Layer7 API Management vs WSO2 API Manager comparison

Broadcom and WSO2 are both solutions in the API Management category. Broadcom is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6, while WSO2 is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.7. Broadcom holds a 3.0% mindshare in APIM, compared to WSO2’s 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of WSO2 users who would recommend it.

Layer7 API Management

Read 112 Layer7 API Management reviews

4,452 Views
3,228 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

WSO2 API Manager

Read 40 WSO2 API Manager reviews

6,382 Views
4,570 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Layer7 API Management

WSO2 API Manager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Layer7 API Management and WSO2 API Manager compete in the API management category. Layer7 seems to have the upper hand due to its strong focus on security and enterprise-level features.

Features: Layer7 API Management is known for its robust security features, including OAuth and access control, its load-balancing capabilities, and its ability to transform legacy systems into APIs. WSO2 API Manager, an open-source platform, offers customization and flexibility, efficient API lifecycle management, and notable integration capabilities for cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Layer7 API Management could enhance its developer portal, support for SOAP services, and built-in policy functions. WSO2 API Manager users suggest improvements in the user interface, documentation, and customization capabilities, as well as better monitoring ease.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Layer7 provides flexible deployment across on-premises, hybrid, and public cloud environments, though technical support feedback is mixed. WSO2 supports various deployment options with strong open-source backing, but commercial support can sometimes lack detail and responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Layer7 is considered expensive with enterprise-level features but offers a strong ROI through flexible licensing. WSO2 API Manager is cost-effective due to its open-source base, although its enterprise version may become costly. Despite higher initial costs, Layer7's comprehensive services offer strong ROI, whereas WSO2 can require more investment in custom development.

To learn more, read our detailed Layer7 API Management vs. WSO2 API Manager Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management vs. WSO2 API Manager

March 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

Layer7 API Management

Ranking in API Management

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

112

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WSO2 API Manager

Ranking in API Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 3.0%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WSO2 API Manager is 4.8%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

Ronald D'Souza

Presales Consultant for CA Southern Africa at Hyperion Holding Pty Ltd

Has great drag-and-drop features and it requires minimal coding

I have mainly implemented using Layer 7 API Management. Some of the major challenges we were able to meet with a quick release to market methodology. Some of the tasks which we achieved for our customers were: 1. Translation service from SOAP to REST and vice versa. 2. API service to DB (Oracle, MySQL, MSSQL, Snowflake, SAP HANA) -- Created Swagger APIs that were able to perform CRUD operation to the backend API mentioned above and provided routes to query and get data. 3. Integration with Payment gateway service providers to perform (transaction on behalf of the customer with third-party payment gateway service providers white labeled with our APIs ) -- Followed TMF standards for payment gateway integration with the Telcom world. 4. Orchestration of the API. Build multiple microservers and provided orchestration based on route, path, and data in the request and perform actions that would be communicated with multiple APIs and provide a single consolidated response. 5. Provided API-driven security (Oauth 2.0, JWT, SAML, Basic, and a variety of means) to access the API giving the developer the freedom to concentrate only on application/service/microservice and let the gateway handle the threat. 6. Seamless Mutual Authentication allowed good segregation between APIs in the DMZ and internal network.

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VishalSingh14

IT Engineer at Reliance Industries Ltd

Easy to deploy APIs and easy to manage CORS configuration

I have used WSO2 Store and WSO2 API Manager at the architecture level. I worked on two versions, namely WSO2 API Manager 2.6.0 and 5.7.0. I have also worked with WSO2 Identity Server versions 5.7 and 5.11. There are certain things that Apigee handles better than WSO2 API Manager. The user interface of WSO2 API Manager is much easier than that of Apigee. The scope of flexibility was much greater in Apigee. In WSO2 API Manager, we had little flexibility and were restricted to a specific software or tool. On the other hand, we had the scope of customization in Apigee.

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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

"We can create multiple orgs and set up policies and management. We can also integrate with an APM solution"

"The speed and versatility in the implementation of APIs without writing a line of code in any programming language."

"It is flexible in how it creates custom policies and uses builds with impressive methods."

"The most valuable feature of Layer7 API Management is that their policy is really easy to develop and it is flexible."

"This improved our organization, because it gives the management data to discuss for the next course of action and it suggests what to work on, as the next thing."

"The latest version that just came out at the first of October really was a powerful move in the right direction. I was very, very pleased with that because it allows now beginning to use information of things. We've got this IOT infrastructure that we can plug into, and for my use cases there are a lot of outdoor sensors that provide valuable information to my customers."

"Some of the performance matrix that API Gateway gives off, we monitor them via SNMP traps, and then we tie them into our monitoring system. You can actually monitor some of the latencies and some of the performance aspects of both API Gateways, as well back end services. So having that line of sight surely helps in terms DevOps."

"It can be scaled as we need. And it can be used in different regions. We have different data centers in the U.S. and Beijing. We use it on-premise, on-cloud, and it can be hosted and used at any place and scaled across the regions."

More Layer7 API Management pros

"The product is easy to use."

"We use the vanilla version of the WSO2 API Manager and integrate additional features ourselves. The basic features of the API Manager, such as blacklisting and whitelisting, are very helpful. We also created dashboards."

"A complete integration suite and a good platform."

"It is a scalable solution because it can be scaled horizontally and vertically."

"The solution is stable."

"Its open-source features are very good, especially for your production work."

"The most beneficial feature of WSO2 API Manager is its capability to use Swagger to define and then populate the API."

"This is a flexible and versatile API management solution that has the power to integrate with more than just API."

More WSO2 API Manager pros

Cons

"The cloud-native architecture of the product needs improvement."

"It would be nice if we could create APIs directly from Swagger files. We're doing that ourselves with a middle layer. But if you could integrate with open API Swagger specs, and then just create a Swagger and upload it to the gateway and it would create all my API template policy, and would apply the OAuth restrictions, the types of security restrictions I have on there, that would be pretty cool."

"Some problems with response time."

"We are looking for improvements related to integration. We want to see them add integration tools to the CA bundle. That would be helpful."

"The UI design could be improved in the next release."

"The delivery is bulky in terms of implementation. Its price could also be better. It is a very good product as compared to CA API, Google API, and WSO2 API, but its price is high. From the cloud-native perspective, some new features need to be added. It could also be made simpler to implement."

"I would like to be able to see the publisher role be able to be organized within organizations, so somebody within that role can only manipulate their particular policies."

"The Portal is not stable."

More Layer7 API Management cons

"Integration is an area that needs to be improved."

"Based on our recent large scaling project, the latency needs to be improved."

"The interface needs to be modernized and made more user friendly so the product continues to have a growing community of users."

"From a product perspective, the first thing is that although the documentation provided by WSO2 is good, it could be much better. We're in the middle of a complex migration, moving away from VMs to Kubernetes with the latest version of WSO2 and good documentation is essential to us right now."

"They don't have different URLs for administrators."

"I would improve the product documentation. There are some gaps, and it can be difficult to find the proper documentation for the product if you need to solve something."

"WSO2 API Manager could improve by adding external API security features, which is one area where there is room for enhancement. Internally, API security is strong, and all other necessary features are already available. It has a solid marketplace, supports both Docker and standalone setups, and offers great enterprise integration. The developer portal has greatly improved the user experience, making it simple and user-friendly wherever we’ve implemented it. Overall, it’s not as complicated as other API gateways."

"I would like it to be a more convenient development platform with the ability to write orchestrations and so on. Our problem with this product is that in my country, we are the only enterprise that has been using this product. We're missing a lot of knowledge from colleagues to consult with, and we also aren't able to recruit people with relevant skills. It is a big problem. The small team that is maintaining this product is the only team that can actually relate to any technical issue. The support that we're getting from the company is not great. There is also a cultural gap there because they're from Sri Lanka, and it is not easy. They're putting in a lot of effort, but they are not meeting our expectations."

More WSO2 API Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are some costs for maintenance that we are charged, but that seems fair because we get the support."

"I do not have experience with the pricing or licensing of the product."

"Pricing is competitive. CA is ready to offer attractive discounts."

"It's my manager who takes care of the pricing. But I keep on hearing that it's a little pricey, it's on the higher side. That is what he says."

"CA has great pricing for gateways, so negotiate with your sales team."

"Pricing for Layer7 API Management is excellent, so it's an eight out of ten. The product is less expensive than other solutions. Layer7 API Management charges you based on the number of transactions, so the enterprise-level pricing my company got was excellent."

"I feel that it is costly for medium-sized companies."

"There are various licensing models for Layer7 API Management. We have to buy additional licenses to get new versions."

More Layer7 API Management pricing and cost advice

"WSO2 API Manager is a low-cost solution. It is one of the most affordable solutions."

"The solution costs less than 20,000 euros a year. I'm not sure of the exact number."

"My previous company paid about 1.2 million dollars, and my current company pays about 300k. Both companies are at the enterprise level."

"It is costly, around ten thousand per year, per instance"

"It is an open-source product."

"WSO2 API Manager is quite an expensive tool. I rate the product's pricing a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low and ten is high."

"I am using the free version."

"We use the open-source version of WSO2 API Manager, there is no cost."

More WSO2 API Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Layer7 API Management?

The solution's technical support is good.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Layer7 API Management?

Pricing is more than average. While I am used to Layer7 API Management ( /products/layer7-api-management-reviews ), seeing other products makes the tool's pricing seem high.

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What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?

Broadcom's push for upgrades from version nine to ten, ten to 10.3, and onwards to twelve needs improvement in migration processes, especially with service dependencies. The migration path sometime...

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What do you like most about WSO2 API Manager?

It is possible to scale up and scale down with the solution...I can say that I have not seen any issues related to scalability.

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What needs improvement with WSO2 API Manager?

One area for improvement is monitoring. Dashboards for application monitoring of the APIs would be beneficial, allowing us to check for faulty APIs.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WSO2 API Manager?

We use WSO2 API Manager for our microservices and our APIs, both internally and externally.

See all answers

Comparisons

Apigee vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 31% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 14% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 12% of the time

Tyk vs Layer7 API Management

Compared 1% of the time

More Layer7 API Management Competitors

Apigee vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 23% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 17% of the time

Apache APISIX vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 13% of the time

IBM API Connect vs WSO2 API Manager

Compared 2% of the time

More WSO2 API Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management

March 2025

Download Layer7 API Management product report

Buyer's Guide

WSO2 API Manager

March 2025

Download WSO2 API Manager product report

Also Known As

CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway

No data available

Overview

Layer7 API Management is a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to securely expose, manage, and monetize their APIs.

It provides features such as API gateway, developer portal, analytics, and security to ensure seamless integration and control over API traffic.

With Layer7 API Management, businesses can streamline their API operations and drive innovation.

Broadcom

WSO2 API Manager is a comprehensive platform that allows organizations to design, publish, and manage APIs.

It provides a centralized interface for API governance, security, and analytics.

With features like API monetization and developer portal, it enables businesses to drive innovation and create new revenue streams.

WSO2

Sample Customers

1. IBM 2. Microsoft 3. Oracle 4. Salesforce 5. SAP 6. Cisco 7. Dell 8. HP 9. Adobe 10. VMware 11. Accenture 12. Capgemini 13. Deloitte 14. PwC 15. Ernst & Young 16. Infosys 17. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) 18. Wipro 19. Cognizant 20. HCL Technologies 21. Tech Mahindra 22. Fujitsu 23. Hitachi 24. NEC 25. NTT Data 26. Ericsson 27. Nokia 28. Siemens 29. AT&T 30. Verizon 31. Vodafone 32. Orange

1. eBay 2. StubHub 3. Cisco 4. Verizon 5. T-Mobile 6. Vodafone 7. Orange 8. BT Group 9. Telstra 10. Deutsche Telekom 11. Swisscom 12. AT&T 13. Sprint 14. Telefonica 15. O2 16. British Airways 17. Lufthansa 18. Emirates 19. Qatar Airways 20. Etihad Airways 21. Air France 22. KLM 23. American Express 24. Visa 25. Mastercard 26. PayPal 27. Western Union 28. Citibank 29. HSBC 30. Barclays 31. Santander 32. Goldman Sachs

Buyer's Guide

Layer7 API Management vs. WSO2 API Manager

March 2025

Free Report: Layer7 API Management vs. WSO2 API Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about Layer7 API Management vs. WSO2 API Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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