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Apigee vs IBM DataPower Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
6.9
Apigee enhances API management, security, and scalability, offering quick returns through efficiency, monetization, and improved market presence.
Sentiment score
5.1
IBM DataPower Gateway offers financial benefits by consolidating features and saving costs, despite being perceived as expensive.
Overall, it saved engineering time and made API operations more efficient without requiring additional staffing.
Senior Engineer at Airy Software Technologies Private Limited
I can provide some examples of return on investment by saying that we are running different APIs which we are using, and we are charging customers.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
Apigee customer service is mixed; praised for quick responses but criticized for delays, especially on complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
IBM DataPower Gateway support is generally positive but varies in cost, response time, and client engagement quality.
They are responsive and provide assistance even during production issues.
Integration Solution Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Customer support for Apigee is fantastic; I receive responses within a minute, which is very useful.
Senior Engineer at Airy Software Technologies Private Limited
The customer service and support are cooperative and effective in providing insights and solutions during challenges.
Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
In terms of OEM support, it is poor.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
I would rate the technical support of IBM as an eight on a scale from one to ten.
Software Engineer at EJADA
I would evaluate customer service and technical support as a little bit weak, so I give it a seven out of ten.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Apigee is praised for its scalability, supporting heavy traffic and API calls, ideal for large enterprises, with cost considerations.
Sentiment score
6.6
IBM DataPower Gateway is scalable and ideal for large enterprises but may be costly and less flexible for smaller firms.
I would rate Apigee's scalability very highly; it scales well for enterprise workloads, supports high traffic, and provides features such as caching, quotas, and rate limiting, maintaining performance as usage grows.
Senior Engineer at Airy Software Technologies Private Limited
Adding extra Cassandra databases is complex.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Once you install the product, we can't scale the resources on the IBM DataPower Gateway.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Apigee is noted for stability and reliability, though implementation and occasional open-source compatibility issues can affect performance.
Sentiment score
8.2
IBM DataPower Gateway is praised for high stability and reliability, especially in finance, with minimal configuration and strong performance.
Apigee is stable, and we have had the system running on Apigee servers for more than four years without any stability issues.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
IBM DataPower Gateway does not handle all the traffic on a single node.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

Apigee users seek enhanced developer experience, debugging, analytics, cloud-native support, simplified pricing, integration, monitoring, scalability, and user interface.
IBM DataPower Gateway needs simplified scripting, user-friendly design, flexible pricing, enhanced integration, and improved maintenance and customization.
Apigee only allows validation of transactions up to a four-hour period, which requires manual hovering over the date and time.
Integration Solution Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Analytics is one of the areas needing enhancement, specifically more visibility and control over traffic to improve capacity management and high availability.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Apigee should also incorporate these capabilities, especially in the on-premises version.
Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Whenever I am writing code, it should give recommendations automatically by incorporating AI so I can write the code in a few minutes or seconds.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
However, from the development perspective, it has limitations because it only supports the XSLT language.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
My experience with the pricing of this product is that pricing is too high and should be reduced.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Apigee's pricing is high and complex, best for large enterprises with extensive functionality justifying the cost.
IBM DataPower Gateway is costly, especially for smaller firms, yet valued by enterprises; more flexible pricing would broaden accessibility.
Apigee is perceived as slightly costly compared to other tools in the market.
Integration Solution Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Apigee is high-priced, suitable for large enterprises where the benefit aligns with the cost.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Apigee is costlier compared to other solutions.
Founder at EAIESB
I think it costs around 5 Crore in Indian Rupees.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Valuable Features

Apigee offers robust API management, strong security, flexible deployment, seamless integration, and scalability, making it ideal for diverse needs.
IBM DataPower Gateway excels in security, integration, performance, and API management, offering robust features like SSL management and load balancing.
It provides all the necessary capabilities for current technologies, enabling communication and translation between protocols, along with supporting stringent security features.
Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The standout features for me include centralized security, OAuth, JWT, API traffic management with configuration for rate limiting and quotas, caching, API analytics monitoring, and API lifecycle management.
Senior Engineer at Airy Software Technologies Private Limited
The features for API security have been significant with Apigee.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
No other Gateway offers this as part of the integration offering.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
As per the development perspective, there are some limitations with IBM DataPower Gateway because it only supports XML and XSLT language, but it does not support the Java language.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
IBM DataPower Gateway's multi-protocol transformation is important for my integration needs because all the API traffic is coming from this API data gateway.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Apigee
Ranking in API Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (12th)
IBM DataPower Gateway
Ranking in API Management
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (7th), Application Infrastructure (12th), SOA Application Gateways (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apigee is 6.8%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 3.6%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Apigee6.8%
IBM DataPower Gateway3.6%
Other89.6%
API Management
 

Q&A Highlights

Rav Bangalore - PeerSpot reviewer
GenAI Strategist at Wipro Limited
Sep 24, 2019
 

Featured Reviews

Amandeep Pawar - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer at Airy Software Technologies Private Limited
Centralized API gateway has improved microservice security and provided deep traffic analytics
Apigee's API gateway could be improved. There are some limitations for high throughputs, which we can address. Overall, Apigee is a robust API management platform where we can configure centralized traffic management, but there are a few areas for improvement. The developer experience could be more intuitive, especially for configurations and complex API proxies and policies. Debugging production issues can sometimes be challenging, so more detailed diagnostic and easier-to-use troubleshooting tools would be valuable. The analytics dashboard could offer more customization and deeper insights without requiring additional configuration. Simplifying pricing and licensing would make Apigee more accessible for smaller organizations. I would like better support for cloud-native deployments, Kubernetes integrations, and AI-assisted policy recommendations. I would also like to see AI-assisted troubleshooting, more customizable analytics and developer portal, better enterprise documentation, easier policy configuration, and a simplified licensing model to enhance both the developer experience and day-to-day operations.
AkshaySawant - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
Security features excel but development limitations emerge
We are using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes. As per the development perspective, there are some limitations with IBM DataPower Gateway because it only supports XML and XSLT language, but it does not support the Java language. This is the only limitation of the IBM DataPower Gateway. For the authentication and authorization purpose, we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. It's a very good product. We are mostly using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes and load balancing purposes. If we are handling the load for a particular server, then we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. The IBM DataPower Gateway is mostly used for security purposes. If we have some APIs and we are using some security for those APIs, then we can use it. It can also be used as a load balancer. It's also used for certificate management, user management purposes, authentication, and authorization. For routing, the IBM DataPower Gateway has multiple URL-based routing and content-based routing capabilities. If we have multiple URLs, then we can use an XML script. Using the XSLT language, we can configure multiple URLs and implement URL-based routing. Content-based routing means if we have multiple requests, we can route the request to a particular URL. For this, we need to use the XSLT language only. We can't use XML, Java, or other scripting languages. With IBM DataPower Gateway, we are using all the APIs. All APIs have been configured on the gateway. We have configured the particular TLS profile and some TLS client profiles as well. Using that TLS profile, we have configured the APIs and authentication. We have configured some tokens also, including JWT tokens and different types of auth tokens. There is also a rate limiting feature which we use for handling API loads.
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Answers from the Community

Rav Bangalore - PeerSpot reviewer
GenAI Strategist at Wipro Limited
Sep 24, 2019
Sep 24, 2019
First, we should not compare data power and Apigee. Both meant for different purpose. Generally, DataPower used for authentication most of uses cases, where Apigee enable digital technologies. In addition, it is establish the connectivity from both external/internal/Omini connectivity. DataPower support internal connectivity with limited support in terms of Digital enablement. Apigee is lates...
See 2 answers
DM
Project coordinator with 10,001+ employees
Sep 23, 2019
1) Let us start from the base that Google APIGEE is an API Management platform, so it offers more capabilities than a Gateway, therefore we must compare it against IBM API Connect which is the IBM API Management and whose gateways are Datapower machines. 2) An API Management platform consists mainly of three key components: • Portal: where the catalog of available APIs is discovered. • Management: where the life cycle of the APIs is managed. • Gateway: Where the APIs are exposed. At Management level: Google APIGEE and IBM API Connect • Manage the life cycle of the API. • Manage users roles and permissions. • Manage security in APIs. • Manage the consumption of APIs. • Allows traffic policies to be applied. • Allows you to configure, create and attach custom policies. At Portal level: Google APIGEE and IBM API Connect • Display the API documentation • Test the exposed APIs. • Register application developers. • Customize corporate brand. • Manage community. • Self-management. At Gateway level: Google APIGEE and IBM API Connect • API deployment and execution • Execution of security policies • Integration with data sources • Apply traffic policies. • Different types of gateways: • Google APIGEE o Edge Enterprise Gateway. o Microgateway (Limited features)  Does not support all OAuth2.0 flows  No Caching  No threat protecction  Basic monitoring. • IBM API Connect o Microgateway (Discontinued). o Gateways:  Datapower Gateway (Compatible with API Connect version 5)  API Gateway (Focused on the 2018 version of API Connect) At the Deployment level: • Distributed: o Google APIGEE:  Edge Enterprise Gateway: • The complete instance must be taken to each cloud. • The deployment of each instance requires a license.  Microgateway: • They connect to the same instance, however, the limited policies of this component must be kept in mind. • Can only be used by purchasing the full license of the API Management. o IBM API Connect:  Datapower Gateway (7.6 or <): • Compatible with version 5.0.8.x  API Gateway (7.7 or> = 2018.4.x): • Compatible with version 5.0.8.x and 2018 of IBM API Connect.  Both Gateway: • It is only necessary to deploy the Gateway in each cloud, not the full instance of the product. • Manages licenses that charge for API Calls generated in the Gateway and includes the deployment of nodes of its components in any cloud. Both APIGEE and API Connect offer good capabilities to accelerate the deployment of business capabilities such as services or APIs. The decision of which one is better will depend on the conditions of our business and purpose.
SA
Associate Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Sep 24, 2019
First, we should not compare data power and Apigee. Both meant for different purpose. Generally, DataPower used for authentication most of uses cases, where Apigee enable digital technologies. In addition, it is establish the connectivity from both external/internal/Omini connectivity. DataPower support internal connectivity with limited support in terms of Digital enablement. Apigee is latest integration deployment software in the form of integration software, SaaS and Cloud.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise67
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?
Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a cloud-based solution. Both solutions are easy to use. Apigee allows for the ability...
Which is better - Apigee or Amazon API Gateway?
Amazon API Gateway is a platform that supports the creation and publication of API for web applications. The platform can support thousands of simultaneous API calls, and it provides monitoring, ma...
What needs improvement with Apigee?
There is room for improvement with Apigee as OPDK private cloud enhancements have stopped, focusing only on Apigee hybrid and Apigee X, with Google no longer adding new features to OPDK private clo...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
I don't know if the current licensing cost of IBM DataPower Gateway is high, but I think it's acceptable. I don't have any complaints about it.
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
I noticed that the Gateway Script libraries could be improved, as they are not covering everything I need.
What is your primary use case for IBM DataPower Gateway?
The primary purposes for which IBM DataPower Gateway is used include security purposes, and sometimes you need to put some configurations and mapping into the process.
 

Also Known As

No data available
WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Adobe, advance.net, Amadeus, AT&T, Bechtel, Belly, Burberry, Chegg, Citrix, Dell, eBay, Equifax, GameStop, First Data, Globe, HCSC, Intralinks, Kao, Meredith, Mitchell, Orange, Pearson
RBL Bank, Availity
Find out what your peers are saying about Apigee vs. IBM DataPower Gateway and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.