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IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Oracle SOA Suite comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

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 WebSphere Message Broker
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
17th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (9th)
Oracle SOA Suite
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
SOA Governance (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 2.1%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SOA Suite is 3.3%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle SOA Suite3.3%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker2.1%
Other94.6%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect at HCL Technologies
Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability
I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.
Debjit Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at Cognizant
Has enabled complex data flow management but faces limitations with modern integration needs
There are areas of Oracle SOA Suite I would like to see improved or enhanced in the future, particularly regarding its adapter capabilities. The popularity of Oracle Integration Cloud nowadays arises from its larger set of adapter capabilities, including numerous application adapters. In contrast, Oracle SOA Suite provides a limited number of adapters. I would like to see more REST-based features added to Oracle SOA Suite, currently lacking, along with an enhancement of file size or payload capability, as the existing limitation is a 10 MB payload size. Additionally, Oracle SOA Suite licensing cost tends to be higher, adhering to a fixed pricing model rather than a pay-per-use basis, which might not be suitable for smaller organizations.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Straightforward development and deployment."
"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."
"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."
"The solution has good integration."
"Performance-wise, this solution is really good."
"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."
"Message Broker is valuable because most of the applications are using MQ. Even in my current engagement, the few applications which I audit to onboard the bank are using MQ."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the option to design, and the development can happen at the same time."
"The Oracle SOA Suite has many useful features, and different organizations may place different emphases on the importance of each feature. Certain features are particularly important to the organization, such as the ability to access databases and transform messages, as well as the use of proxy services to secure web services with usernames and passwords. These features can be critical for enabling effective integration and data exchange between systems and applications."
"The ability to stand up a highly available SOA Suite, which has full DR capabilities, in a remote center and synchronize the databases using Data Guard."
"The most valuable features for us are the APIs, which we commonly use, as well as the scheduling capabilities and file transfers."
"The stability of the solution is the most valuable feature."
"Provides connectivity between discrete systems and has availability."
"Middleware jobs developing for EC, ERP, and shipping systems become easier."
"The product provides transparency in finances."
 

Cons

"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."
"I know that Message Broker was a very tightly copied product with another IBM product, that is, IBM MQ. I would like to have a little bit more decoupling from the IBM MQ because it should not be a prerequisite for IBM WebSphere Message Broker usage."
"The installation configuration is quite difficult."
"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."
"It is currently a weighty product."
"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."
"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."
"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"The product is not user-friendly."
"The interface is too complicated. Making modifications still requires too much technical knowledge."
"An area for improvement in Oracle SOA Suite is the cost. It could be lower."
"The solution’s initial setup is complex and could be improved."
"The installation and adjustment process seems too complex."
"SOA, OSB, SOA Cloud Service."
"Various parts of SOA, BPEL, and so on, each have their own consoles which need to be accessed individually with different logins. It would be better from an admin perspective if all the consoles were accessible via a single login."
"The Maven integration in JDeveloper is very basic and might be enhanced to allow the proper use of Maven."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"
"The solution is expensive."
"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."
"This product is more expensive than competing products."
"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."
"The solution is expensive."
"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."
"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."
"The pricing is not very high as compared to its competitors."
"It is necessary to evaluate the requirement regarding the platform usage and what the main operation area of the platform will be."
"This product is WebLogic based, hence it can be both resource hungry as well as expensive from a licensing point of view."
"Oracle SOA Suite is an expensive solution."
"Oracle pricing is expensive. Support is based on your license. AWS is much better than Oracle in this regard."
"Based on my knowledge, Oracle SOA Suite doesn't have user-based licensing. It has a system-based licensing model, so you pay for whole systems. Oracle SOA Suite is an expensive solution, so it's a four out of ten for me."
"The product is moderately priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
9%
Transportation Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise41
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?
We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.
What do you like most about Oracle SOA Suite?
The solution's XSLT or XSL Transformation feature was very useful.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle SOA Suite?
The setup cost of Oracle SOA Suite is relatively high since various components, including database licenses, WebLogic licenses, VM costs, and SOA licenses based on enterprise and Oracle negotiation...
What needs improvement with Oracle SOA Suite?
There are areas of Oracle SOA Suite I would like to see improved or enhanced in the future, particularly regarding its adapter capabilities. The popularity of Oracle Integration Cloud nowadays aris...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker
SOA Suite
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire
7-Eleven, Arcor SAIC, Banca Transilvania, Eaton Corporation, Emdeon, Ferrovial, Griffith University, National Instruments, Pella Corporation, Vodafone Group Plc,
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Oracle SOA Suite and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.