for and what do you use it for most often?

This is a very flexible solution that comes with multiple uses. My organization mostly uses Mule Anypoint Platform for API management, as it lets us build new APIs easily and design new interfaces...

See all answers

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

ActiveMQ vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect

April 2025

Download IBM App Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

March 2025

Download MuleSoft Anypoint Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM Cast Iron

Data Integrator, Anypoint MQ

Overview

Rapidly connect public clouds, private clouds and on-premises application

App Connect Professional is IBM’s cloud integration offering which delivers an integration solution
• With ease-of-use, flexibility and increased responsiveness to the evolving business needs, while removing the daunting complexities of integration.
• Provides the powerful combination of a ‘simple integration experience’ for business users looking to automate how their applications talk to each other; coupled with a ‘configuration based integration’ approach for IT.
• App Connect Professional is for the teams and integration developers who need to solve more complex problems and need powerful tooling for integration scenarios

IBM

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is used for integration and API management, connecting enterprise applications across retail, e-commerce, and supply chain. It supports cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-on-premises scenarios with real-time and asynchronous messaging.

Users leverage MuleSoft Anypoint Platform for diverse integrations including cloud-based and on-premises, enabling data transformations, middleware functions, and hybrid integrations. It seamlessly connects systems like SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle, facilitating data transfers and integrating legacy systems. The platform offers a graphic interface, quick implementation, and a variety of connectors, contributing to its popularity for robust and scalable solutions. Despite its strengths, users seek better technical support, more connectors, simplified runtime management, and improved documentation.

What are the key features of MuleSoft Anypoint Platform?

Marketplace for integration platforms: Provides pre-built connectors and templates.
API management: Efficient management and monitoring of APIs.
Graphic interface: User-friendly design for ease of use.
Monitoring capabilities: Comprehensive monitoring and observability features.
Quick implementation: Rapid deployment of integrations and APIs.
Pre-built templates: Ready-to-use templates for common integrations.
Stability and performance: Reliable and high-performing platform.
Data transformation with DataWeave: Powerful tool for data mapping and transformation.
Support for hybrid deployments: Flexibility to integrate cloud and on-premises systems.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Increased connectivity: Seamless integration of multiple systems.
Operational efficiency: Streamlined processes and data flows.
Scalability: Ability to grow with business needs.
Cost savings: Reduced development time with pre-built components.
Enhanced visibility: Improved monitoring and management of integrations.

Enterprises in retail, e-commerce, and supply chain implement MuleSoft Anypoint Platform to connect various applications and systems. It supports real-time messaging for inventory management, synchronizes customer data across platforms, and integrates with legacy systems for smooth data migration. Users benefit from quick deployments and a marketplace that accelerates integration projects.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

United Way of Allegheny County, Saint-Gobain CPS, Ricoh, SunTrust Banks Inc.

VMware, Gucci, MasterCard, Target, Time Inc, Hershey's, Tesla, Spotify, Office Depot, Intuit, CBS, Amtrak, Salesforce, Gap, Ralph Lauren

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

April 2025

Free Report: IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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