IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs webMethods.io comparison

IBM WebSphere Message Broker and webMethods.io are both solutions in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category. IBM WebSphere Message Broker is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while webMethods.io is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9. IBM WebSphere Message Broker holds a 4.0% mindshare in E, compared to webMethods.io’s 11.3% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM WebSphere Message Broker users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of webMethods.io users who would recommend it.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

891 Views
668 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

webMethods.io

Read 93 webMethods.io reviews

8,870 Views
1,508 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

webMethods.io

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

IBM WebSphere Message Broker and webMethods.io compete in the integration space. webMethods.io seems to have the upper hand due to its modern features and flexibility, particularly in cloud environments.

Features: IBM WebSphere Message Broker is recognized for its secure communication protocols, scalability, and robust message processing capabilities. webMethods.io offers dynamic integration capabilities, easy-to-use APIs, and extensive cloud support, making it ideal for businesses integrating cloud applications.

Room for Improvement: IBM WebSphere Message Broker could benefit from a more streamlined deployment process and reduced complexity in setup. Enhancing cloud compatibility may also be advantageous. webMethods.io could improve by expanding support for legacy systems and offering more robust documentation. Integration with non-standard protocols could also be enhanced.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM WebSphere Message Broker requires more traditional deployment methods, which can be complex and time-consuming but offers deep and prompt customer support. webMethods.io, being cloud-native, allows a streamlined and efficient deployment process with customer service known for swift issue resolution.

Pricing and ROI: IBM WebSphere Message Broker has a high initial cost but is designed for long-term value in large-scale implementations. webMethods.io offers a flexible pricing model with lower initial costs, attractive to small and medium businesses, and provides quick ROI through its agile deployment model.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. webMethods.io Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. webMethods.io

September 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 WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

9th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (17th)

webMethods.io

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

3rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business-to-Business Middleware (3rd), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (11th), API Management (11th), Cloud Data Integration (10th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 4.0%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of webMethods.io is 11.3%, up from 10.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
webMethods.io	11.3%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker	4.0%
Other	84.7%

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar

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.

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MohanPrasad

Senior Consultant at Brillio

Smooth integration and enhanced deployment with high licensing cost

webMethods.io was used to integrate APIs through the webMethods.io platform, trigger database events, and connect backend APIs through a Java backend. It was used extensively for integration purposes in my organization Integration became smoother, troubleshooting was easier, and deployment and…

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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

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

"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 documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."

"The solution has good integration."

"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."

"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."

"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."

"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"Some of the key features are the integration platform, query mechanism, message handling within the bus, and the rules engine. We've had a really good experience with webMethods Integration Server."

"The core product can be used not only for automatic file transfers between applications, but also as an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)."

"The comprehensiveness and depth of Integration Servers' connectors to packaged apps and custom apps is unlimited. They have a connector for everything. If they don't, you can build it yourself. Or oftentimes, if there is value for other customers as well, you can talk with webMethods about creating a new adapter for you."

"The product is very stable."

"When it comes to the user interface, I'm already really used to it. I cannot say anything against it. For me, it's easy to use."

"It is a bundled product stack for A2A and B2B usage. It is one of the best products which I have used during my integration career."

"The product is powerful, straightforward, and easy to use."

"We needed a tool that was able to orchestrate and help us configure our APIs so that we could maintain and see the heartbeat, traffic, trends, etc."

More webMethods.io pros

Cons

"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."

"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."

"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."

"It is currently a weighty product."

"The installation configuration is quite difficult."

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."

"The product's features are not being upgraded or enhanced by the vendor"

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"With performance, there is room for improvement in regards to if we would like to put another extra layer of security on it, such as SSL. This is affecting their performance quite significantly. They need to improve the process of managing the SSL and other things inside their solutions, so there will not be quite such a significant impact to the performance."

"A while ago, they were hacked, and it took them a very long time to open their website again in order to download any service packs or any features. I don't know what they could do differently. I know that they were vulnerable, and there was some downtime, but because they were down, we were unable to download any potential service packs."

"We'd like for them to open up to a more cloud-based solution that could offer more flexibility and maybe a better rules engine or more integration with rules engines."

"The UI for the admin console is very old. It hasn't been updated for years and is pretty much the same one that we started with. This is something that could be refreshed and made more modern."

"webMethods Integration Server needs to add more adapters."

"This product has too many gaps. You find them after update installations. This should be covered by automatic testing."

"Other products have been using AI and cloud enhancements, but webMethods Integration Server is still lagging in that key area."

"webMethods.io needs to incorporate ChatGPT to enhance user experience. It can offer a customized user experience."

More webMethods.io cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"The solution is expensive."

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is high and I give it a five out of ten."

"Some of the licensing is "component-ized," which is confusing to new users/customers."

"Pricing has to be negotiated with the local Software AG representative. SAG can always prepare an appropriate pricing model for every client."

"Initialy good pricing and good, if it comes to Enterprise license agreements."

"The vendor is flexible with respect to pricing."

"There are no hidden costs in addition to the standard licensing fees for webMethods. For corporate organizations, it's a very cheap or fairly priced product, but for growing or small businesses, it's quite expensive. These businesses would probably need to consider an enterprise services bus at some point. Thus, from a pricing point, it closes out non-cooperate businesses."

"Its cost depends on the use cases."

"I don’t have much idea about prices, but webMethods API Portal is not something cheaper."

More webMethods.io pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	63

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about Built.io Flow?

The tool helps us to streamline data integration. Its BPM is very strong and powerful. The solution helps us manage digital transformation.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Built.io Flow?

webMethods.io is expensive. We have multiple components, and you need to pay for each of them.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Built.io Flow?

webMethods.io needs to incorporate ChatGPT to enhance user experience. It can offer a customized user experience.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 43% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 8% of the time

Magic xpa Application Platform vs IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Compared 7% of the time

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IBM App Connect vs webMethods.io

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs webMethods.io

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Integration Bus vs webMethods.io

Compared 7% of the time

Apigee vs webMethods.io

Compared 7% of the time

Boomi iPaaS vs webMethods.io

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

September 2025

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Buyer's Guide

webMethods.io

September 2025

Download webMethods.io product report

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

Built.io Flow, webMethods Integration Server, webMethods Trading Networks, webMethods ActiveTransfer, webMethods.io API

Overview

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

webMethods.io Integration is a powerful integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that provides a combination of capabilities offered by ESBs, data integration systems, API management tools, and B2B gateways.

IBM

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Cisco, Agralogics, Dreamforce, Cables & Sensors, Sacramento Kings

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. webMethods.io

September 2025

Free Report: IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. webMethods.io

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. webMethods.io and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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