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Gloo Platform vs IBM API Connect comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Gloo Platform
Ranking in API Management
23rd
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Gloo Platform is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 4.7%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM API Connect4.7%
Gloo Platform0.8%
Other94.5%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Hiten Nandasana - PeerSpot reviewer
Angular developer at Flourish software
Centralized traffic control has improved monitoring and simplified our Kubernetes API management
Gloo Platform features include Kubernetes-native API gateways, routing control, API routing, and seamless integration with various environments. It supports multi-clusters and hybrid cloud deployments, which are the most valuable features for Gloo Platform. Our requirements in our organization are fully satisfied by these features, so we really appreciate using Gloo Platform. Since I have been using Gloo Platform, I have noticed benefits from implementing API Gateway capabilities and controlling traffic routing. I can say that we are saving time, especially regarding control traffic routing, data monitoring, and improving observability of Kubernetes applications. These are the most valuable assets for our organization.
Mehdi-El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Middleware Tech Lead at MQnovaTool
API management has strengthened security and monitoring but still needs better support and tooling
There are areas of IBM API Connect that need to be improved. I want what Gravitee made, which is much better. Gravitee made many samples for different use cases. First of all, they made examples of use cases, codes, and what the module expects and what the module returns for multiple examples and use cases inside the development. I do not even have to go to the documentation website because everything is included inside the tool when I work on it. This is great, in fact. IBM API Connect should show examples. One other thing is the support. The support of IBM is in India. Every time I want to ask something, they say they need logs, they want this, they want that. Gravitee API asks me to explain the problem without asking a thousand times as if it is a request for a green card in the USA. Then they really explain quickly. IBM is a big company, so everything is standardized with the approach of "You do that, you do that, you request that. If you do not have that, you do not reply to the client." Clients want flexibility today, even if it is a huge company. A stressed client is a client that will want to change to other flexible solutions. When everything is fine, we do not care, but when there is stress and problems, that is when the customer of IBM evaluates the tool really. It is when there are problems. IBM makes a lot of efforts on sales and technical sales, and then that is it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"You don't need many frameworks or other things to run Glue."
"Gloo Platform's features are optimal for my use case because I have numerous applications and microservices running, requiring rate limiting and traffic management integrated into one platform, which proves very beneficial."
"Organizations are highly recommended to use Gloo Platform because it will have a great impact on their organization."
"IBM are the market leaders, when it comes to integration technology."
"The most valuable feature of IBM API Connect is the security of the protocol."
"Licensing is expensive but it's a good product."
"The solution's technical support team is good."
"I would say that if you want stability and security, you should go for API Connect, as it's a very robust product that lets you easily create and manage your API."
"API Connect's most valuable feature is its ability to act as a gateway; it's very easy to configure security and everything else in it, and you don't have to kill yourself implementing custom configurations."
"We really like the runtime capabilities of IBM API Connect. The creation of products and the control of the monetization and hit rate are some of the features which we've found very valuable."
"I like how it runs within DataPower, and adds the extra OAuth security."
 

Cons

"I sometimes face issues with integration."
"As a tool, I wouldn't recommend it to somebody looking for an API management platform, due to the limited API monetization capabilities."
"A lot of the features require improvement, such as better integration with the other suites of the product and a more secured way to put it on the cloud."
"In terms of what needs improvement, some of the product documentation could be better."
"We have asked IBM for scalability and for some other features that we wanted. We had a dialogue with them and in the end, they have agreed to provide us with features related to API setup and security."
"They seem to have left out a feature for microservices and also a certification module for OIDC."
"In the next version, I don't know if they've already been included it or not, but the designer and all the tools should be on the cloud. I don't want any external installation or local installation."
"Unfortunately, this solution resulted (at least for us) in more problems than expected. We had severe installation and upgrade issues (maybe due to the nature of our network which is closed to the outside)."
"I have faced latency issues on the server, related to our management."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."
"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."
"There was a need to purchase an upfront license or a one-time license or upfront license, but I cannot remember the details about it clearly."
"The pricing is significantly high."
"It can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."
"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."
"It's an expensive product."
"API Connect was highly expensive for us, but the decision to switch was made before I joined the company. It seems like the company bought it, but they didn't know how to use it. After two years, they decided to reevaluate and conduct some cost estimates."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise62
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Gloo Platform?
Since I have been using Gloo Platform, our features and functionality fully satisfy our needs, so I do not think there are any improvements needed for this platform. It is fully compatible with our...
What is your primary use case for Gloo Platform?
I primarily use Gloo Platform to manage APIs and implement API Gateway capabilities, control traffic routing, and improve observability across Kubernetes applications. These are the main use cases ...
What advice do you have for others considering Gloo Platform?
My advice to others is that any user using Kubernetes API gateways and API management will see improvements in traffic control. Organizations are highly recommended to use Gloo Platform because it ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?
I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
There are areas of IBM API Connect that need to be improved. I want what Gravitee made, which is much better. Gravitee made many samples for different use cases. First of all, they made examples of...
What is your primary use case for IBM API Connect?
The usual use cases for IBM API Connect that I worked with mostly involved three things: security, monitoring, and message control. The purpose was to address these areas, though there was one feat...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Gloo Platform vs. IBM API Connect and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.