Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Luís Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technical Lead at Human Code
Reseller
Top 20
Highly scalable and has a helpful developer portal and various functionalities, such as caching and automatic documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure API Management has many valuable features. One is the developer portal, that's very useful for teams. The tool also provides layers of security. I also found the caching, automatic documentation, and version management functionalities most valuable."
  • "An area for improvement in Microsoft Azure API Management is deployment, in particular, the deployment of versions in Oryx. The development to production instance isn't adequate for me and needs to be improved. Microsoft Azure API Management lacks automation, which is another area for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

Our use case for Microsoft Azure API Management is connecting banking systems to Bloomberg Services. We're also using the solution to connect internal services within the banking system, in particular, credit simulation.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Azure API Management has many valuable features. One is the developer portal, that's very useful for teams. The tool also provides layers of security. I also found the caching, automatic documentation, and version management functionalities of Microsoft Azure API Management most valuable.

I like Microsoft Azure API Management because it works pretty well.

What needs improvement?

An area for improvement in Microsoft Azure API Management is deployment, in particular, the deployment of versions in Oryx. The development to production instance isn't adequate for me and needs to be improved.

To explain further, the specification for the API needs to be deployed from development to production through scripts, and the scripts need to be done manually or need a lot of manual intervention. The process isn't automatic or click-and-point, so you need a technician. 

Microsoft Azure API Management lacks automation, which is another area for improvement.

In the next  Microsoft Azure API Management release, I want to see the automatic deployment of its versions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have three years of experience with Microsoft Azure API Management.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure API Management
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure API Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure API Management is a very stable tool.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure API Management is highly scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I contacted the technical support team for Microsoft Azure API Management just once. It was for a minor technical issue, and I got the response within the expected timeframe.

On a scale of one to five, support is a four for me.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I worked briefly with Amazon API Gateway but not as thoroughly as with Microsoft Azure API Management.

Amazon API Gateway is a much more technical solution and even less user-friendly than Microsoft Azure API Management.

I switched to Microsoft Azure API Management because the company decided to change its environment to Azure, so the obvious choice was Microsoft Azure API Management.

How was the initial setup?

Microsoft Azure API Management is effortless to set up. It has a brilliant setup.

It took me just two weeks to set up Microsoft Azure API Management.

I'd rate its setup a four out of five.

What about the implementation team?

Microsoft did an excellent job with the available documentation for Microsoft Azure API Management, and the setup process was quite simple, so I implemented the solution without Microsoft's intervention.

What was our ROI?

Microsoft Azure API Management isn't the kind of tool that directly impacts the business. It just makes the integration of different applications easier, so in that sense, it pays for itself within six months.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost for Microsoft Azure API Management is publicly available and goes from a developer edition that costs $26 to $30 per month. It may have changed, but it's in the neighborhood of $30 per month. I believe there's also the enterprise edition, which is highly capable and costs $2,500 per month.

If you want to use Microsoft Azure API Management, there are no additional fees. Still, of course, within an enterprise environment, you don't use just Microsoft Azure API Management because you need networking or virtual networks. Still, that comes with the territory because if you want to develop solutions in Azure, you need to buy services, servers, networks, etc. Regarding the usage per se of Microsoft Azure API Management, you don't need to pay anything else. You pay for it if you need it and then have to configure it within the Azure environment. Aside from the standard licensing cost, there are no hidden costs from Microsoft Azure API Management.

Pricing for the solution is competitive, so I'd rate it as six out of ten. If the scale is one to five, it's a three because it's the market average.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using Microsoft Azure API Management, though I've stopped active development. I'm just a user of the solution at the moment.

As Microsoft Azure API Management is a cloud tool, it's automatically updated, so I'm always using its latest version.

The solution doesn't require any maintenance.

Seven people used Microsoft Azure API Management within the company in the past: me, the development team, and the production team. Right now, there's reduced usage, with two to three actively developing Microsoft Azure API Management, then one that handles the maintenance by checking to see if the solution still works, and that's it.

I advise anyone looking into implementing Microsoft Azure API Management to invest time in learning the functionality. It takes around a month to invest, plus a good developer, so you can understand all the quirks and functionality the tool can provide, which is quite a lot. Once you have the knowledge or understanding, you can add much value to the development and integration process through Microsoft Azure API Management.

My rating for Microsoft Azure API Management is nine out of ten.

My company is a customer of Microsoft Azure API Management.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Cxa Asda - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Cloud Operations at Liquid Telecom
Real User
Easy to set up with good access control but support could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Access control is the most valuable aspect."
  • "The integration with other API gateways is where they might try to improve."

What is our primary use case?

There's a customer who wanted to migrate their API from their on-prem environment to Azure. They're looking at utilizing Azure API to manage all their other APIs. We just started with migrating one of their APIs. They're still working with it, still trying to learn the difference between what they had for on-prem and Azure. We are in the process of actually migrating a lot of their APIs.

What is most valuable?

Access control is the most valuable aspect. It's the main reason really why a lot of clients are moving - as we are able to deploy multiple APIs and be able to also segregate who's got access to which API, who's got access to the other API. That centralized management is what the customer is really looking for.

The initial setup was okay.

What needs improvement?

The solution isn't missing anything. For the use case that we have right now, it's perfect. It offers everything that you'd look for in an API Management solution.

There's a new developer portal that's been added before they rolled out the new updates. I haven't really checked it out, however, the developer portal that they introduced is better than before. They've really improved on that one. If you are using the old portal, it's not as good. 

We have two different customers. The other customer wants us to move completely, to migrate their APIs to Azure. The other one wants to manage their APIs, which are running on-prem. I've explored that in the flexibility, in terms of integration with an on-prem environment. The integration could be improved for those on-prem use cases. 

The integration with other API gateways is where they might try to improve.

Support could be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using the solution six months ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, I have seen that it is packaged into four different plans. If I'm not mistaken, there should be basic, standard, conception, and developer. I wanted to try to avoid deploying a lot of units, it uses a concept of compute units or scaling units. I was using the conception tier, which is not designed to be highly available. I was testing features, I didn't mind the level of availability. I suspect that if you choose the high-end SQL, it's most likely to be available. However, in terms of cost, I'm yet to find that out.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If you compare the SQL, and that's one that really supports scalability across regions, it's good. It's very scalable.

We have ten developers using the solution right now. 

We do plan to increase usage. 

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft is huge, and when it comes to support, it's not so great as compared to, if you have something software specific. Whenever you ask them a question, they assume you to know everything. It's challenging to get the level of support that you'd want.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use Kong. 

Kong is more of an on-prem API gateway, and this one is cloud-based. And given that many customers are migrating to the cloud, it was actually one of the reasons why we're convincing the customers that we have used their APIs to migrate to the cloud. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. 

I have a basic understanding of the API fundamentals. Those were what I was looking for; that's what I was looking for first, just to see if my understanding of the fundamentals. With my level of knowledge, it was fine. 

For someone with basic knowledge, you can deploy the solution within a week. 

There is some maintenance needed. However, that person is supposed to be someone who's more DevOps inclined.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the initial setup in-house. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I've been using the conception tier. If you choose the lower-end tiers, it'll be fine, cost-wise. However, those tiers are just for development purposes; they're not really for the production environment. I would suspect if you move onto the higher tiers, it'll be pretty pricey.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I was looking into Azure API Management and the equivalent and in AWS.

I wanted to compare the functionality between Azure API Management and Amazon API Gateway, as there's a customer that wants AWS API Gateway instead of Azure. I just wanted to see if the features are similar. I'm looking into that now. 

What other advice do I have?

We're a Microsoft partner. 

The role that I have right now is a role where I'm a deployment engineer for cloud services, so depending on what the customer wants, someone's migrating from their on-prem, from VMware, the Linux, the Hyper-V to Azure, someone has to design highly available solutions, like applications that are tiered, that is three-tiered or two-tiered. Some want to utilize API Management. With API Management, we don't have a lot of customers on that front, as they sort of don't understand how it works. Right now, it's an area where we've worked with two of our biggest customers that have got multiple APIs on their on-prem environment. I've got basic experience, especially on what an API is and the benefits of Azure API Management as compared to what they have.

We're using the latest version of the product.

We are completely moving our customers from their on-prem APIs. It's a complete cloud solution; they don't want any hybrid solution.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten based on the level of knowledge I have. The learning curve is pretty high. It's API Management and it also supports API gateways. It didn't decentralize those features, so the learning curve that's there for someone is a bit much.

I would recommend the solution to others. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure API Management
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure API Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Vice President - Competency and Channels at Techwave.
Real User
Easy to use API management with a platform that allows customers to register themselves
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the ease of use and it is a platform that has self-enablement for the customers to be able to register themselves."
  • "The user interface needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

It's more of a subscription driven consumption based model, where the APIs are developed to connect backend ERP systems such as SAP and deployed into a library for consumption by both internal and external consumers. The APIs are exposed to the consumers that get onto the API gateway and identify the needed API from the library, use the instructions to subscribe, quickly test and connect to the backend SAP to get the expected information/transaction processed.  Prior to this solution there was an age old EDI interface solution.  This is enabling the customers to be more flexible with their integration architecture and be more agile as it reduces the IT integration dependency and provides a better user experience.

This is part of Techwave application modernization strategy to bring solutions that can bring agility and flexibility to customers and be able to decouple business with huge IT dependent solutions.  This is helping us to help our customers migrate away from the age old EDI technology to the latest API and microservices based architectures.

How has it helped my organization?

It is enabling two things. First it is helping our customers get on the path of application modernization and be on the digital journey.  Secondly, it is enabling them to provide a better customer experience and adoption with their end consumers. 

The consumers have easy access to information than before (when it was EDI based processing).  Consumers had to reach to their IT for any new changes and integrate and/or had to download/email/phone to access/process the transaction with their customers.  Now it can be well integrated into their portal applications and/or integrated directly into their applications through API management, which makes them more digitally connected and better user experience.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the ease of use and the self-enablement through subscriptions for our consumers. Consumers can get into the API gateway library and register to an API from the catalog directly. 

Once the API is developed and added to the library with the registration documentation, it becomes pretty easy for consumers to access and understand the benefits and use of the API.  

The library acts as the central repository of all our APIs and use and access is pretty intuitive.

It's very easy to learn for a person not familiar with API.

What needs improvement?

Nothing in specific but there is always some improvements that can be made to user interface to enhance and improve the UX experience. 

As Microsoft adds more an more services to the stack will help and enable to ease the API platform integration with other ERPs and various platforms for us. There are more APIs coming out with lot more enhanced services that include IOT connected device integrations. Any help in understanding available API protocols and edge protocols easier will help us building our solutions faster.  We do see different services are being added day by day.

We are not using all of services at this point, but we are leveraging few at a time and building our solutions.  This is part of the evolutionary and exploratory based journey to transform the ecosystem of the customer to a digitally connected growth organization.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution on a particular engagement for close to a year now.  However, we at Techwave have been using API manager in other areas as well for some time.

As it is a SaaS model, we always end up having the latest version in use.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great, as mentioned earlier it is backed by Microsoft Azure platform and that brings good stability as it is and being the cloud solution we do not have to worry about scaling either.

Monitoring of the usage and understanding the throughput is much easier with these API platforms than with the older EDI transaction based backend operational monitoring. The visualization reports on consumption is very easy and the analytics driven from these visualization can be used in your ROI discussions and management decision process, if needed.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution and my impression is positive. Consumption is increasing. The scalability doesn't seem to be a challenge because it's a cloud-based solution. Scaling the bandwidth or the capacity is not going to be a challenge.

Our customers are using this solution and I can't disclose the number of users, but we have good usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

We provide technical support and haven't gotten to a point where we couldn't solve an issue.

We have not contacted the Microsoft technical support yet. I am sure that they would be good but we can't comment in that area as we have not been in that situation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In this particular customer, they were using EDI-based transaction processing. We have been able to transform them into the API journey.

EDI technology is of the past and API is the modern technology that has been leading in the digital transformation, enabling them to have consumption across various platforms. Whether it's a cloud, on-premises, or an applied solution.

How was the initial setup?

Because we are trying to move away from the EDI, the initial setup wasn't that complex. The interfaces were already there in the EDI. This engagement is more to transform existing EDI-based approach to an API-based one. The business logic, more or less, is there. This initiative is more to help us decouple technical stack from the business process.

The API manager is managing the business interactions, whether it is the consumer onboarding or the customer decoupling them from the IT based EDI processing. 

The EDI would require that the customer technology team and the company technology team communicate and work together to integrate the interface. Whereas here you don't need to worry about it. It's simple as a business consumer signing up for an API, and all they need is a link to click and get the URL into their space and then they are done.

It's an easier way to integrate their API. If you want to make it into a more robust application, that's a different process, but consumption-wise it's easier. 

For those who do not want to integrate it into their applications, we have been giving them an application that they could just install from an App Store on their portal. This application will then expose the APIs available for use.  All they need to do is subscribe and get going.

Implementation was pretty simple in this particular engagement. We had a vision of how the API is going to be consumed and how many were needed. We paced ourselves in an agile model with a simplified storyboard and a proper velocity mapping of the activity.

It took anywhere from three to four weeks for each API to get them ready and we took it at our pace. We had released approximately ten API's in less than six months.

We had a six-member team for deployment, including the BA and project management. In the post-deployment, we only need three people to maintain.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented this solution for our customer as an implementation partner.

What was our ROI?

We have not yet measured the ROI on this engagement yet.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's being paid monthly.  It is comparable and falls in the mid range in the competitive landscape.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have evaluated WSO2, APIGEE, MuleSoft with API Manager

What other advice do I have?

API and microservices based architectures is the modern architecture to enable organizations for digital growth.  With that said Microsoft Azure is definitely is in the top quadrant in this space and are investing to grow this service portfolio by leaps and bounds every day.

Based on our customer ecosystem and the predominant technology stack in use, the decision with Microsoft platform aligns well with their transformation roadmap. There is going to be some level of Microsoft cloud solutions in play. 

Each customer has to conduct an assessment on the need for a platform based on the technical debt they are carrying along with people and process.  They need to take a look at the existing ecosystem, software technology stack, current ERP, and the applications that need to be integrated into API based platforms. 

I would suggest Azure API Manager should be in your selection process.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer2123583 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Director at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Good platform components with helpful API management and the ability to expand
Pros and Cons
  • "The API management is very good."
  • "Maybe the customization could be a bit better."

What is our primary use case?

We have a couple of use cases for this  product. It's fully cloud-native and can handle telco distribution for end-to-end distribution management. Five or six years ago, we made a  fantastic product with microservices. I was responsible for rolling it out for a large telco in Qatar. They had no distribution or end-to-end visibility or platform. So we helped them to move to a cloud platform for their entire distribution and operation. The beauty of that product is when you look at the telco distribution standpoint your maybe five or ten thousand merchant ecosystem will be connected to that platform. It helps with generating several transactions in a minute or second. And it gives that kind of scalability in the back end. 

The other use case was for banking transactions. If you have your core banking platform that is legacy, if a user wants to bring in a lot of additional alternatives, they need to have some kind of a platform for enhancements. We made a cloud to bring some kind of their operations to the cloud. We made a transaction platform for them so that their merchants could access transactions.

What is most valuable?

The API management is very good. You have sophisticated dashboards that help you to understand what's really going on - in addition to whatever security layer that you can bring on top of that. It is easy to manage front and backend APIs.

You can put on your own security layer so that you know only the authorized people are accessing your back-end systems through the gateway. In addition to that, you have sophisticated dashboards and reporting for storage logs or logging. That is quite useful, specifically in the banking sector. 

You can limit items by parameters such as geography or private VPMs. 

You have different pricing tiers and pricing is based depending on the traffic. You can go to basic pricing if you like. Depending on your traffic, you have licensing options.

Microsoft manages everything so you can focus on building applications and deploying them.

The platform components are quite interesting. 

What needs improvement?

I'm not sure if there are certain areas needed for improvement. I haven't explored its shortcomings. So far, the requirements have been met.

Maybe the customization could be a bit better. 

My team found difficulty in migrating APIs from one platform to this platform. We could export and import properly. We made a complete API for a UAT environment, and when we moved the APIs, we ran into issues. 

They don't have a standard local IP. They only have a public IP.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for six to eight years or so. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I'd rate the stability eight out of ten. It is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales well. I'd rate it ten out of ten. It's easy to expand as needed. 

We have both medium-sized and enterprise-level customers. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been fine. We are happy with their level of support. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have worked with other competing products, such as Apigee and AWS.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. I'd rate the ease of deployment eight out of ten.

The provisioning takes a couple of minutes. Then you need to do some programming. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is reasonable. I'd rate the cost in terms of affordability seven out of ten. 

The premium tier is too expensive for medium-sized organizations. However, the local IP only is offered at the premium tier. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I did not compare this solution to others since I was promoting Microsoft at the time. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. 

People should explore API management. You do get full control of your API, and from a security standpoint, you have a good understanding of the touchpoints and far more control of your traffic. You know who is accessing your services. Even if a company has legacy systems, it should have an API gateway in front of its legacy systems.

We went with Microsoft since we were Microsoft partners.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Dmitri Efimov - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration Architect at MiBanco
Real User
Reliable, easy to set up, and efficient
Pros and Cons
  • "We use Microsoft due to the stability of the company."
  • "One of the most important improvements for us would be if it supported the HTTP/3 version and new protocol over a quick connection."

What is our primary use case?

In general, we use it for the front application, like the mobile banking application or some other service stuff. We found that it's easier to maintain these internet connections and so on, on the cloud.

What is most valuable?

In general, we started with Microsoft Azure Cloud as we needed a close integration with our internal or Office solution. In case of Microsoft, Azure Active Directory is easily integrated within the Microsoft platform, including Office. In particular, in API Management, used as front-end APIs, it's easy to manage. Now, we are looking ahead to the hosted solution, which is very nice. 

We use Microsoft due to the stability of the company. 

It's efficient enough and it's just enough for our needs to manage rules and so aforth for API management. We use it due to Microsoft's reputation. We need a stable provider. We cannot play with some providers. 

It is easy to set up. 

The solution is scalable. It is stable as a product as well. 

What needs improvement?

It's okay. It's not as good as Google. For instance, in Apigee, in Google.

One of the most important improvements for us would be if it supported the HTTP/3 version and new protocol over a quick connection. It's a relatively new standard since 2020. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product. It's reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash. The performance is good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

While it is scalable, there is some costs involved with expanding. 

We have about 100 people using the solution at the company in terms of deployment. In terms of clients using the solution, that's in the millions. 

How are customer service and support?

We have a premium subscription. We have a local company, a local Microsoft office. We do not have a problem with the support from Microsoft.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used a CA solution before, and CA was sold to Broadcom and everything changed, politics and so and so. We had to disable CA platform due to the provider. We believe the same issues will not happen to Microsoft.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very easy. It's not complex at all. 

What about the implementation team?

There is a special group that is  responsible for the support and implementation of the platform.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I'm aware of Google, or Apigee, and it's quite a robust product. 

What other advice do I have?

We are a customer and end-user.

It is a subscription service. It's definitely not on-premises in our organization. We do have our core system on-premises, of course.

I would recommend the solution. People have to first understand the different types of subscriptions, however. There are four of them, developer, and intermediates, and then premium, and it's costly. That said, it's not that expensive. It's a very technical piece of software. I can say it's stable and it satisfies our needs. It's just a bit complex. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
GagandeepSingh5 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Movate
MSP
Top 5
Very easy to use and manage APIs
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool is very easy to use and manage APIs."
  • "Previously, our company's cloud services were shut down, and we used to take more time to update services, so such issues are areas where improvements are needed."

What is our primary use case?

The tool provides the data in an API, and our company fetches that data to our clients' websites. We also provide API data to the clients we handle.

What is most valuable?

The solution's most valuable feature is that it is very simple to manage, especially because I have good experience with Microsoft products. The tool is very easy to use and manage APIs.

What needs improvement?

I don't think anything needs improvement because the tool is up to date.

Sometimes, we face some issues with the tool, but they are manageable. Previously, our company's cloud services were shut down, and we used to take more time to update services, so such issues are areas where improvements are needed.

In the future, I want to see the tool offer API integrations. It can help us manage things in a more effective manner. For example, if we are integrating with any platform, it should provide ways on how we can integrate because each platform comes with different compatibility points. Changes in the tool can be helpful to deal with compatibility issues and resolve them.

The only problem with the tool is that the cloud services were shut out. That's the challenge you had. AI features could be added to the tool to make it more easy to manage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure API Management for two and a half years. My company is a managed service provider for our US clients.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a 99.99 percent stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a very easily scalable solution. There are no limitations to adding any number of devices.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is satisfactory. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I am only working with Microsoft Azure API Management. I don't have experience with another vendor. From the beginning of my job, I have been working with Microsoft Azure.

I think AWS and Azure are providing similar services, but Azure is a little bit easier.

How was the initial setup?

The product's installation phase is simple and not too complex.

Actually, we work in a team, so we divide all the work in the team. We have a three-person team for the tool's deployment.

The solution can be deployed in a day.

What was our ROI?

The tool can help save time by around 15 to 20 percent. If I am working in AWS and with Azure, I see that Azure is much easier and helps save time while also being able to manage and deploy the API services.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would describe the tool's price as being in the mid-range category.

What other advice do I have?

The security part is handled by another person in my company. I am handling the APIs only. I also deal with the analytics part of the tool.

The product's maintenance phase is easy.

I think it is a bit easy to integrate the tool with other systems. One person who works with AWS feels that it is a bit complex to integrate it with other systems, while Azure's integration features are a bit easier to manage. In terms of integration, Azure is easier than AWS.

Currently, I don't see any API integrations.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSP
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
SHANMUGASUNDARAM S - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Manager at Amadeus
MSP
Top 10
Stable solution with good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The product gives API gateway-related features, like throttling, which are easy to use and low-code/no-code."
  • "There is room for improvement in the user interface and workflow for hosting APIs, especially third-party APIs."

What is our primary use case?

Since we built our product around APM, our clients use it directly. They find APM to be a simple and straightforward solution that fulfills all their API management needs.

Our clients use APM because it's a SaaS-based solution that comes with Azure Stack-managed services, making it easy for us to use and fulfill all their use cases.

How has it helped my organization?

We are actually partners. We built our product on top of APM and provide it to our customers.

What is most valuable?

API gateway-related features were fulfilled by APIM. So those features, we are completely leveraging for our solution, like throttling. It is fair and easy. It's a low-code, no-code model of API hosting.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in the user interface and workflow for hosting APIs, especially third-party APIs. 

Another area of improvement is the pricing model. The solution has an add-on cost, and if we want to leverage some of the features, we are forced to buy it. So, cost-wise, it's not ideal.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for one and a half years. There isn't really a specific version since it's a managed service in the cloud. However, with Apigee, there are different versions available, as it can be hosted on-premises. But for APM, it's only available in Azure as a managed service.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability a nine out of ten. It can host it in different regions, and we can point to the same set of backups and try to expose the APIs. Our current customers are in the medium category that's why I rated scalability a nine. 

How are customer service and support?

We have a strategic partner for technical support, and they are very responsive.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I would rate the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy. Previously, we were using Apigee, so comparing it to that, it's cloud-specific and opens the gateway. So there were some challenges.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment was quick. The deployment of this product was managed by a manager, so once you set it up, it has a quick turnaround time. 

We used the Azure deployment model and followed the recommended steps for posting the APIs, and also followed the Azure recommended layer for deployment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Compared to Apigee, which is a one-time cost for on-prem, this solution is cloud-specific and a managed service. So cost-wise, it's comparatively expensive. I would rate it eight out of ten, where one is low and ten is high. 

Moreover, there are additional costs to the standard licensing fees. We have to purchase four to five managed services around API to use it. For example, we use the express route and key vault, and we have to purchase those features along with API.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We explored different options and found that APM was the most suitable for our scenarios.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten. The reason is, as I mentioned earlier, it is best suited for our use case. One reason is that the product is only available in Azure. So, we are leveraging multiple managed services and building the product around that. Additionally, we select it according to the customer's needs. The hosting API workflow needs to be improved.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Jude Ayoka - PeerSpot reviewer
PM, Digital & Innovation at Access Bank Plc
Real User
The sandbox feature lets us test before we go into production
Pros and Cons
  • "I like API Management's sandbox feature. It's an environment where you can test out the API before putting it into production and connecting it to a live environment."
  • "The hybrid part could be improved because API Management is entirely cloud-based, but some of our resources are on-prem, so formatting is an issue. Our goal is dual implementation."

What is our primary use case?

We're a bank, so one of our primary use cases for API Management is integrating our API with third parties that provide financial policies. Sometimes they want to use our services, like payment and customer inquiry, so we give them access to the API gateway. 

Azure API Management allows you to control who has access to your API gateways and assign permission levels to third parties if you want integration with third-party solutions. That has a couple of advantages. Those third parties can directly access your API directly, and you can set limits. It can also configure authentication on other API managers.

An API gateway is like a platform, and your API provides access to the resources in your environment, so this gateway is an intermediary between you and third parties. It's also the interface between your internal applications. For example, if you have a mobile app and internet banking, they can all be copied in the same API through that gateway. So, that was basically the use cases we have. So, we have almost all the API's behind the gateway.

What is most valuable?

I like API Management's sandbox feature. It's an environment where you can test out the API before putting it into production and connecting it to a live environment.

What needs improvement?

The hybrid part could be improved because API Management is entirely cloud-based, but some of our resources are on-prem, so formatting is an issue. Our goal is dual implementation. 

There's always room for improvement in terms of the user interface. Generally speaking, technology evolves, so any service provider needs to make their product as user-friendly as possible. In the next couple of years, we'll see more non-tech people handling tech solutions. The solution should be more accessible, so people can use it to create things without being very tech-savvy.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using Azure API Management for about three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

API Management is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

API Management is scalable. The licensing is structured so that you save more at a higher scale. The only limit to the scale is how much you're willing to pay. 

How are customer service and support?

We have an enterprise support contract for Microsoft, and we don't have problems with them. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used IBM ESB before Azure API Management, and we're using both now. ESB isn't the same as API Management from a technology perspective. They have distinct functions, but they can do similar things. You can view an API on IBM ESB, but you can view and expose API on Azure API Management. They solve similar problems but are not exactly the same.

How was the initial setup?

Deploying API Management is somewhat tricky depending on your level of technical knowledge. The first time we used it in production, we had it for a couple of months. The first month was an evaluation period, so we had it in a test environment to get a feel for how it works and possible complications. However, you could deploy it in a couple of weeks if you wanted. 

You only need about two to manage it, including one admin. It's more like a platform-as-a-service, so we don't need to do the normal maintenance we do on an on-prem platform. 

What about the implementation team?

We deployed API Management in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I can't disclose how much we pay monthly, but the pricing for Azure API Management is available online. 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.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Azure API Management nine out of 10. Your choice of technology is based on your needs, budget, and C suite. Azure API Management is a good product, but there are some other good services, like Azure Connect, Google APG, and a couple of others. It depends on your needs.

Using a cloud solution has advantages because the client can immediately use the product. Another strong reason we use Azure API Management is that we heavily use Microsoft products in our organization, so Azure is a natural choice.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure API Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Product Categories
API Management
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure API Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.