IBM API Connect vs TIBCO Cloud API Management comparison

IBM and TIBCO are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5, while TIBCO is ranked #28 with an average rating of 7.0. IBM holds a 6.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to TIBCO’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of TIBCO users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

8,640 Views
6,418 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

TIBCO Cloud API Management

Read 11 TIBCO Cloud API Management reviews

1,083 Views
953 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

TIBCO Cloud API Management

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

TIBCO Cloud API Management and IBM API Connect compete in the API management space. TIBCO Cloud API Management seems to have the upper hand in pricing and support, making it a cost-effective choice, while IBM API Connect stands out for its comprehensive feature set, appealing to enterprises needing extensive capabilities.

Features: TIBCO Cloud API Management offers strong integration capabilities, user-friendly design tools, and quick deployments for ease of customization. IBM API Connect provides robust security features, in-depth analytics, and powerful policy management tools suitable for complex environments.

Room for Improvement: TIBCO Cloud API Management could enhance its containerized setups, improve scalability and refine its fine-grained configurations. IBM API Connect might improve its ease of onboarding, documentation for microservices goals, and streamline third-party integration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: TIBCO Cloud API Management is recognized for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service, attracting businesses seeking simplicity and quick onboarding. IBM API Connect offers more detailed configuration capabilities, benefiting organizations needing comprehensive support.

Pricing and ROI: TIBCO Cloud API Management is known for its cost-effectiveness, providing favorable ROI and appealing to budget-conscious companies. IBM API Connect, with higher startup costs, offers significant long-term value for businesses ready to invest in a comprehensive API management solution.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. TIBCO Cloud API Management Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. TIBCO Cloud API Management

April 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

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)

TIBCO Cloud API Management

Ranking in API Management

28th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

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 TIBCO Cloud API Management is 0.9%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

KavitaChavan

Associate Manager at Baariz

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.

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Amitava Roy

Principal Enterprise Architect (Cognizant Digital Business) at Cognizant

Offers pre-built packages for quick and easy onboarding of APIs but configuration is not that easy

The configuration is not that easy. It's not that user-friendly, and security-wise when you try to implement the security layer on top of it, it's not that easy either. There are certain things where the performance is not that great. When the traffic is huge, we see some lag in performance.

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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

"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."

"Using API Connect allows us to quickly create proxy APIs and saves time on end-to-end testing, which lets us deliver quickly to clients."

"API Connect is a good product, and everything works fine. All the analytics are good, and it is easy to follow up. I like it in that sense. I'm more focused on following up on analytics by seeing how many API calls we are getting and where we see a lot of problems. I was working on that API level."

"The most valuable features are stability and security."

"API Connect's data gateway is one of the strongest in the market."

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

"Since it runs on top of Datapower, all Datapower based custom policies can be utilized and exported to API connect but its not straightforward/simple process."

"One of the most valuable features is the easy-to-use web interface."

More IBM API Connect pros

"The reason why we selected the solution originally was because of its ability to have a gateway both on-premise and in the cloud. This is the most valuable aspect of the solution for us."

"Very few outages or SLA issues."

"The control that we have and the security features are very valuable. With regard to API implementation or API orchestration, it works very well in the cloud because as soon as you create an API with one click, you can actually expose your APIs."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to have different packages based on the API keys. The same core system can have different packages based on different environments."

"The platform's most valuable features are its capabilities to support security measures such as tokenization, token refresh, throttling, and enforcement of payloads."

"It is easy to work with ."

"When we did the product evaluation, we saw that TIBCO Mashery offers end-to-end API life cycle management. It provides all API features that are required for managing the complete life cycle. It includes the developer portal and tools for API monitorization. The out-of-box security features that TIBCO Mashery provides are enterprise-grade, which gives it an edge over other API products."

"This has provided a new stream of traffic and exposure of our catalogue beyond the normal web store offering."

More TIBCO Cloud API Management pros

Cons

"The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side."

"There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps."

"Understanding the architecture, deployment criteria, and communication methods of the installation can be time-consuming."

"The installation process could use improvement. I hope that in the next release, the installation process is easier."

"It is expensive within this class of products."

"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."

"Business applications could be exposed to users."

"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."

More IBM API Connect cons

"We observed delays under heavy load conditions, and without proper tuning, changes could take an extended period to filter and become effective."

"TIBCO Cloud API Management should improve its installation and make it easy."

"The management console of API and customers' applications are not the most intuitive."

"I'd like to see TIBCO integrate authentication and security features into Mashery."

"Policy management has been a bit of a concern."

"The way agile life cycle is working needs improvement. I also want to see more support for open API standards. I want to see some improvement on the protocol transformation. That is quite missing now. These are the three main issues."

"It lacks many features at the API gateway compared to other solutions."

"The security needs improvement, specifically, propagation of security to an API. Calling other APIs is something that is missing in the product and that makes us think about going to a competitor."

More TIBCO Cloud API Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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 is a pretty expensive tool."

"API Connect is quite pricey."

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

"It should be cheaper. It has a yearly licensing."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"TIBCO Cloud API Management is not an expensive solution."

"Licensing is quite flexible."

"We have secured terms on which we have been happy to renew for a number of years."

"Its price is pretty reasonable. There are some lightweight API options available in the market, but given the feature set that TIBCO provides, its price is really reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

24%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

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.

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 TIBCO Cloud API Management?

The platform's most valuable features are its capabilities to support security measures such as tokenization, token refresh, throttling, and enforcement of payloads.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TIBCO Cloud API Management?

My primary role was to assess the solution from a capability perspective. So, there are some issues with the licensing cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with TIBCO Cloud API Management?

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 25% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs TIBCO Cloud API Management

Compared 28% of the time

Layer7 API Management vs TIBCO Cloud API Management

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs TIBCO Cloud API Management

Compared 14% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs TIBCO Cloud API Management

Compared 12% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs TIBCO Cloud API Management

Compared 10% of the time

More TIBCO Cloud API Management Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

May 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

TIBCO Cloud API Management

April 2025

Download TIBCO Cloud API Management product report

Also Known As

No data available

Mashery API Management

Overview

IBM API Connect facilitates API management and integration in the financial sector. Companies use it to expose, secure, and manage APIs for banking, insurance, and fintech, deploying it on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid solution.

IBM API Connect focuses on creating and monetizing APIs while enabling seamless transactions and integration with third-party services. It is vital for compliance with regulations and enhances external communication among institutions. With deployment options suitable for different environments, it supports centralized gateway management, robust security features, and comprehensive API lifecycle management. Users benefit from powerful analytics, user-friendly interfaces, and high performance with capabilities in message transformation and efficient monitoring.

What are the most important features?

Centralized Gateway: Manages all APIs through a single entry point.
Robust Security: Ensures API protection with advanced security measures.
Comprehensive API Lifecycle Management: Covers creation, deployment, and retirement of APIs.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies API creation and management tasks.
Powerful Analytics: Provides insights into API usage and performance.
Seamless Integration: Connects easily with third-party services and internal systems.
Flexible Deployment Options: Supports on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
High Performance: Optimizes API performance and reduces latency.
Message Transformation: Manipulates and formats messages between different systems.
Visualization Tools: Enables clear and detailed views of API usage statistics.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

API Monetization: Generates additional revenue streams from APIs.
Enhanced Compliance: Ensures adherence to industry regulations and standards.
Improved External Communication: Facilitates integration and communication among financial institutions.
Technical Support: Benefit from reliable customer support and easy configuration.
Deployment Flexibility: Choose from on-premises, cloud, or hybrid options.

IBM API Connect is extensively implemented in the financial sector, enabling banking, insurance, and fintech services to manage APIs efficiently. Companies use it to ensure secure transactions, integration with third-party services, and compliance with regulatory standards. Its deployment flexibility accommodates different infrastructure needs, making it suitable for a wide range of financial applications.

IBM

APIs are critical business assets that form the foundation of digital business enabling new business models, improved operational efficiency, and connected customer experiences. TIBCO Cloud API Management empowers users to maximize the business value of their APIs products through an end-to-end solution that provides full lifecycle API management alongside capabilities for API discovery, implementation and analytics that speed business value realization across your digital ecosystem.

TIBCO

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

uShip, Sabre, TouchTunes, Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, athenahealth, Coca-Cola Enterprises, CentralIndex.com, Constant Contact, Edmunds.com, FoodEssentials, Getty Images, Klout, Rovi, Rotten Tomatoes, Sportradar, TomTom, ACTIVE.com

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. TIBCO Cloud API Management

April 2025

Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. TIBCO Cloud API Management

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