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Mule ESB vs TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 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

Mule ESB
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of Mule ESB is 18.7%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus is 4.0%, up from 3.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
 

Featured Reviews

Maharsh-Kapadia - PeerSpot reviewer
Transforms enterprise integration with comprehensive platform and excellent support
The best features of this solution are that everything we get into a single platform, whether it's integration, API, or data modeling; everything is available in one platform. It's a hybrid, including cloud and on-premise solutions with good connectivity and good connectors. From the benefits of using Mule ESB, we could reduce the manual tasks to 50% in one to two years. The cost is still something we are trying to make lower because we see some advantages when we move from point-to-point integration to API-led connectivity. We have seen a lot of reusable assets, so the cost is reduced. Ultimately, we want to see how it's transformed into business revenue; that's what we are still looking into.
Mustofa Yonus - PeerSpot reviewer
A robust product that needs to improve the functionality it offers related to API lifecycle management
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a six to seven out of ten. My company consists of around 7000 employees, and we use the solution as an integrated service in around 300 to 400 systems, both internally and externally, making it a huge number. Our company uses the solution every minute and every second, and we can't function without it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The API management capabilities are exemplary. You can apply security policies to most applications, monitor logs, and get analytical data on request reception, response generation time, associated APIs, endpoints, and inbound and outbound messages."
"Everything runs in Java, which is a useful feature."
"The architecture based on events has several connectors which allow integration from external and internal applications of the company."
"The most powerful feature is DataWeave, which is a powerful language where data can be transformed from one form into another."
"The solution doesn't require much code writing and we can develop APIs very easily."
"The solution offers multiple deployment options."
"Once it is started, we don't see any problems on a day to day basis."
"The most valuable feature is the Salesforce integration."
"The stability of this solution is excellent."
"TIBCO has the platform in terms of speed and ease of use."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that the performance is robust."
"The product’s most valuable feature is stability."
"The technology is really easy to learn."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a service-oriented architecture, SOA-based."
"It's very stable and reliable."
"It is easy to develop. It has a very wide range of features. The older versions are very stable, and there are no issues with the product."
 

Cons

"MuleSoft is not so strong in method-based integration, so they're not so functional in that regard."
"The payment system needs improvement."
"It would be much more beneficial if the solution included AI and business process management."
"From my perspective, Mule ESB is lightweight, but it can be improved when it comes to the agility of the system."
"One area that could be improved is the way that policies are propagated when APIs are moved from one environment to another. It's an issue, but when you develop and test the rest APIs in a lower environment and need to move them, there's a propagation process. This process moves certain aspects of the APIs, like the basic features. But when we move them, the policies don't always move with them. The policies should be able to move so we don't have to redo them manually. There are some APIs we use, but it's a bit tedious."
"It's not easy to troubleshoot and we still can't make it work."
"In an upcoming release, I would like to see more additional concept for exception handling, batch processing, and increased integration with other application."
"The stability could be improved."
"If TIBCO could be able to sort the size of their base image in the Container edition, it would be really marvelous. Right now it's around 299 MB. We'd really want it to reduce to a few MBs."
"Issues with the support, the fees, and the termination of the professional services are reasons we are looking for other solutions."
"Our version does not have cloud capabilities."
"I don't like the product's API management platform, as it doesn't offer users enough functionality to help with API lifecycle management, making it a product that is way behind its competitors."
"The stability of their latest version is not on par with their classic version 5.X."
"The solution is very expensive when you use multiple components, it would b better if this could be reduced."
"The initial setup process could be easier."
"We'd like to see improvements in product support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Mule ESB is a costly solution. We pay approximately $80,000 annually for the system. The cost of the number of instances, annual subscription, and cloud hosting services are expensive."
"I think the price is very high. If you use TIBCO BW, the license is for the CPU usage, then the IPS, and support. I also think the license for the product is a one-time expense."
"This is expensive. In my next project, we had to go to other vendor."
"You will not get any support from Mule ESB's team for the tool's community edition...You can get support with the licensed version of Mule ESB."
"This product is expensive, but it does offer value for money."
"The various features and components for this solution are no longer free."
"Regarding licensing and pricing, I find it somewhat flexible. They are more flexible with larger customers compared to small and medium ones, as their licensing model depends on ports and other factors. Large customers benefit from more flexibility in implementation and renewal compared to smaller ones."
"This product is cheaper than some offered by other vendors, although there is a problem because you have to pay for some third-party adapters."
"When it comes to cost, TIBCO is much more competitive than a product like Pega."
"The biggest issue disadvantage of TIBCO is that it is expensive."
"The licensing cost is a challenge for quite a few customers."
"Its licensing cost is considerably high as compared to other ESBs."
"Price-wise, I would say that the product is expensive."
"The price is on the higher side. For the same price, if I go to the previous version, I would have got a lot more capacity with similar kinds of features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Migration from IBM Integration Bus to Mulesoft ESB for a large enterprise tech services company
I was previously part of the Oracle SOA/OSB development team. In my current capacity I architected solutions using MuleSoft Anypoint Platform on cloud / on-premises and hybrid modes and on PCE/RTF ...
IBM Integration Bus vs Mule ESB - which to choose?
Our team ran a comparison of IBM’s Integration Bus vs. Mule ESB in order to determine what sort of ESB software was the best fit for our organization. Ultimately we decided to choose IBM Integratio...
What do you like most about Mule ESB?
The solution's drag-and-drop interface and data viewer helped us quite a lot.
What do you like most about TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that the performance is robust.
What needs improvement with TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus?
I don't like the product's API management platform, as it doesn't offer users enough functionality to help with API lifecycle management, making it a product that is way behind its competitors. The...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ActiveMatrix Service Bus
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ube, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Justice Systems, Camelot
Colonial Life, CTBC Bank, New World Mobility, QUALCOMM, Swisscom Mobile, T-Mobile USA, Tata Teleservices, Telecom Italia
Find out what your peers are saying about Mule ESB vs. TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.