We use the product mainly as a gateway. We use the Publisher feature, the Publisher module or mode, and the Store. We publish APIs after we configure them, and we expose them on the internet.
Senior Consultant at Capgemini
Reliable with good capabilities and good support
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability is fine for our purposes."
- "The initial setup can be difficult."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It's perfect for our use case. It has the capabilities we require.
Technical support is fine.
So far the solution has been stable.
We use it on a daily basis. It handles millions of transactions of API calls per month in our reality, in the Lombardy region in Italy. It does its job as intended and handles everything pretty well.
What needs improvement?
I cannot recall coming across any missing features.
The initial setup and configuration can be difficult if a person is not well-versed in the product.
The configuration could be improved. It should be more flexible and more elastic.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since 2016.
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January 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has been stable and reliable enough. the performance is good. We haven't had issues. There aren't bugs or glitches. We haven't faced the solution crashing. It doesn't freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is fine for our purposes. We haven't had a problem with it.
It's all a suite of products that work in unison as a whole. We have six people using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support has been fine. We are satisfied with their level of service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This is the only product that I've ever used of this type. I have not used something previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup can be difficult. It's not straightforward per se unless you can familiar with and comfortable with the solution. If you are not, the setup and configuration may be difficult.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment was done in-house and was handled by our team. We didn't have any outside assistance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution costs less than 20,000 euros a year. I'm not sure of the exact number.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. We've been pretty happy with the solution. Having nothing else to compare it to, I'm not sure if I would recommend it over other offerings, however, we have been pleased with its capabilities.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
A tool that can be used for free and deployed in less than an hour
Pros and Cons
- "Functionality-wise, I like WSO2 API Manager - Publisher API and WSO2 Enterprise Service Bus."
- "For fresh graduates and engineers, the setup process can be very difficult."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution in the telecom sector.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is a free tool. Functionality-wise, I like WSO2 API Manager - Publisher API and WSO2 Enterprise Service Bus.
What needs improvement?
In the future releases of the product, I hope WSO2 API Manager remains available as an open-source product. In the Gulf region, there is a great need for open-source technologies.
WSO2 API Manager should be always available to users as an open-source product that is license-free. In that case, it will be very much appreciated and used in the Gulf region and Saudi Arabia.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using WSO2 API Manager for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven to eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a six out of ten.
Around 15 developers and the end users or consumer users are about 1,000 for the tool.
There are no plans to increase the use of the solution.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the product's initial setup phase a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is a difficult setup phase, and ten is an easy setup phase. Initially, any developers, integration experts, or guides have complete knowledge of how to install the tool. For fresh graduates and engineers, the setup process can be very difficult.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The solution can be deployed in an hour.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no subscriptions or licenses required to operate the product, like in the case of Apigee and IBM API Connect. It is an open-source product.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the product to small companies, and whichever other companies need to deploy WSO2 API Manage should go ahead and use it since it offers the full set of functionalities offered by similar tools like Apigee vs IBM API Connect.
I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
WSO2 API Manager
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about WSO2 API Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
CIO at Banco Pichincha España
A tool that serves as a gateway to support and monitor an organization's services that need to make upgrades easier
Pros and Cons
- "Based on the information I have, the solution's most valuable feature is its capability of implementing custom solutions."
- "The price and the complexities attached to the solution are two areas of concern where improvements are required."
What is our primary use case?
My company uses WSO2 API Manager as a gateway to support our services and monitor their use.
What is most valuable?
Based on the information I have, the solution's most valuable feature is its capability of implementing custom solutions.
What needs improvement?
The price and the complexities attached to the solution are two areas of concern where improvements are required.
One of the problems with the solution that we face in our company stems from the fact that we have not been able to do any direct upgrades because of the custom feature that is included in the solution, and we specifically face such problems during migration projects. I would say not that we are not updated in our company when it comes to the solution. In general, my company is not able to do an automatic update because of some custom features in the product. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using WSO2 API Manager for three or four years. My company is a customer of the solution. I don't know exactly the version that we have of the solution in our company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
I would say that with the solution, my company deals with around 100 use cases.
The solution is used daily in my company. I work in a retail bank and know that the bank's customers constantly access the solution. My organization's IT or administration people use the solution weekly or monthly. I don't think I have seen any updates often.
How are customer service and support?
It is not easy to reach the solution's technical support team. My company has an external partner who helps us with the support part of the tool. Though my company's external partner is entitled to get support from the solution's support team, it is not easy for them to reach out to WSO2 API Manager's technical team. I rate the technical support a four out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the product is a little bit difficult.
I rate the initial setup a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is really difficult, and ten is easy.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.
The product's deployment phase may extend to weeks or months, but in general, it can be completed in a couple of months from the beginning until the final deployment to production.
One or two people from my company were required to take care of the product's deployment phase.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment phase of the solution was done in-house, that is, in our company, but with the support from some collaborators we have with an external partner.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
WSO2 API Manager is quite an expensive tool. I rate the product's pricing a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low and ten is high.
What other advice do I have?
No more than one person is required to manage the product's maintenance phase.
Owing to the fact that I don't have enough expertise when it comes to the solution, I don't know if I would be able to recommend it to others. In my company, there is a team involved in the process of evaluating the solution from whom I try to get some information related to the product.
I rate the overall product a six or seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Student at University of Peradeniya
It's a low-code platform that enables you to get things done easily
Pros and Cons
- "The user interface is easy to navigate, and the documentation is extensive. It's open-source, so everything is available, and we can create what we need. That's not necessarily a feature, but it's an advantage."
- "They are developing another platform called Choreo that allows you to create API itself using the WSO2 programming language Ballerina. It would be great if they added a direct connection between Choreo and API Manager, that would be great. I think they are working on that, but I'm not sure."
How has it helped my organization?
WSO2 is accessible. Even a beginner can have an idea of what's going on. It has a drag-and-drop graphical interface, so it's a low-code platform that enables you to effortlessly get things done.
What is most valuable?
The user interface is easy to navigate, and the documentation is extensive. It's open-source, so everything is available, and we can create what we need. That's not necessarily a feature, but it's an advantage.
What needs improvement?
They are developing another platform called Choreo that allows you to create API itself using the WSO2 programming language Ballerina. It would be great if they added a direct connection between Choreo and API Manager, that would be great. I think they are working on that, but I'm not sure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used API Manager a few months ago. I briefly touched on those areas during my internship, but I haven't gone that deeply into the product. I don't have implementation knowledge, but I have a rough idea about what's going on.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate API Manager 10 out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate API Manager 10 out of 10 for scalability. It's suitable for small companies or large enterprises.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't contacted WSO2, but I know that they provide good support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is reasonable even for Sri Lankan companies.
What other advice do I have?
I rate WSO2 API Manager 10 out of 10. Don't hesitate to use it. Most people can start with WSO2 API Manager because it's easy to find what you need in the documentation. I recommend newbies start with WSO2 API Manager.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Solutions Architect at Agesic
Provides all the required tools for a management solution.
Pros and Cons
- "There are a lot of tools to help the manager. WSO2 is very easy to install. It has all the principal functionalities that you think about when you want to put up the management solution. It's a very friendly tool."
- "I would like it to be a more stable solution. Maybe in the last version that is approved. For me it would be good if they had a community established version."
What is our primary use case?
The principal things we use WSO2 API Manager for are to convert SOAP to Rest services, add security, and to provide more function for the administrators and to the developers. These are the main items.
We now work with two versions which are in a test environment. We are using version 3.0 and version 3.2. It's very possible that the version that we will use in production will be 3.2.
We can use WSO2 API Manager at IaaS and PaaS enviroments.
What is most valuable?
WSO2 is very easy to install. It has all the main functionalities that we looking for when we want to put up the management solution like a friendly UI tool, soap to rest API publication options, plugin extensions, add oatuh 2.0 to the operations, install on premise, hablde multiple versions of the same api, import and export swagger.
What needs improvement?
In terms of what can be improved, we are doing a proof of concept and we found some problems with the migration process from the last version to the 3.2. We have problems with the migration of the tenants.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using WSO2 API Manager for about one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, we are testing it in the test environment now so I don't have information about this. Maybe in the future we will know better.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, it has several main components and it is easy to make different strategies with each one. For example, we can deploy one component in high availability and you can use a different strategy with others components of the tool.
We now have around 10 people using it because we are working in the test environment. In the future, we expect different organizations use it too.
For now, we want to put a community version in production, test it, and then analize if it is an option to switch to commercial.
How are customer service and technical support?
In terms of the technical support, we don't use it. But I would evaluate documentation manuals as very good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We made POCs with ApiConnect, and 3scale.
For example, 3scale has a very good user interface but it's doesnt has the functionalities that we need. ApiConnect is similar to the WSO2 but it's more expensive. WSO2 API Manager is easier to start with.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy.
I did not do the deployment myself but I think that it took around one or two hours. No more than this. This is because we need a different database. We needed to change something in the default, but otherwise it was very easy.
What about the implementation team?
We contracted an external worker that did these things on the monitor.
We are happy with the tool. Now, we need to do more test. We started one and a half years ago, or more and now, we can solve the evolution of the two different versions.
What other advice do I have?
Improve the possibility to migrate to different versions would be very good. It would also be good for integration withdifferents identity server to have more possibilities with other tools.
On a scale of one to ten I would rate WSO2 API Manager an 8 because I think that the evolution of the product has a lot of differences between near versions. I would like it to be a more stable solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
System Expert at Creentech
Good routing and authentication features but little complex to use
Pros and Cons
- "It's a good product."
- "We found WSO2 API Manager to be a bit complex."
What is most valuable?
I have used features like routing and authentication, as well as the most well-known features of WSO2.
What needs improvement?
WSO2 API Manager has some support problems and can be a little complex. So our developer teams decided to use 3scale or Kong instead. We found WSO2 API Manager to be a bit complex.
So, in terms of complexity, WSO2 API Manager has some challenges. Also, there is a bit of an issue with the pricing and license of WSO2. It's a little high.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used WSO2 API Manager for two projects. However, I can't say I have used it all the time. I have about 50% experience and knowledge about it.
How are customer service and support?
We are not satisfied with the customer service and support. In a few instances, their response time has been a bit slow.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
It is difficult to implement WSO2. The implementation can vary depending on various factors, such as the features required and the availability of human resources, including developers. It could take anywhere from two to three months or even just one week, depending on the specific requirements.
What about the implementation team?
Our team worked together with our developers to carry out the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For our projects, we found it to be a little high. However, it may not be the case for another company or project. Because the costs depend on the specific features you would require and other factors.
What other advice do I have?
It's a good product. I prefer it. However, I would only recommend using WSO2 API Manager if the user has a specific requirement for one of its features. If they don't have a specific reason for using it, I can't provide a recommendation because it depends on factors such as the project, the local team, and the desired features. The API management system is complex by default. Therefore, the selection primarily depends on the project and the programming platform used by the developers.
Overall, I would rate WSO2 API Manager a seven out of ten because there is still room for improvement.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Doctoral Researcher at National Chengchi University
A scalable and easy-to-use solution that is easy to set up and configure
Pros and Cons
- "The product is easy to use."
- "The technical support must be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are using the solution for authentication purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
The tool is easy to manage.
What is most valuable?
The product is easy to use. It is pretty simple to configure the solution. It's pretty easy to set it up and use it.
What needs improvement?
The technical support must be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for two to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten. We didn’t face any issues with the solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s scalability a nine out of ten. Around 50 to 100 people are using the solution in our organization.
How are customer service and support?
The on-site document is okay.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used IBM. We switched to WSO2 because it is easy to get and costs less than IBM.
How was the initial setup?
The tool is pretty easy to install. We need 30 minutes to install it.
What about the implementation team?
We need two systems engineers to maintain the tool.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
API Developer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Open-source, easy to use, and has excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
- "WSO2 API Manager is easy to use."
- "I would improve the product documentation. There are some gaps, and it can be difficult to find the proper documentation for the product if you need to solve something."
What is our primary use case?
We use WSO2 API Manager for securing API calls for various applications.
What is most valuable?
WSO2 API Manager is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
I would improve the product documentation. There are some gaps, and it can be difficult to find the proper documentation for the product if you need to solve something.
There are some new features, but we are not currently using the most recent version. We're looking forward to the new release.
The initial setup could be simplified.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using WSO2 API Manager for one and a half years.
We have a subcontractor who occasionally downloads new versions from the repository and dates them on a half-year basis.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is not scalable, in a specific way, but scalable in OCP.
There are 20 to 40 applications and thousands of users who are working through the solution.
How are customer service and support?
We are quite satisfied with technical support.
I would rate technical support a four out of five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm not currently working with IBM products because my job has changed. I'm now employed by a different company, and I'm now primarily working with WSO2 products.
We mainly use API Management and Identity Server.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is medium, not easy, but also not difficult.
It's a complicated product. There are numerous distinct connections.
We have a maximum of ten engineers working on various parts of the solution and looking after deployment and maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
It was not done by me. I lack experience with the current setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We use the open-source version of WSO2 API Manager, there is no cost.
What other advice do I have?
I definitely recommend this solution.
Because the complexity of the setup and the documentation could be improved, I would rate WSO2 API Manager an eight out of ten.
I'm pleased with the WSO2 product, but there are some gaps in the documentation. It could be greatly improved in this case so that it is easier to deploy and maintain when there are issues.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: January 2025
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