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IBM API Connect vs MuleSoft Composer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

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
5.5
IBM API Connect enhances efficiency and flexibility, reducing service exposure time and enabling data monetization with significant ROI improvements.
Sentiment score
5.4
MuleSoft Composer improves data exchange, boosts efficiency by up to 70%, and supports scalable integration across departments, suggesting high value.
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
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
IBM API Connect support is knowledgeable and engaging but can be slow and documentation is lacking, rated 7-9/10.
Sentiment score
5.2
MuleSoft Composer's customer service is generally satisfactory, though improvements are needed in response time and priority services.
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
It was frustrating that we almost could not install it by ourselves because some information I will never find because IBM keeps it.
DB A Sysadmin Devops Software Ag Adabas/Natural/Ibm Entire X Webmethods at Bundesamt für Informatik und Telekommunikation BIT
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM API Connect offers scalability and flexibility in cloud environments, despite higher costs and challenges in older versions.
Sentiment score
6.0
MuleSoft Composer is rated positively for scalability, supporting both large user numbers and smaller groups efficiently.
When you have Kubernetes on cloud or on-premise, scalability is easy.
DB A Sysadmin Devops Software Ag Adabas/Natural/Ibm Entire X Webmethods at Bundesamt für Informatik und Telekommunikation BIT
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM API Connect stability has improved significantly since 2018, but some users still experience minor issues and synchronization needs.
Sentiment score
6.6
Users praise MuleSoft Composer's stability and support, noting minor glitches but effective resource deployment and no crashes.
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 API Connect was very stable.
DB A Sysadmin Devops Software Ag Adabas/Natural/Ibm Entire X Webmethods at Bundesamt für Informatik und Telekommunikation BIT
 

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect needs better monitoring, integration, user experience, and DevOps tools, while facing complaints about cost and complexity.
MuleSoft Composer needs platform integration, interface, scalability enhancements, effective guidance, AI, simplified configuration, and improved monitoring 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
It would be better to concentrate on one platform and develop everything on it for the integrated development environment.
BTP Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect offers tiered pricing with robust features, seen as cost-effective despite higher costs compared to competitors.
MuleSoft Composer pricing is seen as high, prompting calls for regional adjustments to enhance accessibility for medium companies.
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.
Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.
 

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect offers comprehensive API lifecycle management with user-friendly development, security, analytics, and cloud integration features.
MuleSoft Composer simplifies integration for Salesforce users with prebuilt connectors and compatibility without requiring programming skills.
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
It has more options for installation and architecture because it can run entirely on-premise.
BTP Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect
Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
API Management (8th)
MuleSoft Composer
Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
15th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (37th), Cloud Data Integration (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 2.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MuleSoft Composer is 3.0%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM API Connect2.2%
MuleSoft Composer3.0%
Other94.8%
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
 

Featured Reviews

ME
DB A Sysadmin Devops Software Ag Adabas/Natural/Ibm Entire X Webmethods at Bundesamt für Informatik und Telekommunikation BIT
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.
reviewer2763903 - PeerSpot reviewer
BTP Architect at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has supported on-premise deployments well but could improve tool consolidation and flow development flexibility
I have analyzed but haven't used MuleSoft Composer extensively. I am not very proficient in the subject of pricing. Both platforms are performing well. If a customer is more SAP-centric, it makes sense to consider integration suite because of the predefined content. A customer will need to have SAP BTP for side-by-side application extensions. MuleSoft Composer is powerful and flexible in terms of installation options, with runtime either on cloud or fully on-premise. It is quite a popular platform. MuleSoft Composer might be less expensive than SAP integration suite, though this is an assumption as I haven't compared prices. I am accustomed to learning and studying with SAP documentation. The organization is more convenient for me, though there are plenty of documentation and resources for MuleSoft Composer as well. The context is the primary consideration. If a customer uses multiple SAP solutions, not just SAP for accounting, it makes sense to consider the integration suite due to better SAP compatibility. When SAP introduces new interface technology, integration suite will be the first to support it, while MuleSoft Composer will need time to develop new connectors. I rate this solution a six out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise62
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about MuleSoft Composer?
The way Composer organizes and manages integration processes is most beneficial. We can easily monitor what's running and what isn't and troubleshoot any data integration issues.
What needs improvement with MuleSoft Composer?
I used Anypoint Studio, which is good though not very flexible. It seems strange that some functionality from MuleSoft Composer is available from Eclipse and some from Visual Code. It would be bett...
 

Also Known As

No data available
MuleSoft Composer for Salesforce
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. MuleSoft Composer and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.