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Frends vs IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 17, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Frends
Ranking in API Management
28th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM webMethods Hybrid Integ...
Ranking in API Management
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
Business-to-Business Middleware (5th), Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (4th), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (13th), Cloud Data Integration (12th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Frends is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration is 3.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration3.0%
Frends0.7%
Other96.3%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Lauri Vanhanen - PeerSpot reviewer
Development Manager at ELO
Integration platform has simplified logistics workflows and has streamlined complex order handling
The best aspect is that it is very easy to use. The UI is very intuitive, and you can learn it very quickly because the basic principles are straightforward and easy to search. Frends has a great UI, but the UI is missing role-based permissions. You can filter your integrations by roles and add several users to roles, but in the UI, the functionality for this kind of management feature is not optimal. User management or user role management could be improved.
YM
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.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product has valuable features for version control."
"One of the benefits is the speed of creating something new. Second, it's replacing the old integration quite fast. Then it is like the visibility of the integration and the possibility to see what is happening in the integration."
"The user-friendly interface for constructing integration solutions is also a notable benefit."
"The best aspect is that it is very easy to use."
"We have a reusable code that we can replicate for any new interfaces."
"The tool helps us to streamline data integration. Its BPM is very strong and powerful. The solution helps us manage digital transformation."
"The EDI is pretty robust with the IO."
"When it comes to the user interface, I'm already really used to it. I cannot say anything against it. For me, it's easy to use."
"API Gateways and API Management in general first and foremost standardizes and democratizes the Integration problem across all IT domains."
"EDI is robust and integration with SAP is good."
"With webMethods, the creation of servers and the utilization of Trading Networks facilitate B2B integration. It resolves any related issues effectively."
"How simple it is to create new solutions."
 

Cons

"Logging should be better."
"It is a new application and lacks some essential features compared to competitors."
"One of the primary areas for improvement is a more mobile-friendly interface for the control center."
"Another enhancement includes the monitoring part. It would be nice to have some sort of maybe mobile app on which we can see how integrations are running if there are some problems, and getting those alerts on the mobile would be really nice."
"Other products have been using AI and cloud enhancements, but webMethods Integration Server is still lagging in that key area."
"In terms of improvement, it would be better if it adapted quicker to open standards. It took a while for API specification before the last version was available. The spec of version two was rather quick."
"Documentation needs tuning. There is a lot of dependency with SoftwareAG. Even with the documentation at hand, you can struggle to implement scenarios without SAG’s help. By contrast, IBM’s documentation is self-explanatory, in my opinion."
"The Software AG Designer could be more memory-efficient or CPU-efficient so that we can use it with middle-spec hardware."
"The on-premises setup can be difficult."
"webMethods.io needs to incorporate ChatGPT to enhance user experience. It can offer a customized user experience."
"This product has too many gaps. You find them after update installations. This should be covered by automatic testing."
"Scalability and connectors to different cloud applications is lacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Recent changes in their pricing have removed this benefit, moving towards process-specific pricing."
"The pricing is quite fair."
"The price is a little bit high, especially regarding their support."
"There are no hidden costs in addition to the standard licensing fees for webMethods. For corporate organizations, it's a very cheap or fairly priced product, but for growing or small businesses, it's quite expensive. These businesses would probably need to consider an enterprise services bus at some point. Thus, from a pricing point, it closes out non-cooperate businesses."
"The pricing and licensing costs for webMethods are very high, which is the only reason that we might switch to another product."
"Most of my clients would like the price of the solution to be reduced."
"Pricing has to be negotiated with the local Software AG representative. SAG can always prepare an appropriate pricing model for every client."
"webMethods.io is expensive. We have multiple components, and you need to pay for each of them."
"I signed a three-year deal with them. It is a yearly locked-in price for the next three years."
"This is an expensive product and we may replace it with something more reasonably priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
35%
Educational Organization
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise65
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Frends?
Logging should be better. Third-party software logging should be integrated into the monitors of the front-end integrations, but it does not monitor the third-party connectors through that. Those l...
What is your primary use case for Frends?
We had many different applications for Frends. For file transferring of different types, we modified the files and then used it for logistical processes including warehousing, inventory checkups, a...
What advice do you have for others considering Frends?
If you need an integration platform, I would recommend Frends. I give this product a rating of 8 out of 10.
What needs improvement with webMethods Integration Server?
The alignment of on-premise and cloud versions needs improvement.
What needs improvement with webMethods Trading Networks?
webMethods.io does not currently have certain features, and we have to do coding as well. However, they have recently come up with a hybrid application where users will be able to use drag-and-drop...
What is your primary use case for webMethods Trading Networks?
We are primarily focused on IBM webMethods. I am part of the Center of Excellence team, where we involve ourselves in proposals and providing solutions to clients. webMethods.io is a middleware too...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Built.io Flow, webMethods Integration Server, webMethods Trading Networks, webMethods ActiveTransfer, webMethods.io API
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Cisco, Agralogics, Dreamforce, Cables & Sensors, Sacramento Kings
Find out what your peers are saying about Frends vs. IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.