IBM DataPower Gateway vs Red Hat Fuse comparison

IBM and Red Hat are both solutions in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.6, while Red Hat is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.8. IBM holds a 6.0% mindshare in E, compared to Red Hat’s 8.4% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

IBM DataPower Gateway

Read 29 IBM DataPower Gateway reviews

1,373 Views
1,048 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Red Hat Fuse

Read 23 Red Hat Fuse reviews

2,852 Views
1,469 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM DataPower Gateway

Red Hat Fuse

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM DataPower Gateway and Red Hat Fuse based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Red Hat Fuse Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Red Hat Fuse

January 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)

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (9th), SOA Application Gateways (1st), API Management (11th)

Red Hat Fuse

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 6.0%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Fuse is 8.4%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Featured Reviews

Mehdi El Filahi

Co-Founder at tenekit

Security features meets compliance needs and offers MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) that simplifies integration efforts

While I like IBM products, I'm not an evangelist. I work with Java, Microsoft ASP.NET, and various technologies. I'm not tied to any specific vendor. However, I do find IBM to be a bit greedy. It's a large, profit-driven company. The support team is mostly based in India, and they follow a very structured process and protocol. Sometimes, it feels like playing ping pong with them – lots of back and forth before the problem gets escalated. You might even have to get your sales rep involved to push things along. For me, the support it could be better. Indian support teams aren't inherently bad, but with IBM, it feels impersonal. They respond, sure. But if it's a complex technical issue, they might ask you a lot of questions that just seem designed to waste your time. Sometimes it feels like they hope you'll get frustrated and solve the problem yourself.

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AwaisOmer

Developer at Torei Consulting

The cheapest solution but the learning curve is steep

Red Hat has the latest, cutting-edge features, but the learning curve is difficult due to its configurations. For the client, it has a good cost, but for developers, it is a bit of a grind. If a new company is doing Red Hat Fuse development for the first time, there is a bit of a learning curve. They will need to spend time on getting some things ready. As its learning curve is quite steep, developer dependency will always be there in the case of a Red Hat Fuse development. This should be improved for developers. There should be some built-in connectors so the grind of the developer can be reduced. Developers for Red Hat Fuse are scarce all over the world and the community is not well-built. That can be a problem for big companies.

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

"The API Connect gateway service and the SQL injection feature is good."

"If you have an API application in your organization that you want to make safe and secure, in addition to your existing WAF or load balancer, this product comes with all those capabilities:"

"I like the API Gateway feature."

"The product is stable...The product is scalable."

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

"The solution is robust."

"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."

"I like the API Gateway feature."

More IBM DataPower Gateway pros

"The initial setup process is quite straightforward."

"We usually had used PowerCenter for master data integration (by replication). But in some cases, it was better to use Fuse for providing the master data online. It doesn't make it necessary to replicate data."

"The process workflow, where we can orchestrate and design the application by defining different routes, is really useful."

"What I like about Red Hat Fuse is that it's a well-established integration software. I find all aspects of the tool positive."

"The most valuable feature is the software development environment."

"With a premium, one can get support 24 hours."

"This solution's adaptability to our use case has helped us integrate our systems seamlessly."

"Red Hat Fuse's best features are that it's very easy to set up and maintain."

More Red Hat Fuse pros

Cons

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

"Traceability could be improved, especially for business operations. The traceability of the transactions could be an improvement point for DataPower to work on. It would be better if they provided JSON support. JSON protocol data has changed format. It started performing internal transformation to JSONx. This might be an additional complexity."

"The product should be more adapted to the DevOps process."

"Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement."

"I would like the tool to improve its training."

"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."

"Some pre-packaged connectors for integration with various applications, such as SaaS offerings, would be a useful addition."

More IBM DataPower Gateway cons

"In the next release, I'd like more stability and more security overall."

"The solution will be discontinued in 2024."

"The stability of the solution is an area with a shortcoming that needs to be improved."

"I don't know the product last versions. I know they are migrating a microservices concepts. We still didn't get there... but we are in the process."

"Red Hat Fuse doesn't have a lot of administrative control like other applications."

"The monitoring experience should be better."

"What needs to be improved in Red Hat Fuse is on the development side because when you use it for development purposes, it lacks a user interface compared to what MuleSoft has, so it's a bit difficult for users."

"The documentation for Fuse can be improved because, while it is very detailed and extensive, it is not too intuitive for someone that has to deliver some kind of troubleshooting services. In particular, for installation, re-installation, or upgrades, I find that the documentation can be improved."

More Red Hat Fuse cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The licensing cost is very expensive."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"The product is expensive."

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

More IBM DataPower Gateway pricing and cost advice

"Pricing has been something that we have been working with Red Hat on, year over year. We have preferred pricing with the university because we are involved in education and research."

"My company pays for the license of Red Hat Fuse yearly. At the end of the day, it's a low-cost solution, and its support licenses are still very decently priced versus bigger operators such as IBM, etc. Red Hat Fuse is much more affordable than other solutions. On a scale of one to five, with one being cheap and five being extremely expensive, I'm rating its pricing a one."

"In terms of pricing, Red Hat Fuse is a bit expensive because nowadays, if I'm just comparing it with OpenShift with Kubernetes, so Kubernetes and OpenShift, are similar, and Kubernetes is open source, so Red Hat Fuse is quite expensive in terms of support, but Red Hat Fuse provides value for money because it provides good support. If you want to get something, you need to pay for it."

"This is an expensive product. It costs a lot and although it's worth the money, the explanations that we need to give to our top executives are highly complicated."

"You need to pay for the license. It's not free."

"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."

"We found other solutions were more costly."

"The most important feature of Fuse is the cost. It is open source and a cheap option for an ESB. So, most of the clients in the Middle East and Asian countries prefer this ESB. Other ESBs, like MuleSoft and IBM API Connect, are pretty expensive. Because it is open source, Red Hat Fuse is the cheapest solution, providing almost every integration capability."

More Red Hat Fuse pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

31%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being high price, and ten being low price. It's high-priced for smaller companies. But it is okay for enterprises. So, the price could be more fl...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?

The price could be more flexible for different clients.

See all answers

What do you like most about Red Hat Fuse?

The process workflow, where we can orchestrate and design the application by defining different routes, is really useful.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Fuse?

You need to pay for the license. It's not free. I'm not aware of the exact prices. There are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing since it is a subscription-based solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Red Hat Fuse?

I haven't experienced the online part of Red Hat Fuse. Red Hat Fuse doesn't have a lot of administrative control like other applications. Using administrative control, the operational user can view...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM API Connect vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 34% of the time

Apigee vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 9% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 6% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM DataPower Gateway

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM DataPower Gateway Competitors

Mule ESB vs Red Hat Fuse

Compared 26% of the time

IBM Integration Bus vs Red Hat Fuse

Compared 22% of the time

Oracle Service Bus vs Red Hat Fuse

Compared 20% of the time

JBoss ESB vs Red Hat Fuse

Compared 9% of the time

WSO2 Enterprise Integrator vs Red Hat Fuse

Compared 9% of the time

More Red Hat Fuse Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway

January 2025

Download IBM DataPower Gateway product report

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Fuse

January 2025

Download Red Hat Fuse product report

Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower

Fuse ESB, FuseSource

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

Red Hat JBoss Fuse is a lightweight, flexible integration platform that enables rapid integration across the extended enterprise - on-premise or in the cloud. JBoss Fuse includes modular integration capabilities, an enterprise service bus (ESB), to unlock information.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity

Avianca, American Product Distributors (APD), Kings College Hospital, AMD, CenturyLink, AECOM, E*TRADE

Buyer's Guide

IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Red Hat Fuse

January 2025

Free Report: IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Red Hat Fuse

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Red Hat Fuse and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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