IBM API Connect vs Tyk comparison

Read 7 Tyk reviews

1,980 Views
1,980 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and Tyk are competing in the API management space. IBM API Connect leads in integration and enterprise-level support while Tyk surpasses in customization and developer experience.

Features: IBM API Connect offers comprehensive analytics, advanced security features, and extensive enterprise integration support, making it ideal for large-scale operations. Tyk features open-source architecture, flexible plugin support, and ease of customization, which benefit developer-centric environments.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could improve in reducing initial setup complexity, expanding flexibility for smaller teams, and enhancing open-source capabilities. Tyk can enhance enterprise-level support, increase integration options with other enterprise solutions, and improve scalability for very large deployments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect uses a traditional deployment model with robust customer support suitable for large enterprises. Tyk supports cloud-native deployments, offering flexibility and drawing on ample community resources, catering to agile teams needing quick iterations.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect typically has higher initial setup costs, justified by robust ROI through extensive features. Tyk's open-source options allow for lower upfront costs, appealing to smaller teams seeking cost efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Tyk Report (Updated: February 2026).

Download the complete report

IBM API Connect vs. Tyk

February 2026

Helped 881,707 peers since 2012

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

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (14th)

Tyk

Ranking in API Management

18th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 4.9%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tyk is 2.0%, up from 2.0% 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	4.9%
Tyk	2.0%
Other	93.1%

API Management

Featured Reviews

Sairathish Murugesan

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.

Read full review

reviewer2113719

Technical Support Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Internal API gateway has improved security frameworks and now provides unified API visibility

The best features Tyk offers are highly customizable options, effective traffic management, and security, making it easy to configure and use. The customizability of Tyk is evident in our validation of the token—specifically with our internal identity and access management. There were challenges on the network side and in managing token validity and the public key, but Tyk allowed us to configure these aspects effectively. I believe those are the standard out-of-the-box capabilities provided by Tyk that we are using, particularly regarding traffic management and security. Tyk has positively impacted my organization by providing standard API management capabilities, such as a single view for all APIs, discoverability, and role-based access control for overseeing who can see which APIs.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product gathers data to measure API performance."

"IBM API Connect is a reliable and scalable solution."

"We are able to share those APIs instantly within the organization; even if we want to share it outside publicly, then we can have those capabilities."

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

"IBM API Connect has a designer and CLI features which can be used to completely automate the API, so if a business analyst has a basic understanding of what the input and output payload is, they can directly create the API."

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

"IBM API Connect is a good product, and their technical support is excellent."

"The ability for all of our web applications to share standard functions and documents easily is valuable."

More IBM API Connect pros

"It is a good product for API management."

"You can set up workflows and write limited pieces of logic."

"The most valuable feature is the load balancing with the circuit-breaker function."

"The portal for developers that this solution provides has great functionality."

"The scalability is very good. That was a key factor in the selection, like how it could be pushed to high volume and scalability, which seemed to be very good."

"The feature I find most valuable is that this solution allows us to manage our security."

"Customer support is excellent, and their support personnel, along with professional services, know the product really well, resulting in a good experience dealing with them."

Cons

"The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support."

"Extracting the data could be improved."

"Like any typical IBM infrastructure setup, you need to learn to set it up yourself. It's not one of those simple zip files or an archive unzip and you're up and running in some few minutes. Knowledge to set it up is key."

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

"It would be nice to have a SaaS solution that can be deployed into the cloud."

"The solution is not scalable."

"Support for this platform could still be improved. It also needs to have more levels of versatility. Its compatibility and integration with different platforms also need improvement."

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

More IBM API Connect cons

"In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the considerations for what those enhancements and extensions are. So it could be slightly better communication with the customer base that would be my main issue with them."

"Sometimes when new features are released, they are not immediately stable."

"Compared to Apigee or Kong, I find they excel beyond Tyk, which is the reason for my score."

"It is a young product and does not have the kind of brand recognition that would make it a more popular solution with our clients."

"We ran it for a while, but then we decided to move away from Tyk, because Tyk's cloud version, the SaaS version, has a significant limitation of limited flexibility, so you can't program very much."

"I would like to see some additional features like having some extensions for .NET core because we use it for our back-end language."

"We would like a better tool for generating documentation for the APIs to be developed."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"API Connect is quite pricey."

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

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

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

"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 can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."

"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."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"It had a free version, which suited many of our needs, but not all, but we were happy to go ahead with the licensed version as well, which is the paid version."

"The price is low compared to other products of a similar type."

"The cost curve is far smoother, both in terms of volume and the number of calls it's running on, compared to most competitors. So it's a tad more expensive at the very low end, but the curve is nothing like Apigee or some of the others."

"There are different versions and plans available depending on the requirements, so there is flexibility in terms of the pricing."

"We are using the open-source version of this product, so there are no licensing costs for its use."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	61

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	2

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 needs improvement with Tyk?

Tyk can improve in terms of AI capabilities, and the developer portal could benefit from enhancements such as user onboarding workflows. The developer community could be better, especially compared...

What is your primary use case for Tyk?

My main use case for Tyk is for internal API gateway. For a banking customer, I have internal APIs and external APIs, where internal APIs are mostly on Kubernetes. For internal API gateway, we have...

What advice do you have for others considering Tyk?

While we could not quantify any commercial improvement, developer experience has definitely improved. I would rate Tyk around an eight on a scale of one to ten because I have worked with other API ...

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Comparisons

Compared 32% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 5% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM API Connect

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs Tyk

Compared 14% of the time

Traefik Enterprise vs Tyk

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs Tyk

Compared 8% of the time

Apache APISIX vs Tyk

Compared 8% of the time

Perforce Acana vs Tyk

Compared 3% of the time

More Tyk Competitors

Product Reports

Download IBM API Connect product report

IBM API Connect

January 2026

Download Tyk product report

January 2026

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

Tyk is an open source API Gateway that is fast and scalable, an API management platform featuring an API gateway, analytics, developer portal and dashboard. Available in three flavours to best suit your architecture and governance. We offer full cloud or on-premises options, and the best of both worlds with our unique hybrid model. www.tyk.io

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

Trip Advisor, Juniper Networks, AT&T