Mule ESB vs webMethods.io comparison

Salesforce and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category. Salesforce is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.7. Salesforce holds a 15.0% mindshare in E, compared to IBM’s 9.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Salesforce users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Mule ESB

Read 54 Mule ESB reviews

3,601 Views
2,665 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

webMethods.io

Read 94 webMethods.io reviews

8,762 Views
1,402 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Mule ESB

webMethods.io

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

Mule ESB and webMethods.io are two leading integration platforms in the integration category. Mule ESB seems to have the upper hand with its extensive array of connectors and support for Java, making it ideal for developers familiar with that language.

Features: Mule ESB features flexibility and high performance with numerous connectors and DataWeave capabilities, supporting integration across diverse environments. It offers excellent data transformation and easy integration patterns. webMethods.io excels with robust debugging capabilities, an intuitive GUI-based approach, and a wide array of pre-built integration tools, simplifying complex integration tasks.

Room for Improvement: Mule ESB needs better SOAP web services support, improved scalability, and more comprehensive documentation. Platform navigation could be streamlined and the user experience enhanced. webMethods.io requires better legacy system support and simpler documentation. Costs and complexity in version upgrades remain a challenge.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Mule ESB allows flexible deployments across on-premises and cloud, although support response can be slow. Its community edition is praised for resource availability. webMethods.io supports hybrid environments but faces criticism for high costs and a challenging initial setup. Its customer service, although generally supportive, is noted for expensive and complex licensing.

Pricing and ROI: Mule ESB offers a community edition, making it accessible, but enterprise costs are high with restrictive licensing. ROI depends heavily on design and governance. webMethods.io is known for a high-cost pricing model with transactional considerations that can complicate ROI for smaller enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Mule ESB vs. webMethods.io Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Mule ESB vs. webMethods.io

December 2025

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Helped 879,899 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.4

Calculating Mule ESB ROI is challenging, but users report positive returns from licensing, reusability, and microservices efforts.

Sentiment score

6.7

webMethods.io delivers positive ROI by reducing manual work, enhancing efficiency, and justifying costs despite high initial pricing.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.3

Mule ESB's support is generally positive but varies by subscription level; users note inconsistencies and prefer external help sometimes.

Sentiment score

6.6

webMethods.io customer service is generally favorable but needs faster response and improved technical knowledge for complex issues.

We have a good relationship with our vendor, and they are ready to help us with any technical issues.

Richmond Cosay

Solutions Architect at Metrobank

The technical support of Mule ESB can be rated from nine to ten.

reviewer2704872

Senior Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The technical support from Salesforce is moderate.

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

An incident portal is available where we can raise tickets and based on priority, they reply.

Yashraj Makwana

Developer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

Mule ESB offers adaptable scalability and performance, ideal for diverse businesses with cloud deployments and large data volumes.

Sentiment score

7.2

webMethods.io scalability varies, effective with cloud and vertical scaling, but may require careful planning for high transaction volumes.

Mule ESB is a scalable solution.

reviewer2704872

Senior Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The adaptability of Mule ESB in supporting multiple messaging patterns is pretty decent and pretty good.

AshwaniKumar

Principal Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

When it comes to scalability and the ability to expand, I would rate Mule ESB as an eight or nine.

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

Whenever more resources are needed, they become available automatically without any human interference.

ZiyadThaher

Sales Director at Proven Consult

If any webMethods.io product is installed on-premises and a company wants to scale its application, either vertical scaling or horizontal scaling is needed.

Yashraj Makwana

Developer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Vertically, scalability is fine, however, I have not expanded horizontally with the product yet.

Samer Ghanim

Information Technology Specialist at PACI

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

Mule ESB is stable with minor glitches; improvements and proper management enhance reliability, scoring 8-9 out of 10.

Sentiment score

7.6

webMethods.io is stable with high user ratings, though stability varies by setup; cloud versions may need improvement.

Mule ESB is a stable product, and I have no doubts about its reliability.

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

There are some issues like the tool hanging or the need for additional jars when exposing web services.

Samer Ghanim

Information Technology Specialist at PACI

We provide support to our clients, and the minimum calls I receive are for webMethods.io; it's very stable.

ZiyadThaher

Sales Director at Proven Consult

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Room For Improvement

Mule ESB requires user-friendly documentation, enhanced stability, better performance, scalability, exception handling, and improved analytics for broader adaptability.

webMethods.io struggles with legacy models, integration issues, and cost, prompting user requests for UI, analytics, and AI enhancements.

Points for improvement in Mule ESB definitely include enhancing the analytics capabilities because currently, they rely on external logging tools such as Splunk or ELK, which is lagging behind compared to other tools such as Workato that offer more analytical features.

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

More information is needed from MuleSoft.

reviewer2704872

Senior Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Pricing is one factor that could be improved about Mule ESB; other than that, I'm pretty fine with it.

AshwaniKumar

Principal Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

webMethods.io lacks advanced monitoring and analytics capabilities, so my customers need to use something additional.

ZiyadThaher

Sales Director at Proven Consult

When comparing the license cost and request per minute cost, webMethods.io needs to address that.

Yashraj Makwana

Developer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees

A special discount of at least 50% for old customers would allow us to expand our services and request more resources.

Samer Ghanim

Information Technology Specialist at PACI

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Setup Cost

Mule ESB's cost and flexible licensing appeal to enterprises, yet high fees lead smaller businesses to explore alternatives.

webMethods.io provides flexible enterprise-focused pricing, notable for high capability yet potentially high costs, with scalable and negotiable options.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

Regarding the pricing and licensing of webMethods.io, I don't think it's expensive when compared with the features.

ZiyadThaher

Sales Director at Proven Consult

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Valuable Features

Mule ESB provides flexible, robust integrations with extensive connectors, data transformation, and API management, supported by cloud options and community.

webMethods.io offers scalable integration, real-time connectivity, and secure, user-friendly API management for efficient enterprise workflow and system connectivity.

They have their own language called DataWeave, which helps transform data and is efficient enough to handle any kind of transformation.

reviewer2704872

Senior Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

It is also reusable, meaning the same service can be used in multiple places simply by adding it, and this comes with the API-led architecture that makes integrations more secure and reliable.

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The best features of Mule ESB are that it's very robust and solid; I find that even our legacy systems go well with ESB.

Richmond Cosay

Solutions Architect at Metrobank

For more quotes and insights, download the Mule ESB report

It facilitates the exposure of around 235 services through our platform to feed various government entities across the entire country.

Samer Ghanim

Information Technology Specialist at PACI

If we want to make a REST API, SOAP, REST, or any other type, all kinds of things are put in one box and we can make anything we want to.

Yashraj Makwana

Developer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees

I believe data transformation is exceptional in webMethods.io because they have an online database that can cache the database online.

ZiyadThaher

Sales Director at Proven Consult

For more quotes and insights, download the webMethods.io report

Categories and Ranking

Mule ESB

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

webMethods.io

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business-to-Business Middleware (2nd), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (10th), API Management (10th), Cloud Data Integration (8th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of Mule ESB is 15.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of webMethods.io is 9.7%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Mule ESB	15.0%
webMethods.io	9.7%
Other	75.3%

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Featured Reviews

Srinivas-Kanduri

Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Integration architecture has enabled reliable multi-channel messaging and secure API management but now needs better analytics and simpler development

In my opinion, the real-time analytics part of Mule ESB is not up to the mark for the decision-making process. While there are some analytics features, they lack the standards needed for enterprise use. Compared to other analytics tools such as Power BI, MuleSoft falls short.Points for improvement in Mule ESB definitely include enhancing the analytics capabilities because currently, they rely on external logging tools such as Splunk or ELK, which is lagging behind compared to other tools such as Workato that offer more analytical features. Additionally, issues arise with AI-based use cases due to dependencies on Salesforce tools such as agent force, making development more complicated when it should be more independent. Developing AI-based agents without being tied to Salesforce applications could also enhance functionality.

Read full review

Yashraj Makwana

Developer at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Offers strong integration capabilities and reliable features but needs pricing and scaling improvements

Many things are evolving with the AI buzz in the market. What I would like to see improved or enhanced in webMethods.io in the future is that since webMethods.io is already under IBM, I think IBM will introduce and integrate AI into it. Additionally, regarding what webMethods.io can improve is the license cost. Other cloud players are also providing the same kind of functionality, such as AWS and Azure. webMethods.io is being installed on-premises, but AWS is providing it directly in the cloud. When comparing the license cost and request per minute cost, webMethods.io needs to address that. There are many competitors in the market for this.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	38

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	64

Questions from the Community

Migration from IBM Integration Bus to Mulesoft ESB for a large enterprise tech services company

I was previously part of the Oracle SOA/OSB development team. In my current capacity I architected solutions using MuleSoft Anypoint Platform on cloud / on-premises and hybrid modes and on PCE/RTF ...

See all answers

IBM Integration Bus vs Mule ESB - which to choose?

Our team ran a comparison of IBM’s Integration Bus vs. Mule ESB in order to determine what sort of ESB software was the best fit for our organization. Ultimately we decided to choose IBM Integratio...

See all answers

What do you like most about Mule ESB?

The solution's drag-and-drop interface and data viewer helped us quite a lot.

See all answers

What do you like most about Built.io Flow?

The tool helps us to streamline data integration. Its BPM is very strong and powerful. The solution helps us manage digital transformation.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Built.io Flow?

webMethods.io is expensive. We have multiple components, and you need to pay for each of them.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Built.io Flow?

webMethods.io needs to incorporate ChatGPT to enhance user experience. It can offer a customized user experience.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Integration Bus vs Mule ESB

Compared 22% of the time

Oracle Service Bus vs Mule ESB

Compared 11% of the time

IBM B2B Integrator vs Mule ESB

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs Mule ESB

Compared 6% of the time

WSO2 Enterprise Integrator vs Mule ESB

Compared 6% of the time

More Mule ESB Competitors

IBM App Connect vs webMethods.io

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs webMethods.io

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Integration Bus vs webMethods.io

Compared 5% of the time

Apigee vs webMethods.io

Compared 5% of the time

IBM API Connect vs webMethods.io

Compared 3% of the time

More webMethods.io Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Mule ESB

December 2025

Download Mule ESB product report

Buyer's Guide

webMethods.io

December 2025

Download webMethods.io product report

Also Known As

No data available

Built.io Flow, webMethods Integration Server, webMethods Trading Networks, webMethods ActiveTransfer, webMethods.io API

Overview

For companies looking to modernize and unlock the value of existing on-premises systems and applications, an enterprise service bus (ESB) architecture serves as a critical foundation layer for SOA. When deployed as an ESB, the Mule runtime engine of Anypoint Platform combines the power of data and application integration across legacy systems and SaaS applications, with a seamless path to the other capabilities of Anypoint Platform and the full power of API-led connectivity.

Salesforce

webMethods.io Integration is a powerful integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that provides a combination of capabilities offered by ESBs, data integration systems, API management tools, and B2B gateways.

IBM

Sample Customers

Ube, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Justice Systems, Camelot

Cisco, Agralogics, Dreamforce, Cables & Sensors, Sacramento Kings

Buyer's Guide

Mule ESB vs. webMethods.io

December 2025

Free Report: Mule ESB vs. webMethods.io

Find out what your peers are saying about Mule ESB vs. webMethods.io and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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