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IBM API Connect vs IBM DataPower Gateway comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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
5.9
IBM API Connect saves time and costs, enhances integration, and improves ROI, though microservices' profitability is still unclear.
Sentiment score
5.9
IBM DataPower Gateway consolidates functions, enhancing security and cost-efficiency, with APIs helping generate income despite perceived high costs.
Reducing development hours from eighty to four for an API was possible due to reusing existing scripts from DataPower.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
I have seen a return on investment from using IBM API Connect, as we created multiple plans based on customer usage.
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
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
6.2
IBM API Connect's support is responsive and knowledgeable but can be slow, lacking documentation with varied customer service experiences.
Sentiment score
6.3
IBM DataPower Gateway's support is efficient and knowledgeable, but fees and delays vary; users suggest faster response times.
Support is excellent when it comes to APIC.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
Support is extremely good, especially with Sev 1 issues.
Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
In terms of OEM support, it is poor.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
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
7.3
IBM API Connect offers scalable API management, supporting large transactions and customizable deployments, making it ideal for enterprises.
Sentiment score
6.6
IBM DataPower Gateway is highly scalable for enterprises but may be costly for smaller firms using on-premises setups.
With container versions, scaling up or down the gateways deployed into pods is a two to three-minute task for the operations team.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
It is distributed among IBM MQ, IBM Ace, IBM DataPower, and IBM API Connect.
Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
IBM API Connect's scalability is good, as you can handle it easily similar to how you manage cloud providers.
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 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
7.3
IBM API Connect is highly stable and reliable, with minimal issues, especially improved in recent versions, despite initial concerns.
Sentiment score
8.2
IBM DataPower Gateway is highly stable and reliable, ideal for banks handling heavy transaction volumes in diverse environments.
The runtime engine for the APIC Gateway is still a DataPower component, which has been stable in the industry for about fifteen years.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
If it is functioning well, you won't have a bad experience and your application becomes more reliable.
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
IBM DataPower Gateway does not handle all the traffic on a single node.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect requires improvements in integration, usability, scalability, support, monetization, documentation, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness across environments.
IBM DataPower Gateway users seek cost reduction, enhanced usability, expanded integration, and improved support and automation features.
Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes.
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Connectivity to MQ is not available in IBM API Connect.
Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 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

IBM API Connect is pricey, favoring larger enterprises, but negotiating with IBM can reduce costs for smaller businesses.
IBM DataPower Gateway can be costly, with pricing dependent on licensing, features, and specific customer requirements.
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
I think it costs around 5 Crore in Indian Rupees.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect provides secure, efficient API management with advanced analytics, multi-cloud support, and intuitive functionality for enterprises.
IBM DataPower Gateway provides fast performance, strong security, seamless integration, scalability, and efficient management for comprehensive threat handling.
It offers significant development efficiency, reducing man-hours from eighty to four when creating APIs.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
We can add some policies to provide extra security, protect your backend, validate the consumers, and analyze based on the traffic limit to throw things out.
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
IBM API Connect has a designer and CLI features which can be used to completely automate the API.
Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 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

IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (12th)
IBM DataPower Gateway
Ranking in API Management
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (5th), Application Infrastructure (7th), SOA Application Gateways (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 5.0%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 3.1%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM API Connect5.0%
IBM DataPower Gateway3.1%
Other91.9%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

SM
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Have addressed performance challenges while benefiting from flexible subscription models and reliable user access
To improve IBM API Connect, based on customer experience, you could work on latency. You can increase scalability and availability. If you're connecting with any other cloud, it connects to the infrastructure which needs to be managed with the customers and cloud providers, so if you have a setup, we can handle it easily. I have faced latency issues on the server, related to our management. If you need to stabilize your server based on peak traffic, you need to configure the scalability model. You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes. If the application is not in use, the value should be zero, and it starts from zero. Based on customer experience, the value will increase, and when there is no customer servicing, the peak would be reduced, making the value remain zero. Following this approach, you should be able to optimize costs and satisfy customer experience.
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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
29%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise61
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM API Connect?
Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules.
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?
We are relatively new to IBM API Connect, so I do not have significant improvements to suggest at this time.
What do you like most about IBM DataPower Gateway?
The MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) is great because it allows you to easily expose services using various protocols – web services, REST (JSON), and others. This flexibility simplifies things.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
This product is definitely expensive because if any issue occurs in the live environment or production environment, and our organization faces some issue with the IBM DataPower Gateway, then the IB...
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
The developer portal should be an integrated part of IBM DataPower Gateway to improve it. I think it is fine as is, and maybe no other additional features should be included in the next release. My...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
RBL Bank, Availity
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. IBM DataPower Gateway and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.