Layer7 API Management vs Microsoft Azure API Management comparison

Layer7 API Management vs. Microsoft Azure API Management

Download the complete report

Helped 831,158 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

Layer7 API Management

Ranking in API Management

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

111

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Azure API Management

Ranking in API Management

1st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 3.1%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure API Management is 20.5%, up from 20.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

Ronald D'Souza

Presales Consultant for CA Southern Africa at Hyperion Holding Pty Ltd

Has great drag-and-drop features and it requires minimal coding

I have mainly implemented using Layer 7 API Management. Some of the major challenges we were able to meet with a quick release to market methodology. Some of the tasks which we achieved for our customers were: 1. Translation service from SOAP to REST and vice versa. 2. API service to DB (Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, Snowflake, SAP HANA) -- Created Swagger APIs that were able to perform CRUD operation to the backend API mentioned above and provided routes to query and get data. 3. Integration with Payment gateway service providers to perform (transaction on behalf of the customer with third-party payment gateway service providers white labeled with our APIs ) -- Followed TMF standards for payment gateway integration with the Telcom world. 4. Orchestration of the API. Build multiple microservers and provided orchestration based on route, path, and data in the request and perform actions that would be communicated with multiple APIs and provide a single consolidated response. 5. Provided API-driven security (Oauth 2.0, JWT, SAML, Basic, and a variety of means) to access the API giving the developer the freedom to concentrate only on application/service/microservice and let the gateway handle the threat. 6. Seamless Mutual Authentication allowed good segregation between APIs in the DMZ and internal network.

Read full review

Rajiv Bala Balasubramanian

Specialist PCC at Danfoss

Efficiently manages and monetizes API

It is a scalable solution. You can add more computing power to your APM gateway. It also gives you the ability to have VNet integrations with your on-prem. It is one of the leading products in the API management space. It is not just software for users but software to handle requests. For example, for a B2C e-commerce store, all requests that users make from within the store pass through this API gateway. So it is defined by the number of requests to the API gateway, not by the number of actual users who use it. If you look at the number of requests, it would be a lot from all the different systems we have within Pampers.

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

"We have more than 50 applications in the backend. We monitor the infrastructure through a database monitoring tool. Our daily tasks involve working on P1 incidents, managing change requests, conducting patching updates, working on P2 tickets, backend server certificate renewals, etc."

"When I have used technical support they helped me a lot. Sometimes they took a long time to respond because we had very complex issues that we asked them for help with, but I think it is a very good service."

"The level of technical support is good."

"It has its own language, which make it possible to design and implement the complete flow using existing services and databases, and to create and aggregate fine-and coarse-grained APIs."

"It's a comprehensive tool that allows us to perform all the necessary tasks in one place."

"Mobile app capabilities is good for building mobile apps to consume developed APIs. Also, the API Portal capabilities are very nice, up to and including the ability to do monetization. Security features are exhaustive, with several adapters to all leading identity suites."

"The actual management of APIs is fundamental to us, as we're a heavy API user/provider. So, obviously, a centralised management platform is important."

"Has great drag-and-drop features and requires minimal coding."

More Layer7 API Management pros

"Azure API is scalable."

"We use Microsoft due to the stability of the company."

"Initial setup was quite easy."

"Microsoft Azure API Management serves as a gateway for all API management within our tech environment and is a basic part of our DevOps toolchain."

"Easy to integrate API management platform. It is a stable and scalable solution."

"Security is the top feature of Azure API Management."

"The UI management is very easy to use."

"It's a very robust tool. So you see that there is a developer portal which can be used by developer or the vendors as well. And other external partners to create keys and manage their own APIs. The other thing is that they have a lot of policies there are too many options within API. So I do the difficult to tell one, but probably I would say, like, proxy sorry. The policies is one of the thing wherein you can just configure the policies and modify the behavior of the APIs."

More Microsoft Azure API Management pros

Cons

"I would like for the new release to allow us to speed up code generation. The integration with CICD could also be more seamless."

"One area where it certainly needs to improve is the way it allocates requests, in terms of rate limiting. Also, there is no native Kafka connectivity."

"The only issue we have is that we have to buy an APM license separately for end-to-end monitoring."

"If they had different levels of support available then it would be easier to justify the costs."

"The solution should prioritize ease of use and align with the growing trend of cloud-native environments."

"The cloud-native architecture of the product needs improvement."

"CA double up portal is a pain. It is something that we are struggling with right now."

"The implementation of CA API Management was complex. It is a complicated solution. You have to know so much IT knowledge to do the implementation."

More Layer7 API Management cons

"It should be easier to integrate."

"If I compare this solution to others I have used in other phases of my life, having APIM being an Azure resource, it is easy to configure and deploy. However, this conversely reduced the flexibility. The difficulty is how do we configure it in a manner that a larger enterprise would probably want it to be. This creates a bit more complexity, working around the constraints of the resource itself. If comparing it to other solutions, it is more of a legacy design with an older approach. The various level components are still around resembling an on-premise type of design similar to other solutions, such as Apigee or Mulesoft. They are still predominantly carrying some legacy design. Which might be suited for organizations where they have a more complex network layout. APIM is easy to deploy, but on the other side of that, it is constrained to how Azure has designed it to be."

"Latency is an area that needs improvement, especially for multi-tenant applications."

"Azure API Management lacks integration capabilities seen in other tools."

"Azure API Management could be improved with better integration with all of Microsoft's tools."

"The solution’s security and performance could be improved."

"Microsoft Azure API Management could improve the documentation. The documentation feels like marketing information and not sufficient technical information. Your easiest option is to purchase services from a Microsoft partner and this is their marketing."

"Maybe the customization could be a bit better."

More Microsoft Azure API Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you do a TCO of more than five years, then you will see a big jump in costs for some vendors."

"Keep in mind the non-product licensing, e.g., if you opt not to use the embedded SQL."

"CA has great pricing for gateways, so negotiate with your sales team."

"Do not buy piecemeal."

"If the CA pricing for API management would be a little lower, they would be able to cover a broader market."

"We weren't comfortable with the pricing of licensing. It was slightly more expensive than its competitors."

"Pricing for Layer7 API Management is excellent, so it's an eight out of ten. The product is less expensive than other solutions. Layer7 API Management charges you based on the number of transactions, so the enterprise-level pricing my company got was excellent."

"There are some costs for maintenance that we are charged, but that seems fair because we get the support."

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

"Because of our partner relationship, our pricing is pretty decent. But in general, if I compare pricing, I think the initial offer that we got from Microsoft until the relationship kicked in was more expensive than AWS. There were some unexpected expenses because we had to pause. This was due to our inexperience and because we were doing this significant public cloud migration for the first time. We were using SAP on a public cloud for the first time."

"It's pay as you go. The subscription packages have room for different scales. It's calculated by the number of apps or computers you use. You do not have to use the enterprise subscription. These subscriptions have different pricing, so you can find one to meet your needs for scalability."

"This is an expensive solution."

"The licensing fees are expensive."

"Microsoft Azure is an expensive solution not for the large enterprises but for the medium and small."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."

"Compared to other solutions the cost is a seven out of ten."

"The product pricing is reasonable."

More Microsoft Azure API Management pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Layer7 API Management?

The solution's technical support is good.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Layer7 API Management?

The pricing is expensive compared to other products.

What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?

Layer7 API Management could be improved in its logging and alert mechanisms. Furthermore, although cloud deployment has been introduced, I am not familiar with all recent updates. In previous versi...

How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?

Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a cloud-based solution. Both solutions are easy to use. Apigee allows for the ability...

Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?

If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and ...

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure API Management?

Microsoft Azure API Management is a good, comprehensive solution for enterprise implementation.

Apigee vs Layer7 API Management

Comparisons

Compared 33% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 16% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 11% of the time

TIBCO Cloud API Management vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 5% of the time

More Layer7 API Management Competitors

Amazon API Gateway vs Microsoft Azure API Management

Compared 44% of the time

Apigee vs Microsoft Azure API Management

Compared 24% of the time

IBM API Connect vs Microsoft Azure API Management

Compared 5% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Microsoft Azure API Management

Compared 5% of the time

Apache APISIX vs Microsoft Azure API Management

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Azure API Management Competitors

Product Reports

Layer7 API Management

Download Layer7 API Management product report

Microsoft Azure API Management

Download Microsoft Azure API Management product report

Also Known As

CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway

Azure API Management, MS Azure API Management

Learn More

Broadcom

Microsoft

Overview

Layer7 API Management is a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to securely expose, manage, and monetize their APIs.

It provides features such as API gateway, developer portal, analytics, and security to ensure seamless integration and control over API traffic.

With Layer7 API Management, businesses can streamline their API operations and drive innovation.

Microsoft Azure API Management is essential for managing APIs, facilitating integration, and ensuring secure internal and external communication.

Organizations leverage Microsoft Azure API Management for seamless integration and effective API management. It supports microservices, legacy modernization, and platform orchestration in sectors like healthcare, telecom, and finance. Features such as developer portals and centralized libraries simplify usage. While it showcases strengths in hybrid cloud support and scalability, improvements are suggested in versioning and multi-tenancy.

What key features does it offer?

Integration with Microsoft services ensures robust access control and user-friendly deployment.
Developer portal and documentation improve usability and learning.
Hybrid cloud support offers seamless on-premise connectivity.
Scalability and security features are well-regarded.
Centralized API library simplifies management.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Facilitates API lifecycle management enhancing user experience.
Simplifies authentication and subscription models.
Enhances data exchange and real-time monitoring.
Streamlines API mapping and orchestration across platforms.
Promotes flexibility and transparency in system integration.

Microsoft Azure API Management aids modernization across healthcare, telecom, and financial services by enabling legacy system updates and facilitating smooth platform orchestration.

Sample Customers

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Oracle 4. Salesforce 5. SAP 6. Cisco 7. Dell 8. HP 9. Adobe 10. VMware 11. Accenture 12. Capgemini 13. Deloitte 14. PwC 15. Ernst & Young 16. Infosys 17. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) 18. Wipro 19. Cognizant 20. HCL Technologies 21. Tech Mahindra 22. Fujitsu 23. Hitachi 24. NEC 25. NTT Data 26. Ericsson 27. Nokia 28. Siemens 29. AT&T 30. Verizon 31. Vodafone 32. Orange

adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH, Opensistemas

Layer7 API Management vs. Microsoft Azure API Management