IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker comparison

IBM DataPower Gateway and IBM WebSphere Message Broker are both solutions in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category. IBM DataPower Gateway is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.2, while IBM WebSphere Message Broker is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM DataPower Gateway holds a 5.9% mindshare in E, compared to IBM WebSphere Message Broker’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM DataPower Gateway users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of IBM WebSphere Message Broker users who would recommend it.

IBM DataPower Gateway

Read 31 IBM DataPower Gateway reviews

5,122 Views
820 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

971 Views
689 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

IBM DataPower Gateway

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

IBM DataPower Gateway and IBM WebSphere Message Broker compete in providing robust integration capabilities. IBM WebSphere Message Broker appears to have an advantage due to its comprehensive features that deliver greater value despite its complexity.

Features: IBM DataPower Gateway provides strong security capabilities, efficient XML processing, and seamless API management. IBM WebSphere Message Broker offers comprehensive application connectivity, advanced message routing, and efficient protocol transformations.

Room for Improvement: DataPower could improve in protocol support, configuration flexibility, and user interface enhancements. Message Broker could benefit from simplified deployment processes, enhanced user-friendly interfaces, and faster turnaround times for new features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM DataPower Gateway offers streamlined deployment and responsive customer service, preferred for ease of implementation. IBM WebSphere Message Broker, while complex to deploy, provides versatile deployment options with customer service that rivals DataPower.

Pricing and ROI: IBM DataPower Gateway has a lower initial setup cost, offering a solid ROI with efficient integration solutions. IBM WebSphere Message Broker requires a higher initial investment, but its extensive features and robust performance justify the expenditure, delivering substantial ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker

December 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM DataPower Gateway

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

5th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SOA Application Gateways (1st), API Management (11th)

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

9th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

17th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 5.9%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 4.8%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM DataPower Gateway	5.9%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker	4.8%
Other	89.3%

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Featured Reviews

AkshaySawant

Manager at CSB Bank Ltd

Security features excel but development limitations emerge

We are using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes. As per the development perspective, there are some limitations with IBM DataPower Gateway because it only supports XML and XSLT language, but it does not support the Java language. This is the only limitation of the IBM DataPower Gateway. For the authentication and authorization purpose, we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. It's a very good product. We are mostly using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes and load balancing purposes. If we are handling the load for a particular server, then we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. The IBM DataPower Gateway is mostly used for security purposes. If we have some APIs and we are using some security for those APIs, then we can use it. It can also be used as a load balancer. It's also used for certificate management, user management purposes, authentication, and authorization. For routing, the IBM DataPower Gateway has multiple URL-based routing and content-based routing capabilities. If we have multiple URLs, then we can use an XML script. Using the XSLT language, we can configure multiple URLs and implement URL-based routing. Content-based routing means if we have multiple requests, we can route the request to a particular URL. For this, we need to use the XSLT language only. We can't use XML, Java, or other scripting languages. With IBM DataPower Gateway, we are using all the APIs. All APIs have been configured on the gateway. We have configured the particular TLS profile and some TLS client profiles as well. Using that TLS profile, we have configured the APIs and authentication. We have configured some tokens also, including JWT tokens and different types of auth tokens. There is also a rate limiting feature which we use for handling API loads.

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BrajendraKumar

Technical Architect at HCL Technologies

Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability

I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.

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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

"The most valuable feature is the security appliance, it's very secure."

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"It is very easy to set up and configure, even for users with no prior experience."

"It can look for the various security threats, productions, payload scanning, and perform routing based on the content type."

"The solution is straightforward and for large organizations, it functions well."

"I like the API Gateway feature."

"My company has a good impression of IBM DataPower Gateway. What I like about it is that because it's an appliance, it's a turnkey solution that's very fast and out of the box. Compared to other gateways, I also like that IBM DataPower Gateway is function-rich. For example, for one of the projects, there was a need for specific transformation and security features available in IBM DataPower Gateway out of the box, so my team just needed to configure the appliance. There was no need for separate development, and I found it quite neat. Another valuable feature of IBM DataPower Gateway is that it's easy to integrate with other products."

"The product's most valuable features are AAA policies and security features."

More IBM DataPower Gateway pros

"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."

"Message Broker is valuable because most of the applications are using MQ. Even in my current engagement, the few applications which I audit to onboard the bank are using MQ."

"The solution has good integration."

"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."

"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"

"Performance-wise, this solution is really good."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

Cons

"The IBM community does not have much engagement from the IT community in Saudi Arabia and developers for this solution are difficult to find."

"Small and medium-sized companies might look for cloud-hosted applications due to the cost."

"The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively."

"IBM DataPower Gateway is quite big for smaller organizations, looking at different types of clients who are virtually assisted in this, I would say it's not really a good product for smaller firms."

"An area for improvement in IBM DataPower Gateway is its price point because it's a relatively expensive product. Sometimes, when the customer use case is just a very small subset of what's being offered in IBM DataPower Gateway, then the product can be expensive, making my company lose some of the opportunities because of the expensive pricing. A lower price point for IBM DataPower Gateway, even if that results in a less feature-rich version, would be appreciated. In terms of additional features that I'd like to see in the next release of IBM DataPower Gateway, nothing specific comes to mind because IBM constantly improves its standards and provides quarterly updates to the product, so it's quite fine."

"The user interface or the application development perspective and customization of the tool could be a little better."

"In the next release, I would like to see the product price reduced. It should be cheaper."

"Scripting needs improvement. It's hard for our customers."

More IBM DataPower Gateway cons

"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."

"I know that Message Broker was a very tightly copied product with another IBM product, that is, IBM MQ. I would like to have a little bit more decoupling from the IBM MQ because it should not be a prerequisite for IBM WebSphere Message Broker usage."

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."

"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."

"It is currently a weighty product."

"The product's features are not being upgraded or enhanced by the vendor"

"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

"The installation configuration is quite difficult."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As far as I know, they have a perpetual license for this product. They are paying perpetual fees rather than an annual subscription or annual pricing."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The product is expensive."

"The solution is expensive in comparison to other products."

"The tool's initial costing is expensive for small banks and financial institutions."

"The appliance is a bit on the expensive side for the workloads that are not too high."

"It's expensive when you compare it with others."

"The solution has a return on investment but is a little expensive."

More IBM DataPower Gateway pricing and cost advice

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"The solution is expensive."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

29%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	17

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM DataPower Gateway?

The MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) is great because it allows you to easily expose services using various protocols – web services, REST (JSON), and others. This flexibility simplifies things.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?

This product is definitely expensive because if any issue occurs in the live environment or production environment, and our organization faces some issue with the IBM DataPower Gateway, then the IB...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?

The developer portal should be an integrated part of IBM DataPower Gateway to improve it. I think it is fine as is, and maybe no other additional features should be included in the next release. My...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM API Connect vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 40% of the time

Apigee vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 7% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM DataPower Gateway Competitors

IBM Integration Bus vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 24% of the time

webMethods.io vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 14% of the time

Mule ESB vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 12% of the time

IIS vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 10% of the time

IBM WebSphere Integration Developer vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway

January 2026

Download IBM DataPower Gateway product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

January 2026

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower

WebSphere Message Broker

Overview

IBM DataPower Gateway is a robust, secure next-generation enterprise-grade single multichannel API gateway that supplies dynamic access, integration, control, and outstanding security. The solution is available in a broad range of workload capabilities, including application programming interface (API), service oriented architecture (SOA), B2B, cloud, web, and mobile. These dynamic capabilities ensure users are able to quickly increase the reach of an organization's critical IT resources to new channels, which will provide shareholders, team members, and clients with safe, secure access at all times.

DataPower Gateway is very flexible and is widely available in virtual, cloud, traditional, physical, Docker, and Linux form factors.

IBM DataPower Gateway Features

IBM DataPower Gateway has many value-added features. Some of these features are included below:

Control: The solution provides decision point authorization and authentication for all standards, including Lightweight Direct Access Protocol (LDAP) and Open Authorization (OAuth), which allow for better access control across an organization’s entire network.
DataPower dashboard: The dashboard is specifically designed to enhance performance and determine problematic processes. The solution provides intuitive real-time performance transparency to diagnose operational and performance anomalies and offer repair and restoration recommendations.
Enhanced messaging: Users are able to easily mediate messaging and protocols by incorporating the best of today’s traditional and modern application standards.
Integration: IBM DataPower Gateway offers super fast mainframe connectivity, database connectivity, transport protocol bridging, content-based routing, and any-to-any message transformation, ensuring secure and immediate connect service.

IBM DataPower Gateway Benefits

IBM DataPower Gateway provides many benefits. Some of those benefits include:

Flexibility: The solution is easy to use and configure and provides for a pleasant, intuitive overall user experience. The solution can immediately be used out of the box, which makes overall process management simple.
Protection: The solution provides sturdy continuous service protection and application performance using robust powerful routing and traffic control.
Security: The solution’s enterprise-grade De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) ready gateway enables users to enforce the desired runtime application security across all messaging protocols.
Profitability: The solution’s design ensures significant reduction of development costs in addition to the streamlining of overall operations. Users are able to achieve reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and experience a near-immediate ROI.

Reviews from Real Users

“My company has a good impression of IBM DataPower Gateway. What I like about it is that because it's an appliance, it's a turnkey solution that's very fast and out of the box. Another valuable feature of IBM DataPower Gateway is that it's easy to integrate with other products.”- Bálint T., Solution Manager at Intalion

“You don't have to have a separate DMC proxy because DataPower Gateway is an appliance and will take care of a lot of security features. These include data validations, encryption, as well as XML or any type of scripting or security threats that are present. From a security point of view, being an appliance in the DMC zone, IBM DataPower Gateway will take care of the entire security angle for the infrastructure.” - Sathyan K., Founder/Director at perfTech Solutions Pvt Ltd

IBM

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker

December 2025

Free Report: IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker

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