IBM App Connect vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform comparison

IBM and Salesforce are both solutions in the Cloud Data Integration category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.3, while Salesforce is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2. IBM holds a 3.6% mindshare in CDI, compared to Salesforce’s 5.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Salesforce users who would recommend it.

IBM App Connect

Read 26 IBM App Connect reviews

2,260 Views
1,220 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Read 60 MuleSoft Anypoint Platform reviews

10,232 Views
2,046 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IBM App Connect

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and IBM App Connect both compete in the API management and integration platform category, with MuleSoft's flexibility offering a competitive advantage for complex integrations, while IBM's strength lies in security and deployment options.

Features: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform provides end-to-end integration capabilities with a robust API management suite. It includes diverse connectors, excellent monitoring, and ease of use for complex integrations. IBM App Connect is praised for its strong security, scalability, and ability to manage diverse datasets efficiently.

Room for Improvement: MuleSoft could benefit from enhancing runtime management and B2B integration features while refining its pricing model and community support. IBM App Connect needs improved ease of use and better integration with new applications, along with more efficient technical support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform offers deployment flexibility across public, private, and hybrid clouds, though it receives mixed reviews on support response times. IBM App Connect is mainly used in on-premises and private cloud environments and is noted for its responsive and dedicated support team.

Pricing and ROI: MuleSoft's premium pricing model can be complex but delivers favorable ROI for large enterprises. IBM App Connect also has a higher price point, providing quality solutions that suit larger enterprises and offer substantial ROI in infrastructure and maintenance for extensive deployments.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

December 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM App Connect enhances ROI by reducing resource needs and managing complex operations, requiring skilled practitioners for optimal results.

Sentiment score

5.5

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform provides ROI through cost efficiency, reduced maintenance expenses, and enabling reuse in enterprises and smaller businesses.

IBM App Connect definitely saves significant time, approximately 50 to 60%.

Nirav Patel

Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

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

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.7

IBM App Connect's 24/7 support offers timely help, though complex issues need escalation and response times could improve.

Sentiment score

6.7

MuleSoft Anypoint has highly-rated support with fast response times, though documentation and response times need improvement.

When opening a ticket with the global team, problems are resolved promptly and effectively.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

The customer support is available 24/7.

Nirav Patel

Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

The technical support from IBM is good.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

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

I would probably rate the support for MuleSoft Anypoint Platform a nine on a scale from one to ten.

Greg O

Senior Validation Engineer at Weir Group PLC

The Salesforce team offers different levels of support.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

The support team is responsive and helpful.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

IBM App Connect excels in cloud scalability, notably in Kubernetes, though costs and larger payloads can challenge Hypervisor Edition.

Sentiment score

7.3

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform offers scalable, flexible solutions for enterprises, though automated scalability and data demands can be limiting.

IBM App Connect demonstrates good scalability.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

I would rate the scalability of IBM App Connect as nine out of ten.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

IBM App Connect is very scalable and a flexible tool.

Nirav Patel

Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

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

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is quite scalable, and it meets our use cases with no issues preventing implementation.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

MuleSoft provides the ability to scale, yet it is costly to do so.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

IBM App Connect is praised for stability, with issues mostly in complex cases and quick responses to reported problems.

Sentiment score

7.7

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is stable, though users report occasional connector issues and variability in scalability and performance.

Some companies require multiple configurations, including ODBC connections, JDBC connections, different BI databases, main databases, and replication servers.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

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

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Room For Improvement

IBM App Connect needs improvements in logging, interface, integrations, setup, cost, security, debugging, observability, and reliability.

MuleSoft users seek faster updates, improved support, better pricing, enhanced UI, and expanded Anypoint MQ and integration capabilities.

Version 13 includes around 200 features with cloud platform compatibility.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

I find it particularly good for on-premises and now cloud use.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Better debugging and observability would help us track any single transaction end-to-end across steps and connectors.

Nirav Patel

Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

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

MuleSoft is considered expensive, so pricing is a major concern.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

When dealing with multiple transactions or trading, the system can lose control, and tracking becomes hectic.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

Currently, it uses other standards, but adopting OpenAPI, the standard in the market, would be beneficial.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Setup Cost

IBM App Connect is costly but valued by enterprises for quality; licensing complexities require expertise and allow for discounts.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is costly, best for larger organizations, offering workload reduction but requires careful cost planning.

For insurance companies with simple JDBC connections, the process is straightforward.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

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

MuleSoft is considered one of the more expensive products in the market.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

I do not know the specific costs, but given that it is part of MuleSoft, I suspect it is not cheap.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The platform reduces manual workload in maintaining infrastructure, but it does come with some cost considerations.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Valuable Features

IBM App Connect offers easy integration with minimal coding, pre-built adapters, security, scalability, rapid deployment, and flexible integration.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform excels in API management, seamless integration, user-friendly design, scalability, and connectivity for hybrid environments.

Overall, 50 to 60% of the time is saved when using IBM App Connect.

Nirav Patel

Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees

The transformation capabilities in IBM App Connect are particularly beneficial.

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

The features I find most valuable are message routing, message transformation, and protocol translation.

AvinashArepaka1

Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

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

The most valuable feature is the full lifecycle management, including Anypoint Designer and Exchange, as well as Discofolio API.

reviewer2591856

Integration Lead at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

The platform is integrated with Salesforce, making it preferable when using Salesforce products.

Satish Vardhani

Senior Consultant at Radiotechnologies

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform helps to standardize data integration approaches, making it easier to implement integration projects.

PietroDell'Erba

Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform report

Categories and Ranking

IBM App Connect

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

13th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Message Queue (MQ) Software (4th), Business-to-Business Middleware (1st), Workload Automation (4th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM App Connect is 3.6%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is 5.6%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Data Integration Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform	5.6%
IBM App Connect	3.6%
Other	90.8%

Cloud Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

Transforms data efficiently and navigates licensing challenges with ease

The transition between version 12 and version 13 presents some challenges. While version 12 had approximately 10 features, version 13 includes around 200 features with cloud platform compatibility. The learning curve for developers moving from version 12 to 13 could be smoother. When using new components, better context explanations would be beneficial. In version 13, accessing new features requires connecting through a web browser, which can be challenging to understand. The explanation of new features could be more user-friendly.

Read full review

Greg O

Senior Validation Engineer at Weir Group PLC

Integration workflows have become transparent and secure while error tracking is streamlined

The best features in MuleSoft Anypoint Platform for me are transparency between logging in or deploying and using different environments. Managing different environments for the transparency of error logins or how to trace traceability is very important. It's very easy to use and sort, so you can see where everything has gone right and everything has gone wrong. I'm aware of the drag-and-drop interface in MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, and it's very, very quick. It's very time-saving and very efficient. The security features on MuleSoft Anypoint Platform help maintain data integrity in my organization; I would say it's second to none. It's one of the best out there that I have worked with because of the encryption and decryption, and there are a lot of security aspects. I would assess the platform's data mapping and transformation capabilities as amazing. Automation has been straightforward; the transformation and mapping have been easy to use, easy to source, and from the source to the target. I would say it has been very good.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	30

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM App Connect?

I like the adapters. The adapters help us achieve scalability. If you want to connect to SAP, there's an adapter. Salesforce? There's an adapter. You want to connect to another system? There's like...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM App Connect?

Configuration time varies by implementation. For insurance companies with simple JDBC connections, the process is straightforward. However, companies requiring multiple configurations for ODBC, JDB...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM App Connect?

I am a developer specializing in IBM App Connect. We have a customer interested in comparing ESB tools, such as webMethods, which was previously owned by Software AG company before IBM acquired the...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Mule Anypoint Platform?

I architected solutions using Oracle SOA/OSB, Spring Boot, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform on cloud / on-premises and hybrid modes; What I see is though if you are an enterprise and have enough money th...

See all answers

How does TIBCO BusinessWorks compare with Mule Anypoint Platform?

Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether TIBCO BusinessWorks or Mule Anypoint platform integration and connectivity software was the better fit for us. We decided to go with Mule...

See all answers

What can Mule Anypoint Platform be used for and what do you use it for most often?

This is a very flexible solution that comes with multiple uses. My organization mostly uses Mule Anypoint Platform for API management, as it lets us build new APIs easily and design new interfaces...

See all answers

Comparisons

webMethods.io vs IBM App Connect

Compared 24% of the time

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration vs IBM App Connect

Compared 10% of the time

TIBCO BusinessWorks vs IBM App Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle Integration Cloud Service vs IBM App Connect

Compared 5% of the time

Matillion Data Productivity Cloud vs IBM App Connect

Compared 5% of the time

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Redwood RunMyJobs vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 16% of the time

Tidal by Redwood vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Boomi iPaaS vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 3% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 3% of the time

Infor ION vs MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Compared 2% of the time

More MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect

January 2026

Download IBM App Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

January 2026

Download MuleSoft Anypoint Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM Cast Iron

Data Integrator, Anypoint MQ

Overview

Rapidly connect public clouds, private clouds and on-premises application

App Connect Professional is IBM’s cloud integration offering which delivers an integration solution
• With ease-of-use, flexibility and increased responsiveness to the evolving business needs, while removing the daunting complexities of integration.
• Provides the powerful combination of a ‘simple integration experience’ for business users looking to automate how their applications talk to each other; coupled with a ‘configuration based integration’ approach for IT.
• App Connect Professional is for the teams and integration developers who need to solve more complex problems and need powerful tooling for integration scenarios

IBM

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform provides API management and integration capabilities with scalability, ensuring seamless connectivity across systems.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform offers API management and integration capabilities within a user-friendly interface. With a range of connectors and the ability to handle integration patterns, it enables data integration across environments with support for API-led connectivity. High scalability, observability, batch processing, and tooling are key features, enhancing performance while simplifying deployment.

What are the standout features of MuleSoft Anypoint Platform?

API Management: Comprehensive tools for managing APIs effectively.
Integration Capabilities: Facilitates diverse integration patterns.
Connectors: Extensive library for connecting various systems.
Observability: Enhances monitoring and performance tracking.
Batch Processing: Manages large volumes of data efficiently.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Scalability: Adaptable to growing data demands across platforms.
Performance: Simplifies complex deployments and improves processing.
Flexibility: Supports multiple environments, from cloud to on-premises.
User-Friendly: Streamlines integration processes with robust tools.

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is employed by organizations for API management and seamless integration across systems in industries like retail and e-commerce. It connects enterprise applications in environments such as SAP and Salesforce. Users leverage it for data transformation and synchronization, achieving efficient real-time processing and a middleware layer across systems.

Salesforce

Sample Customers

United Way of Allegheny County, Saint-Gobain CPS, Ricoh, SunTrust Banks Inc.

VMware, Gucci, MasterCard, Target, Time Inc, Hershey's, Tesla, Spotify, Office Depot, Intuit, CBS, Amtrak, Salesforce, Gap, Ralph Lauren

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

December 2025

Free Report: IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM App Connect vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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