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IBM API Connect vs Microsoft Azure API Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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
6.9
IBM API Connect enhances profitability and efficiency by reducing development time, improving security, and enabling seamless system integration.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Azure API Management boosts efficiency and cost savings, enhancing performance through streamlined integration and management of APIs.
Reducing development hours from eighty to four for an API was possible due to reusing existing scripts from DataPower.
Proper configuration of the solution, implementation strategy and correct scaling tier selection are other factors that influence the ROI.
It helps connect all multi-environment applications to a single dashboard and give beautiful reports.
If I am working in AWS and with Azure, I see that Azure is much easier and helps save time while also being able to manage and deploy the API services.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM API Connect support is proactive and expert but variable in speed, with regional availability challenges noted by users.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Azure API Management customer service is helpful but varies in efficiency, with suggestions for improved response times and support quality.
Support is excellent when it comes to APIC.
The documentation from Microsoft helps our company to solve issues on our own.
The initial support engineers are often not qualified.
I logged an incident, and it was resolved promptly within three hours.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM API Connect offers excellent scalability through on-premise and cloud solutions, supporting enterprise-level operations and customization features.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Azure API Management excels in scalability and integration, despite cost concerns, with high user ratings for performance.
With container versions, scaling up or down the gateways deployed into pods is a two to three-minute task for the operations team.
It handles our current workload well, and I'm optimistic it can scale effectively as our needs grow.
There are no limitations to adding any number of devices.
Microsoft Azure API Management is extremely scalable.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM API Connect is generally stable and reliable, especially in government and banking, despite occasional upgrade issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Azure API Management is highly stable and reliable, with few bugs and minimal downtime, enhancing operational effectiveness.
The runtime engine for the APIC Gateway is still a DataPower component, which has been stable in the industry for about fifteen years.
I can't guarantee its stability or flexibility until all our databases and financial systems are integrated.
Microsoft Azure API Management is very stable.
With high scalability and availability, it supports many users and endpoints without significant issues.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect needs better integration, automation, monitoring, documentation, and usability, facing issues in setup, costs, and support.
Microsoft Azure API Management requires improvements in integration, customization, security, scalability, deployment options, pricing, documentation, and user resources.
Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ.
The service is extensive and expensive, and this added flexibility would make it more manageable and less prone to errors.
It's quite expensive, which could be a barrier for some users.
Documentations for the product should include examples of implementation.
 

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect offers scalable solutions with high costs, suitable for large enterprises, available in SaaS and on-premise versions.
Microsoft Azure API Management offers competitive pricing for lower tiers, but premium levels are costly due to additional features.
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.
It's an expensive solution.
However, once you scale up to your full volume, it'll be more expensive.
Microsoft Azure is an expensive solution not for the large enterprises but for medium and small.
 

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect excels with strong security, integration, usability, analytics, flexibility, and scalability, enhancing API management and monetization.
Azure API Management is lauded for ease of setup, integration, security, user management, and comprehensive API lifecycle management features.
It offers significant development efficiency, reducing man-hours from eighty to four when creating APIs.
The platform's most valuable features are its rule-based permissions and comprehensive API lifecycle management capabilities.
The ability to create a subscription model for APIs allows companies to monetize valuable data and share it securely.
The analytics phase of API Management is very beneficial for tracking API usage and identifying suspicious users.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in API Management
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)
Microsoft Azure API Management
Ranking in API Management
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.4%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure API Management is 17.9%, down from 19.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

KavitaChavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Quite flexible and provides excellent performance for API gateway
The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive. In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.
Praveen_Srivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlined operations with gateway and authentication features
Azure API Management has helped streamline our operations by acting as a gateway for upstream and downstream applications. It provides authentication and authorization, ensuring that both verified and suspicious users are managed efficiently. The use of analytics within API Management is also valuable for tracking user behavior and ensuring security.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments. I don't deal with licensing, but compared to other IBM products, the licensing is not significantly higher.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
When comparing API Gateway with DataPower Gateway, several features in DataPower Gateway are absent in the APIC layer. Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ ( /categories/message-queue-mq...
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 - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and ...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure API Management?
Microsoft Azure API Management is a good, comprehensive solution for enterprise implementation.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Azure API Management, MS Azure API Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH, Opensistemas
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.