IBM API Connect vs Perforce Acana comparison

IBM and Perforce are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3, while Perforce is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 6.0% mindshare in APIM, compared to Perforce’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Perforce users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

6,620 Views
6,421 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Perforce Acana

Read 3 Perforce Acana reviews

585 Views
585 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Perforce Acana

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

Perforce Acana and IBM API Connect are competing in the API management space, addressing different enterprise needs. IBM API Connect appears to have the upper hand with its advanced functionalities and robust lifecycle management features, appealing to enterprises needing comprehensive solutions.

Features: Perforce Acana focuses on straightforward integration capabilities, allowing quick setup and collaboration tools essential for agile teams. IBM API Connect offers comprehensive API lifecycle management, enabling robust API creation along with enhanced security. Perforce Acana's ease of operation highlights simplicity, while IBM API Connect provides detailed analytics tools to better understand API usage.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Perforce Acana supports fast deployment with an intuitive process and reliable customer service, beneficial for businesses with limited IT resources. IBM API Connect involves complex integration due to its extensive feature set, making it suited for large enterprises that require comprehensive supporting resources. While IBM focuses on detailed deployment, Perforce Acana emphasizes simplicity combined with excellent service.

Pricing and ROI: Perforce Acana offers an appealing pricing structure for budget-conscious enterprises, ensuring strong ROI through lower setup costs. IBM API Connect, with a higher price point, delivers significant ROI over the long term with its advanced scalability and feature set. Perforce Acana's approach is cost-effective, whereas IBM API Connect balances its expensive options with extensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Perforce Acana Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Perforce Acana

September 2025

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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

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (9th)

Perforce Acana

Ranking in API Management

30th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.0%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perforce Acana is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM API Connect	6.0%
Perforce Acana	0.5%
Other	93.5%

API Management

Featured Reviews

Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan

Solutions Architect at Synechron

Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features

While Azure API Management offers configurable scalability, IBM API Connect relies on Kubernetes clusters. This might seem manual and require defining cluster instances upfront, but it's completely customizable and not on-the-fly scaling. It's completely custom-driven, not on-the-fly scaling, which some may consider cumbersome. Overall, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Almost all applications we've been exposing lately go through this middleware, so it's used extensively. There are around sixty applications directly using it, but six Kubernetes clusters serve those applications. It's heavily used for integration, including system-to-system integration and product integrations. Our usage has been increasing year-on-year based on our needs.

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Saurav Krishna

Data Engineering and AI Intern at .3Lines Venture Capital

Authentication mechanism is easy to implement but improvement is needed in documentation

For API security purposes, we use the tool to host all our APIs. This allows us to take advantage of the security features provided by the platform. With the solution, we can implement rules such as rate limiting and restricting the number of API calls for each user. It acts as a secure gateway…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The centralized management: this provides a management module that can deploy and apply security policies to all APIs, including all the gateways that are deployed on-premises and on any cloud because the gateway component can run at a VMware or in a Kubernetes cluster."

"Security is well organized and managed within the solution."

"The most valuable feature for me is the ability to distribute work among our API developers, so we don't have to do all the work as IBM API Connect administrators and IBM DataPower administrators."

"Our version supports containerized integration. I can write APIs, which can be moved into a testing environment without needing a forklift. It can check if APIs are compliant before moving them into production."

"Overall, I rate it nine out of ten."

"It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data."

"The most valuable features are stability and security."

"The solution's technical support team is good."

More IBM API Connect pros

"The tool's authentication mechanism is easy to implement. We had to define a few parameters."

"Good interface, intuitive solution."

"It allowed us to publish and replace pre-essential transactions in one place, with a uniformity in terms of control and policies."

Cons

"It would be helpful to have access monitoring."

"It's based on a little bit dated architecture. A lot of evolution has happened after that. It's an evolving field. Kong is a Kubernetes-based platform. Kong runs on Kubernetes, but all the other ones are in microservices. So, there's a lot of improvement that can be done."

"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."

"The solution would be better if it had cloud functionalities."

"The solution is overly complex."

"The initial setup and installation could be easier."

"There are some performance issues and issues related to asynchronous APIs."

"IBM info-center help documentation also needs improvement. Competitive product like Apigee provide out of the box policies to run Javascript, JAVA and better/flexible logging policies."

More IBM API Connect cons

"Akana API Management needs to improve its documentation."

"The product has new features that we are going to implement in the next few months, such as API management and analytic reporting."

"Lacks an integrated billing feature."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is quite an expensive product."

"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."

"I haven't seen anyone go from on-premise to the cloud. In fact, I am seeing people go from the cloud to on-premise because the costs can quickly grow on the cloud."

"API Connect's license cost could be a little lower. But, unfortunately, there aren't many open-source API gateways. Ideally, some new developers could come up with a minimum-functionality open-source solution."

"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."

"This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."

"It is expensive when compared to other products in this class. There were no extra fees for add-ons or technical support."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"For us, the pricing and licensing policies were for an on-premise installation with a fixed cost structure, that matched our budgeting policies."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	58

No data available

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Akana API Management?

The tool's authentication mechanism is easy to implement. We had to define a few parameters.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Akana API Management?

Akana API Management needs to improve its documentation.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Akana API Management?

I rate Akana API Management an eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 27% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs Perforce Acana

Compared 56% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Perforce Acana

Compared 44% of the time

More Perforce Acana Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

September 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

API Management

August 2025

Download Perforce Acana product report

Overview

IBM API Connect is an API management tool providing robust security, seamless REST and SOAP conversion, and flexible deployment options for diverse cloud environments. It aids organizations in securing and monetizing their APIs while streamlining the development process.

IBM API Connect offers features like a security gateway, API lifecycle management, and integration with DataPower. Its intuitive interface enhances ease of use, supporting extensive analytics and traffic management. However, there are areas for improvement in automation, system integration, and user configuration. Organizations can deploy API Connect on-premises or in the cloud, delivering secure access control and analytics for banking, financial services, and government sectors. Compliance with standards like PSD2 ensures secure external API exposure and integration with multiple systems.

What are the most important features of IBM API Connect?

Security Gateway: Provides robust protection and data security for APIs.
Seamless Conversion: Facilitates easy conversion between REST and SOAP protocols.
API Management: Supports full API lifecycle management for efficient development.
DataPower Integration: Integrates seamlessly with DataPower for enhanced functionality.
Developer Portal: Offers a user-friendly interface for managing APIs and developers.
Analytics: Delivers powerful insights through comprehensive API analytics.
Flexible Deployment: Supports deployment on different cloud platforms for versatility.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from IBM API Connect?

Traffic Management: Efficiently manages high volumes of API traffic without compromising performance.
Data Protection: Ensures data is protected during API communication.
API Monetization: Facilitates API monetization strategies to drive revenue.
Scalability: Provides scalable solutions to handle growing demands seamlessly.

In specific industries like banking, financial services, and government sectors, IBM API Connect plays a crucial role in API management, orchestration, and regulation tasks. It provides secure access, control, and compliance with industry standards, serving as an essential gateway for data exchange and integration across multiple systems.

IBM

Perforce Acana optimizes workflows with robust functionality designed for efficient file versioning and collaboration. It offers reliable features suitable for organizations requiring performance and scalability.

Leveraging powerful version control, Perforce Acana enables teams to manage large codebases and complex projects with ease. Its distributed architecture supports concurrent editing, ensuring developers collaborate effectively without workflow interruptions. Integration with popular development tools streamlines operations, making it a preferred choice for high-demand environments needing adaptability alongside stringent compliance standards.

What are Perforce Acana's key features?

Version Control: Offers advanced capabilities for managing large-scale projects with ease.
Scalability: Supports expansive teams and growing codebases efficiently.
Integration: Syncs seamlessly with numerous development tools and platforms.
Concurrent Editing: Facilitates simultaneous collaboration among developers.

Which benefits should users consider from reviews?

Enhanced Productivity: Streamlined operations that improve team efficiency.
Reduced Downtime: Reliable architecture minimizing workflow disruptions.
Cost-Effectiveness: Long-term savings through improved resource management.
Scalability: Growing projects accommodated without sacrificing performance.

Perforce Acana is widely adopted in industries such as gaming and finance, where robust version control and collaborative capabilities are essential. It ensures large teams operate seamlessly, supporting intense development cycles while adhering to industry-specific regulations.

Perforce

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

British American Tobacco, Credit Suisse, Daimler, eBay, FOX, Liberty Mutual, Marriott, Mayo Clinic, Skandia, Tata communications

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Perforce Acana

September 2025

Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. Perforce Acana

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