IBM API Connect vs WSO2 API Manager comparison

IBM and WSO2 are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.1, while WSO2 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 4.9% mindshare in APIM, compared to WSO2’s 4.3% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of WSO2 users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 79 IBM API Connect reviews

6,454 Views
6,067 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

WSO2 API Manager

Read 42 WSO2 API Manager reviews

4,974 Views
4,875 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

WSO2 API Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

IBM API Connect and WSO2 API Manager are competitors in API management solutions. IBM API Connect seems to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive security features and enterprise capabilities, while WSO2 API Manager offers a more cost-effective open-source alternative.

Features: IBM API Connect offers robust security gateways, seamless integration, and supports OAuth for secure communication. It is flexible in microservices development and aids in monetization with robust analytics. WSO2 API Manager, being open-source, allows easy API management lifecycle, customization, and integration, and offers cost-effective solutions.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could enhance integration with systems like Exchange Server, simplify configuration, and improve monitoring features. Users request better stability and customization options. WSO2 API Manager needs an improved user interface and better documentation for complex operations. Less technical users find the integration and configuration challenging, needing usability and enterprise support feature improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect can be deployed on-premises, in private, public, or hybrid clouds, offering flexibility but requiring significant configuration. Its customer service is generally responsive but sometimes slow. WSO2 API Manager supports multiple deployment models but has a steep learning curve due to complex setup. Customer support is an area for improvement, with challenges in timely technical assistance access.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect is seen as expensive with a complex pricing structure, but its features justify this for users valuing improved governance and security with noticeable ROI over time. WSO2 API Manager is praised as cost-effective for smaller organizations, although enterprise-level support in the free version is lacking, potentially requiring paid options for more features.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager

February 2026

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.9

IBM API Connect saves time and costs, enhances integration, and improves ROI, though microservices' profitability is still unclear.

Sentiment score

7.7

WSO2 API Manager offers flexibility and cost savings, with users appreciating high ROI and efficient migrations and fraud management.

Reducing development hours from eighty to four for an API was possible due to reusing existing scripts from DataPower.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

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.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

Since you can scale it and maintain your work, it is effective.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.2

IBM API Connect's support is responsive and knowledgeable but can be slow, lacking documentation with varied customer service experiences.

Sentiment score

6.6

WSO2 API Manager offers varied support, with valued documentation and community resources but mixed reviews on support speed and communication.

Support is excellent when it comes to APIC.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

Support is extremely good, especially with Sev 1 issues.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

I believe the support is a significant strength for WSO2.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

The support is good, with well-defined documentation and helpful blogs.

AnilKumar40

Senior Principal Architect at 6d Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM API Connect offers scalable API management, supporting large transactions and customizable deployments, making it ideal for enterprises.

Sentiment score

7.5

WSO2 API Manager offers versatile scalability, adapting easily to various needs, despite some challenges with components and configuration.

With container versions, scaling up or down the gateways deployed into pods is a two to three-minute task for the operations team.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

It is distributed among IBM MQ, IBM Ace, IBM DataPower, and IBM API Connect.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM API Connect's scalability is good, as you can handle it easily similar to how you manage cloud providers.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

For the cases I have experienced, WSO2 API Manager is easy to scale.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM API Connect is highly stable and reliable, with minimal issues, especially improved in recent versions, despite initial concerns.

Sentiment score

7.3

WSO2 API Manager is stable, performs well on Tomcat, but memory issues and upgrade challenges require careful management.

The runtime engine for the APIC Gateway is still a DataPower component, which has been stable in the industry for about fifteen years.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

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.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

I do not face any issues regarding API security from OAuth 2 based authentication. It is secured and well-secured, and I have not faced any security-related issues.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

The system is stable for our low-concurrency use cases.

AnilKumar40

Senior Principal Architect at 6d Technologies

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect requires improvements in integration, usability, scalability, support, monetization, documentation, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness across environments.

WSO2 API Manager's complex interface, documentation, support, and pricing hinder user experience, necessitating improved security and communication.

Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Connectivity to MQ is not available in IBM API Connect.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

Our integrations do not handle high-volume transactions.

AnilKumar40

Senior Principal Architect at 6d Technologies

WSO2 released other products that solved everything related to my concern.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect is pricey, favoring larger enterprises, but negotiating with IBM can reduce costs for smaller businesses.

WSO2 API Manager provides free open-source and paid enterprise versions, balancing reasonable subscription costs with competitive features.

Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect provides secure, efficient API management with advanced analytics, multi-cloud support, and intuitive functionality for enterprises.

WSO2 API Manager is scalable, open-source, user-friendly, secure, customizable, and supports microservices, APIs, and real-time monitoring.

It offers significant development efficiency, reducing man-hours from eighty to four when creating APIs.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

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.

Sairathish Murugesan

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.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

The product's capabilities for integrating with REST APIs are valuable.

AnilKumar40

Senior Principal Architect at 6d Technologies

The Lifecycle Management feature helps me manage my APIs when I'm using it.

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

For more quotes and insights, download the WSO2 API Manager report

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)

WSO2 API Manager

Ranking in API Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

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 WSO2 API Manager is 4.3%, down from 4.6% 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	4.9%
WSO2 API Manager	4.3%
Other	90.8%

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

Merna Muawad

Manager, Integration Technical Delivery at United Delta

Middleware integration has become smoother and manages API lifecycles and scopes effectively

Regarding WSO2 API Manager, I have no drawbacks or areas for improvement. However, regarding the Micro Integrator, I had some issues while developing complex services because it was mainly designed to be used for simple services, not complex ones. While using complex services, I encountered some issues. I communicated this with WSO2, and they released other products that solved everything related to my concern. These products were released before my concern was raised. When I explored them, they were pretty good, and I did not see the same issues I had experienced. WSO2 is enhancing themselves, and their products are fine. The previous concern was about the previous product, so it is resolved now since there are new products available. I would like WSO2 to improve quality or response time in support, or both.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

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	15
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	21

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?

I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about WSO2 API Manager?

It is possible to scale up and scale down with the solution...I can say that I have not seen any issues related to scalability.

See all answers

What needs improvement with WSO2 API Manager?

We have encountered some concerns with concurrency. Our integrations do not handle high-volume transactions, and when benchmarking, some issues arose with concurrent testing. It is uncertain whethe...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WSO2 API Manager?

We use WSO2 API Manager ( /products/wso2-api-manager-reviews ) to integrate our telecom products with third-party REST APIs. We are orchestrating services where our business process defines the int...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

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

Oracle Integration Cloud Service vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 17% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 16% of the time

Apache APISIX vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 7% of the time

TIBCO Cloud API Management vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 2% of the time

More WSO2 API Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

January 2026

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

WSO2 API Manager

January 2026

Download WSO2 API Manager 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

WSO2 API Manager provides a flexible, open-source platform for API management, focusing on scalability, containerization, and ease of use in API publication, management, and lifecycle processes.

With robust security and strong integration capabilities, WSO2 API Manager supports microservices and API orchestration. Its advanced features include OAuth2 and identity access management, enhancing deployment, development, and operational efficiency. While praised for adaptability, users suggest improvements in installation, user interface simplicity, third-party integration, and documentation. Enhanced support, security, and expanded monitoring are also recommended alongside better module coordination and navigation. Performance optimization and refined caching mechanisms are valuable areas for growth.

What are the key features of WSO2 API Manager?

Flexibility and Open-Source Customization: Tailored API management for diverse business needs.
Scalability: Efficiently handles growing API demand and workloads.
Containerization: Simplifies deployment in cloud environments.
Robust Security: Protects API calls and ensures safe data exchange.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides insights into API performance and usage.

What benefits should users expect in reviews?

Efficient API Management: Streamlines API lifecycle from publication to retirement.
Improved Integration: Works seamlessly with microservices and identity services.
Operational Efficiency: Enhances development and deployment processes.
Data Security: Secures sensitive information through advanced protocols.

Enterprises utilize WSO2 API Manager for managing APIs in sectors such as banking, telecom, and SmartCity projects. Serving as a digital hub, it enables efficient API publication for internal and external users, ensuring effective API documentation and version control. Its flexibility in API management supports digital integration and service orchestration.

WSO2

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

1. eBay 2. StubHub 3. Cisco 4. Verizon 5. T-Mobile 6. Vodafone 7. Orange 8. BT Group 9. Telstra 10. Deutsche Telekom 11. Swisscom 12. AT&T 13. Sprint 14. Telefonica 15. O2 16. British Airways 17. Lufthansa 18. Emirates 19. Qatar Airways 20. Etihad Airways 21. Air France 22. KLM 23. American Express 24. Visa 25. Mastercard 26. PayPal 27. Western Union 28. Citibank 29. HSBC 30. Barclays 31. Santander 32. Goldman Sachs

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager

February 2026

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