Layer7 API Management vs Tyk comparison

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Layer7 API Management

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Layer7 API Management and Tyk are strong competitors in the API management sector. Based on features, deployment, and pricing, Tyk appears to have the upper hand in flexibility and cost-effectiveness, while Layer7 excels in enterprise integration and support.

Features:Layer7 API Management is noted for its security protocols, enterprise-grade integration, and robust gateway functions. Tyk is praised for its open-source licensing, lightweight architecture, and rapid deployment capabilities.

Room for Improvement:Layer7 could enhance its user interface and reduce complexity in integrations. It might also benefit from a more competitive pricing model. Tyk might improve by enhancing its enterprise support options and expanding feature sets beyond the open-source framework. Additionally, Tyk has room to increase cloud support options for broader adoption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Layer7 offers a structured deployment model fit for complex enterprise environments, providing formalized support. Tyk supports multiple deployment options, including cloud-native, with community-driven support that is more agile and responsive.

Pricing and ROI:Layer7 involves substantial upfront costs due to its extensive enterprise features, which can result in a longer ROI. Tyk, with its open-source core and optional premium add-ons, usually has a lower initial cost and quicker ROI, appealing more to startups and mid-sized companies.

To learn more, read our detailed Layer7 API Management vs. Tyk Report (Updated: April 2025).

Layer7 API Management vs. Tyk

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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

Layer7 API Management

Ranking in API Management

11th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

112

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Tyk

Ranking in API Management

20th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 2.9%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tyk is 2.0%, up from 1.7% 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.

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MarkDoherty

Founding Director at Point Group

Fastest to get up and running and fewer idiosyncrasies than competitors

In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the considerations for what those enhancements and extensions are. So it could be slightly better communication with the customer base that would be my main issue with them. But as a product, it's very difficult to find any major faults.

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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 features of Layer7 API Management are integration, ease of use, building APIs easily, and portal straightforward."

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

"There are a couple aspects of performance. One is just speed and uptime, and it's stellar in that regard. The other is, how much effort is it to put it in place in the first place, and then how much effort is it to keep it operational. That's where its real strength is. I'm able to do things quickly and easily that I couldn't do before."

"The Mobile API Gateway is also great."

"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."

"Initial setup is straightforward. It is simple and easy to do."

"We definitely get good responses from the technical team and they are quite responsive."

"Some of the performance matrix that API Gateway gives off, we monitor them via SNMP traps, and then we tie them into our monitoring system. You can actually monitor some of the latencies and some of the performance aspects of both API Gateways, as well back end services. So having that line of sight surely helps in terms DevOps."

More Layer7 API Management pros

"The scalability is very good. That was a key factor in the selection, like how it could be pushed to high volume and scalability, which seemed to be very good."

"The most valuable feature is the load balancing with the circuit-breaker function."

"You can set up workflows and write limited pieces of logic."

"The feature I find most valuable is that this solution allows us to manage our security."

"It is a good product for API management."

"The portal for developers that this solution provides has great functionality."

Cons

"It would be nice if we could create APIs directly from Swagger files. We're doing that ourselves with a middle layer. But if you could integrate with open API Swagger specs, and then just create a Swagger and upload it to the gateway and it would create all my API template policy, and would apply the OAuth restrictions, the types of security restrictions I have on there, that would be pretty cool."

"On the monitoring side, we need a better way to monitor it. CA has not given a clear understanding of what external tools we can use to do this."

"The Portal is not stable."

"The development toolkit used for creating APIs should be more online and user-friendly. Deployment and tracking could also be improved. Tools like Apigee provide a complete online experience along with RESTful APIs, to manage all activities. It is a very nice and user-friendly solution compared to CA."

"Layer7 API Management’s price could be reduced."

"One specific feature that we need is the ability to authenticate directly to the server with API data. It's not complex nowadays. This is a feature that we need and CA doesn't have it."

"There could be more integration options included in the product."

"They need a workflow for the API Developer Portal, where the process only allows requests to go to the correct person."

More Layer7 API Management cons

"We would like a better tool for generating documentation for the APIs to be developed."

"It is a young product and does not have the kind of brand recognition that would make it a more popular solution with our clients."

"Sometimes when new features are released, they are not immediately stable."

"We ran it for a while, but then we decided to move away from Tyk, because Tyk's cloud version, the SaaS version, has a significant limitation of limited flexibility, so you can't program very much."

"I would like to see some additional features like having some extensions for .NET core because we use it for our back-end language."

"In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the considerations for what those enhancements and extensions are. So it could be slightly better communication with the customer base that would be my main issue with them."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"At the time we bought the product it was a perpetual users license and there has been no need for additional licensing fees."

"Our customers found the product’s cost a little higher. They are looking for open-source solutions."

"It is a pricey product, although not extremely overpriced compared to competitors in the market."

"APIs can be developed to provide security. We can show them in one single pane of glass, such as the CA API Management API Developer Portal. It is there that we can provide the monetization for their APIs and what is happening on third-party applications, like Paytm or BookMyShow."

"It's my manager who takes care of the pricing. But I keep on hearing that it's a little pricey, it's on the higher side. That is what he says."

"This solution is a bit more expensive than competitors."

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

"The price is low compared to other products of a similar type."

"The cost curve is far smoother, both in terms of volume and the number of calls it's running on, compared to most competitors. So it's a tad more expensive at the very low end, but the curve is nothing like Apigee or some of the others."

"There are different versions and plans available depending on the requirements, so there is flexibility in terms of the pricing."

"It had a free version, which suited many of our needs, but not all, but we were happy to go ahead with the licensed version as well, which is the paid version."

"We are using the open-source version of this product, so there are no licensing costs for its use."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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?

Pricing is more than average. While I am used to Layer7 API Management ( /products/layer7-api-management-reviews ), seeing other products makes the tool's pricing seem high.

What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?

Broadcom's push for upgrades from version nine to ten, ten to 10.3, and onwards to twelve needs improvement in migration processes, especially with service dependencies. The migration path sometime...

What do you like most about Tyk?

The scalability is very good. That was a key factor in the selection, like how it could be pushed to high volume and scalability, which seemed to be very good.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tyk?

The pricing is actually quite competitive. In Azure environments, it gets beaten by Microsoft API Gateway, but on the other hand, it offers some features that Microsoft lacks. So it really comes do...

What needs improvement with Tyk?

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Product Reports

Layer7 API Management

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Also Known As

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

No data available

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.

Broadcom

Tyk is an open source API Gateway that is fast and scalable, an API management platform featuring an API gateway, analytics, developer portal and dashboard. Available in three flavours to best suit your architecture and governance. We offer full cloud or on-premises options, and the best of both worlds with our unique hybrid model. www.tyk.io

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

Trip Advisor, Juniper Networks, AT&T

Layer7 API Management vs. Tyk