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IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 WebSphere Message Broker
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (11th)
TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
12
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 WebSphere Message Broker is 4.0%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus is 4.6%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
 

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
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 Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore.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.
Mustofa Yonus - PeerSpot reviewer
A robust product that needs to improve the functionality it offers related to API lifecycle management
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a six to seven out of ten. My company consists of around 7000 employees, and we use the solution as an integrated service in around 300 to 400 systems, both internally and externally, making it a huge number. Our company uses the solution every minute and every second, and we can't function without it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."
"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."
"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."
"Performance-wise, this solution is really good."
"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"
"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."
"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a service-oriented architecture, SOA-based."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that the performance is robust."
"The technology is really easy to learn."
"It's very stable and reliable."
"TIBCO has the platform in terms of speed and ease of use."
"It is easy to develop. It has a very wide range of features. The older versions are very stable, and there are no issues with the product."
"The most valuable features are the monitoring, ease of use, and easy to understand development GUI."
"The stability of this solution is excellent."
 

Cons

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."
"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."
"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."
"It is currently a weighty product."
"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."
"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."
"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."
"The initial setup process could be easier."
"Migration to cloud solutions or products should be made convenient, transparent, and easily understandable."
"We'd like to see improvements in product support."
"In the next release, there should be improvements made to the API manager."
"Our version does not have cloud capabilities."
"The intermediate version that we are using has stability issues. These stability issues should be resolved, but it seems like TIBCO is not focusing on resolving these issues. The resolution timelines are quite high even for high-priority incidents. Its price should be lower. Its licensing cost is considerably high as compared to other ESBs."
"The stability of their latest version is not on par with their classic version 5.X."
"The solution is very expensive when you use multiple components, it would b better if this could be reduced."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is more expensive than competing products."
"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."
"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"
"The biggest issue disadvantage of TIBCO is that it is expensive."
"Price-wise, I would say that the product is expensive."
"Its licensing cost is considerably high as compared to other ESBs."
"The licensing cost is a challenge for quite a few customers."
"When it comes to cost, TIBCO is much more competitive than a product like Pega."
"The price is on the higher side. For the same price, if I go to the previous version, I would have got a lot more capacity with similar kinds of features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that the performance is robust.
What needs improvement with TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus?
I don't like the product's API management platform, as it doesn't offer users enough functionality to help with API lifecycle management, making it a product that is way behind its competitors. The...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker
ActiveMatrix Service Bus
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire
Colonial Life, CTBC Bank, New World Mobility, QUALCOMM, Swisscom Mobile, T-Mobile USA, Tata Teleservices, Telecom Italia
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.