Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM App Connect vs TIBCO BusinessWorks comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.3
TIBCO BusinessWorks is valued for its flexibility, reliability, and quick ROI, making it a leading business integration solution.
IBM App Connect definitely saves significant time, approximately 50 to 60%.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

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
6.4
TIBCO BusinessWorks customer support receives mixed reviews, praised by some for efficiency but criticized by others for inconsistency.
When opening a ticket with the global team, problems are resolved promptly and effectively.
Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
The customer support is available 24/7.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
The technical support from IBM is good.
Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The technical support from TIBCO BusinessWorks is very good.
E2E Delivery Expert - Ignite Delivery & Technical Enablement at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Customer service is very helpful.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
I rate TIBCO technical support as fantastic on a scale of one to ten.
Lead Solutions Architect at UNSW Australia
 

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
6.4
TIBCO BusinessWorks is scalable and versatile, but users report mixed experiences with autoscaling and cost issues outside the cloud.
IBM App Connect demonstrates good scalability.
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.
Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
IBM App Connect is very scalable and a flexible tool.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is not like AWS where I can add memory or more servers.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
 

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
7.4
TIBCO BusinessWorks is stable and reliable, though version 6 faces migration challenges and SAP Adapter issues, averaging high ratings.
Some companies require multiple configurations, including ODBC connections, JDBC connections, different BI databases, main databases, and replication servers.
Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
TIBCO BusinessWorks is quite stable and scales very well, so we are happy.
Lead Solutions Architect at UNSW Australia
It is stable, however, every now and then, it just ends.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
 

Room For Improvement

IBM App Connect needs improvements in logging, interface, integrations, setup, cost, security, debugging, observability, and reliability.
TIBCO BusinessWorks faces usability issues, high costs, inefficiencies, and lacks advanced integration with AI, IoT, and cloud.
Version 13 includes around 200 features with cloud platform compatibility.
Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
I find it particularly good for on-premises and now cloud use.
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.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
AI-driven features in TIBCO BusinessWorks would be beneficial, so that our business tech BA can do the development rather than needing programmers.
Lead Solutions Architect at UNSW Australia
The learning curve takes time compared to webMethods.
Senior Analyst at Etisalat
They should ensure that what was working in the previous version must also work in the new version of BW six.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
 

Setup Cost

IBM App Connect is costly but valued by enterprises for quality; licensing complexities require expertise and allow for discounts.
TIBCO BusinessWorks pricing is costly for smaller companies but more reasonable for large enterprises with flexible resources.
For insurance companies with simple JDBC connections, the process is straightforward.
Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
Pricing is for an enterprise application, so the company pays for it with a company license.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
The current licensing cost for the product involves our resource sourcing team for negotiations.
E2E Delivery Expert - Ignite Delivery & Technical Enablement at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Because we have enterprise licenses, the pricing for TIBCO BusinessWorks is quite reasonable for us, so we do not see any issue.
Lead Solutions Architect at UNSW Australia
 

Valuable Features

IBM App Connect offers easy integration with minimal coding, pre-built adapters, security, scalability, rapid deployment, and flexible integration.
TIBCO BusinessWorks provides user-friendly, scalable solutions with robust integration and low-code environment for efficient connectivity and rapid deployment.
Overall, 50 to 60% of the time is saved when using IBM App Connect.
Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
The transformation capabilities in IBM App Connect are particularly beneficial.
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.
Developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It's a great software application for the middleware use cases to connect the front channels to the back ends in a secure and safer way.
Senior Analyst at Etisalat
Drag and drop make it easier to build the service end to end.
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
TIBCO BusinessWorks' real-time data exchange capability has benefited our customers greatly; we conduct a lot of messaging with Superstream and external partners, so it works well for us.
Lead Solutions Architect at UNSW Australia
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM App Connect
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Integration (13th)
TIBCO BusinessWorks
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (18th)
 

Featured Reviews

Emirhan Guven - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
CL
Software Developer at Telkom Mobile
Drag and drop capabilities simplify service development for easy building
It is drag and drop. Drag and drop make it easier to build the service end to end. It is easier to build services with BusinessWorks. When I have an architecture designed to plug in the service itself with BW, it makes things much easier. It is easy to integrate, especially when the architecture is well-designed.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Hospitality Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise24
 

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...
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...
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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TIBCO BusinessWorks?
The current licensing cost for the product involves our resource sourcing team for negotiations. It depends on the type of licenses being used, whether perpetual or not. Sourcing manages these aspe...
What needs improvement with TIBCO BusinessWorks?
There could be improvement areas in TIBCO BusinessWorks because every area needs to improve as the industry is demanding and traffic is increasing. Performance and latency could be enhanced. Additi...
 

Also Known As

IBM Cast Iron
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

United Way of Allegheny County, Saint-Gobain CPS, Ricoh, SunTrust Banks Inc.
Euler Hermes, QSuper, Scandinavian Airlines
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM App Connect vs. TIBCO BusinessWorks and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.