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IBM DataPower Gateway vs Kong Gateway Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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
5.1
IBM DataPower Gateway offers financial benefits by consolidating features and saving costs, despite being perceived as expensive.
Sentiment score
6.2
Kong Gateway Enterprise scales cost-effectively, enabling quick API delivery and efficient problem detection, with free community accessibility.
We count the number of hits and can say we earn and actually get the benefit from it.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.4
IBM DataPower Gateway support is generally positive but varies in cost, response time, and client engagement quality.
Sentiment score
6.9
Kong Gateway Enterprise's support is responsive and capable, with some feedback on response times and communication improvements needed.
In terms of OEM support, it is poor.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
I would rate the technical support of IBM as an eight on a scale from one to ten.
Software Engineer at EJADA
I would evaluate customer service and technical support as a little bit weak, so I give it a seven out of ten.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The technical support from Kong Gateway Enterprise would be rated about eight, as we missed local technical support.
Enterprise Architect at El Al
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.6
IBM DataPower Gateway is scalable and ideal for large enterprises but may be costly and less flexible for smaller firms.
Sentiment score
6.9
Kong Gateway Enterprise offers scalable integration for diverse environments, excelling in deployments but facing some geographical licensing limitations.
Once you install the product, we can't scale the resources on the IBM DataPower Gateway.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
The scalability of this solution would be rated about eight or nine.
Enterprise Architect at El Al
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
IBM DataPower Gateway is praised for high stability and reliability, especially in finance, with minimal configuration and strong performance.
Sentiment score
7.9
Kong Gateway Enterprise is rated highly for stability, with users praising its reliable performance and improved documentation.
IBM DataPower Gateway does not handle all the traffic on a single node.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
 

Room For Improvement

IBM DataPower Gateway needs simplified scripting, user-friendly design, flexible pricing, enhanced integration, and improved maintenance and customization.
Kong Gateway Enterprise needs improvements in pricing, connectivity, usability, documentation, API features, integration, and intuitive scaling options.
If we require additional features, we can't configure them on the IBM DataPower Gateway.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
Whenever I am writing code, it should give recommendations automatically by incorporating AI so I can write the code in a few minutes or seconds.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
My experience with the pricing of this product is that pricing is too high and should be reduced.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Security is a major concern, especially with new security architecture coming into place.
Business Consultant at Ernst & Young
More plugins for additional integrations would be helpful and openness for traditional development languages, such as .NET, because many enterprises are looking for .NET solutions or incorporating with .NET solutions.
Enterprise Architect at El Al
 

Setup Cost

IBM DataPower Gateway is costly, especially for smaller firms, yet valued by enterprises; more flexible pricing would broaden accessibility.
Kong Gateway Enterprise pricing is competitive, with varying costs, and a cost-benefit analysis is recommended for specific needs.
 

Valuable Features

IBM DataPower Gateway excels in security, integration, performance, and API management, offering robust features like SSL management and load balancing.
Kong Gateway Enterprise offers scalability, security, seamless Kubernetes integration, and customization, enhancing API management with a user-friendly dashboard.
No other Gateway offers this as part of the integration offering.
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
For routing, the IBM DataPower Gateway has multiple URL-based routing and content-based routing capabilities.
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
IBM DataPower Gateway has positively impacted my organization by allowing me to implement rate limits on the different API usage, which is the benefit.
Deputy director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable features of Kong Gateway Enterprise are its seamless integration with Kubernetes and cloud, many plugins that can be incorporated in a solution, and its incorporation with low-code function systems.
Enterprise Architect at El Al
Price is not a concern for us, but based on our experience working with financial institutions, maintainability and security are the primary concerns and areas they focus on.
Business Consultant at Ernst & Young
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM DataPower Gateway
Ranking in API Management
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (5th), Application Infrastructure (6th), SOA Application Gateways (1st)
Kong Gateway Enterprise
Ranking in API Management
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 3.1%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kong Gateway Enterprise is 5.6%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Kong Gateway Enterprise5.6%
IBM DataPower Gateway3.1%
Other91.3%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

AkshaySawant - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
Security features excel but development limitations emerge
We are using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes. As per the development perspective, there are some limitations with IBM DataPower Gateway because it only supports XML and XSLT language, but it does not support the Java language. This is the only limitation of the IBM DataPower Gateway. For the authentication and authorization purpose, we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. It's a very good product. We are mostly using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes and load balancing purposes. If we are handling the load for a particular server, then we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. The IBM DataPower Gateway is mostly used for security purposes. If we have some APIs and we are using some security for those APIs, then we can use it. It can also be used as a load balancer. It's also used for certificate management, user management purposes, authentication, and authorization. For routing, the IBM DataPower Gateway has multiple URL-based routing and content-based routing capabilities. If we have multiple URLs, then we can use an XML script. Using the XSLT language, we can configure multiple URLs and implement URL-based routing. Content-based routing means if we have multiple requests, we can route the request to a particular URL. For this, we need to use the XSLT language only. We can't use XML, Java, or other scripting languages. With IBM DataPower Gateway, we are using all the APIs. All APIs have been configured on the gateway. We have configured the particular TLS profile and some TLS client profiles as well. Using that TLS profile, we have configured the APIs and authentication. We have configured some tokens also, including JWT tokens and different types of auth tokens. There is also a rate limiting feature which we use for handling API loads.
ES
Enterprise Architect at El Al
Seamless integration and efficient security boost API management capabilities
More plugins for additional integrations would be helpful and openness for traditional development languages, such as .NET, because many enterprises are looking for .NET solutions or incorporating with .NET solutions. I mostly missed local resellers or partners that we could use within our enterprise, because it was difficult for some tech personnel to work with remote tech support.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM DataPower Gateway?
The MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) is great because it allows you to easily expose services using various protocols – web services, REST (JSON), and others. This flexibility simplifies things.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
This product is definitely expensive because if any issue occurs in the live environment or production environment, and our organization faces some issue with the IBM DataPower Gateway, then the IB...
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
The developer portal should be an integrated part of IBM DataPower Gateway to improve it. I think it is fine as is, and maybe no other additional features should be included in the next release. My...
How does Kong Enterprise compare with Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager was designed with its users in mind. Though it is a reasonably complex piece of software, it is easy to install and upgrade. While there are different things that ...
What do you like most about Kong Enterprise?
The tool's feature that I find most beneficial is rate limiting. In our usage, especially in the financial sector, we prioritize limiting API usage. This is crucial because we provide APIs to other...
What needs improvement with Kong Enterprise?
Bringing in additional features to Kong Gateway Enterprise would not necessarily help it. Improving the existing features, increasing security, and adding robustness would be more beneficial. The f...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity
Cargill, Zillow, Ferrari, WeWork, Healthcare.gov, Yahoo! Japan, Giphy, SkyScanner
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM DataPower Gateway vs. Kong Gateway Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.