IBM API Connect vs WSO2 API Manager comparison

IBM and WSO2 are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.2, while WSO2 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 6.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to WSO2’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of WSO2 users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 75 IBM API Connect reviews

8,910 Views
6,632 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

WSO2 API Manager

Read 40 WSO2 API Manager reviews

6,382 Views
4,570 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

WSO2 API Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and WSO2 API Manager compete in the API management category. IBM API Connect seems to have an upper hand due to its robust security and integration features.

Features: IBM API Connect offers extensive integration capabilities within IBM's ecosystem, significant security features like DataPower Gateway, and OAuth support. It also excels in securing and optimizing API access, and includes comprehensive analytics and a customizable developer portal. WSO2 API Manager is praised for its open-source nature and flexibility, offering seamless integration with various platforms, lifecycle management features, and ease of customization for its developer portal.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could improve by enhancing integration with non-IBM platforms, simplifying complex user interfaces, and addressing setup difficulties. WSO2 API Manager needs to overcome installation challenges, enhance its user interface for better usability, and provide better documentation and support for non-Java platform integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect is versatile in deployment options, suitable for on-premises and cloud environments, though some find its setup complex. Customer service is generally responsive, but documentation clarity needs improvement. WSO2 API Manager supports diverse deployment models and is cost-effective due to its open-source advantage. However, WSO2's technical support resources require enhancement.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect is seen as costly with pricing based on PVU or consumption models, mainly benefiting larger enterprises with substantial integration needs. Its ROI emerges post extensive integration. WSO2 API Manager offers a cost-effective alternative being open source, with additional charges for enterprise support, aligning well with cost-conscious businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager

March 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

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)

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 April 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 WSO2 API Manager is 4.8%, up from 4.1% 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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VishalSingh14

IT Engineer at Reliance Industries Ltd

Easy to deploy APIs and easy to manage CORS configuration

I have used WSO2 Store and WSO2 API Manager at the architecture level. I worked on two versions, namely WSO2 API Manager 2.6.0 and 5.7.0. I have also worked with WSO2 Identity Server versions 5.7 and 5.11. There are certain things that Apigee handles better than WSO2 API Manager. The user interface of WSO2 API Manager is much easier than that of Apigee. The scope of flexibility was much greater in Apigee. In WSO2 API Manager, we had little flexibility and were restricted to a specific software or tool. On the other hand, we had the scope of customization in Apigee.

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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

"It is easy to use and stable."

"The developer portal has been the most useful feature."

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

"What's best about IBM API Connect is the excellent administration. The development tool that builds the API is also very simple, and user-friendly, and it doesn't consume too much time. Another valuable feature in IBM API Connect is its good reporting feature, particularly for operations, but the most valuable feature of the solution for the customer is security. IBM API Connect provides a DMZ and a security gateway between the external and internal environment, so you can publish your API safely. IBM API Connect can also integrate with any tool or middleware that works on open standards without the need for development or coding, so integration with the solution is easier."

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

"The statistics component is easy to use."

"In-built policies and security functions."

"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."

More IBM API Connect pros

"Yes WSO2 API Manager is scalable"

"It's very scalable, which is one of the best features."

"The scalability is fine for our purposes."

"Its open-source features are very good, especially for your production work."

"Most of the time, we need to install a plug-in without having any lapse in services or restarting the application. The WSO2 platform can do all deployments without any downtime."

"It's a good product."

"Helped us to quickly publish our Microservice APIs and enforcing different policies against them, it comes up with features like Security, Throttling policy and it provides complete access to customize API's which actually saves development effort and time."

"Based on the information I have, the solution's most valuable feature is its capability of implementing custom solutions."

More WSO2 API Manager pros

Cons

"The product's setup phase and its setup for the users in different environments, along with DevOps integration, are areas of concern where there is a need for improvement."

"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."

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

"The developer portal could be easier to customize."

"The solution is overly complex."

"The developmental process is not quite user-friendly."

"In terms of what needs improvement, some of the product documentation could be better."

"Extracting the data could be improved."

More IBM API Connect cons

"WSO2 API Manager could improve the API approval system."

"API Manager is not easy to scale because some of its components lack scalability. It's a difficult point. Especially because companies are so cloud-based these days, microservice scalability is a major thing."

"Integration is an area that needs to be improved."

"The user interface needs to improve, it is a bit outdated."

"We had some problems with the reverse proxy not being able to invoke fully qualified domain names, so we have to build some custom scripts to solve this issue."

"The product hasn’t been updated for some time."

"The tool's commercial aspect could be improved. Pricing varies with partners, so selecting the appropriate pricing can be challenging."

"From a product perspective, the first thing is that although the documentation provided by WSO2 is good, it could be much better. We're in the middle of a complex migration, moving away from VMs to Kubernetes with the latest version of WSO2 and good documentation is essential to us right now."

More WSO2 API Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"API Connect is quite pricey."

"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."

"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."

"It's an expensive product."

"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."

"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."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"It's not expensive, but it could be cheaper."

"It is costly, around ten thousand per year, per instance"

"I am using the free version."

"WSO2 API Manager is an open-source solution."

"There is a subscription-based pricing structure and also the open-sourced version available."

"For our projects, we found the pricing to be a little high."

"It is an open-source product."

"The solution costs less than 20,000 euros a year. I'm not sure of the exact number."

More WSO2 API Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

23%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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?

Price depends on many factors like size of the deal, competitive factors, timing, customer profile or where the pricing for API Calls is very competitive comparing to any of the leader players.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?

The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side. Scalability is an issue with IBM API Connect, making it an area where improvements are required.

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?

One area for improvement is monitoring. Dashboards for application monitoring of the APIs would be beneficial, allowing us to check for faulty APIs.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WSO2 API Manager?

We use WSO2 API Manager for our microservices and our APIs, both internally and externally.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 26% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

SAP Cloud Platform vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Apigee vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 23% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 17% of the time

Apache APISIX vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Axway AMPLIFY API Management vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 1% of the time

More WSO2 API Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

March 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

WSO2 API Manager

March 2025

Download WSO2 API Manager product report

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

WSO2 API Manager is a comprehensive platform that allows organizations to design, publish, and manage APIs.

It provides a centralized interface for API governance, security, and analytics.

With features like API monetization and developer portal, it enables businesses to drive innovation and create new revenue streams.

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

March 2025

Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. WSO2 API Manager

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