IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker comparison

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Download the complete report

Helped 892,868 peers since 2012

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)

4th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

SOA Application Gateways (1st), API Management (10th)

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

9th

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 5.1%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 5.0%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM DataPower Gateway	5.1%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker	5.0%
Other	89.9%

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.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its initial setup was straightforward."

"From a technical point of view, IBM DataPower Gateway performs quite well, so my team had no concerns at all in terms of performance, reliability, and stability."

"It is a scalable solution."

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

"I recommend this solution; it is a good security application and it incorporates integrations and the latest security controls that are available in the market."

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

"We are mostly using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes and load balancing purposes."

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

More IBM DataPower Gateway pros

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

"We are using three or four services in the backend for reformatting messages, and it is straightforward to use."

"This is a very reliable and stable solution that is used for a very large number of transactions."

"Before the cloud, it was very easy for us to build and it was quick to integrate."

"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."

"Setup is very easy; we had proper documentation for setup, so it didn't take much time, and setup takes a maximum of two or three hours and I can set up the complete application."

"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."

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

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

Cons

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

"IBM DataPower Gateway is a great solution but when based on utilizations in the different streams others feel that this is an expensive product for one simple use case."

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

"Additional documentation needs to be provided for complex automations."

"DataPower isn't the most user-friendly tool. It is not an easy tool to use. Some things could use better wizards to guide you through processes."

"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."

"The customization of the solution isn't as straightforward as we would like it to be."

"We are always looking for more features wherein it could be easily integrated with cloud applications. We are looking for either a cloud solution or a cloud integration option."

More IBM DataPower Gateway cons

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

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

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

"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."

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

"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."

"They are expensive and not worth the money we are spending on them."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is very high and requires all five components in the API management solution."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The licensing cost is very expensive."

"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."

"IBM DataPower Gateway is quite expensive to get resources to work on this product. If the price could be cheaper, I think that will make it a little bit better and easily accessible to smaller clients. Then it could compete with other solutions that are available in the market. There's a whole lot of other solutions available that work well and are cheaper than IBM's products."

"This product is a bit expensive as IBM products are costly assets. However, for enterprise customers it is a worthwhile investment."

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

"The cost of this product varies from customer to customer and the relationship with IBM, including how many offerings from IBM are already being used."

More IBM DataPower Gateway pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive."

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

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

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

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

"The solution is expensive."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

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

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

892,868 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

29%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

21%

Construction Company

13%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	18

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.

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

I don't know if the current licensing cost of IBM DataPower Gateway is high, but I think it's acceptable. I don't have any complaints about it.

What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?

I noticed that the Gateway Script libraries could be improved, as they are not covering everything I need.

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.

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...

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.

IBM API Connect vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Comparisons

Compared 30% of the time

Apigee vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 5% of the time

NGINX Plus vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 4% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 3% of the time

webMethods.io vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM DataPower Gateway Competitors

IBM Integration Bus vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 14% of the time

Mule ESB vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 10% of the time

webMethods.io vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 9% of the time

IIS vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 7% of the time

TIBCO ActiveSpaces vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker Competitors

Product Reports

IBM DataPower Gateway

Download IBM DataPower Gateway product report

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower

WebSphere Message Broker

Overview

IBM DataPower Gateway provides advanced security, multi-protocol transformation, and API management, ensuring appliance-based stability and performance. It supports enterprise-level traffic, facilitating seamless integration and deployment, though it may pose challenges in terms of pricing and user complexity.

IBM DataPower Gateway integrates as an enterprise service bus and API management platform, effectively securing APIs and managing authentication and authorization. Serving large banks and enterprises, it supports B2B transactions with data security and compliance, especially for sectors requiring GDPR adherence. Users benefit from high performance and stability, despite its premium cost and complex configuration needs. Cloud integration, user-friendliness enhancements, and improved documentation are areas where it can advance. It meets the demands of sectors like BFSI by protecting against security threats and supporting significant traffic volumes.

What are key features of IBM DataPower Gateway?

Advanced security functionalities: Comprehensive tools for authentication, authorization, and certificate management.
Multi-protocol transformation: Facilitates seamless conversions across different protocols.
Appliance-based stability: Provides a stable platform for handling enterprise traffic.
API management: Capable of managing APIs efficiently with rate-limiting and other controls.
Efficient troubleshooting tools: Streamlines issue resolution and system maintenance.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

High performance: Capable of handling large-scale enterprise traffic efficiently.
Easy integration and configuration: Simplifies connecting with existing systems.
Regulatory compliance: Supports adherence to regulations like GDPR.
Protects against security threats: Offers robust security measures for data protection.

IBM DataPower Gateway is prominent in industries requiring rigorous data security and efficient integration, such as BFSI. Large enterprises leverage it for B2B transactions, ensuring regulatory compliance and high-performance standards. It's also implemented in environments demanding robust API security and management.

IBM

IBM WebSphere Message Broker provides reliable data integration and effective management of diverse message formats. It excels in stability and scalability, supporting complex integration needs with ease, making it suitable for industries like banking and healthcare.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker is a robust tool for data integration, favored for its performance with large data volumes and its ability to handle protocol transformations. It features a graphical interface that simplifies development and deployment. Users find it effective for communication with legacy systems through diverse adaptors, while its support for publish-subscribe patterns and execution groups enhances scalability. However, some challenges include the need for improved flexibility in service creation, managing complex use cases, and integrating with cloud solutions. The high cost and need for better technical support are additional concerns.

What are the most important features of IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

Stability and Reliability: Ensures consistent data integration capabilities.
Diverse Adaptors: Supports communication with legacy systems.
Scalability: Facilitates scaling with execution groups and nodes.
Graphical Interface: Offers straightforward development and deployment.
Message Queuing and Publish-Subscribe: Adds value for diverse communication needs.

What benefits or ROI should be reviewed?

Enhanced Integration: Facilitates complex data routing and transformation.
Performance with Large Data: Efficient in handling high-volume data processing.
Application Connectivity: Bridges communication between diverse systems.
Protocol Management: Handles protocol transformations effectively.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker is widely implemented in banking and healthcare, playing a crucial role in connecting systems and developing integration flows. It helps organizations meet core business needs, often used for integrating core banking systems and handling tasks like pick and drop shipments. This tool helps maintain up-to-date standards in these industries.

IBM

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity

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

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. IBM WebSphere Message Broker