MuleSoft Anypoint Platform Reviews

I worked for a MuleSoft partner for four years before going independent mid 2017.

MuleSoft offers with the Anypoint Platform a unified platform for API management and an integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) as well as an on-premise Enterprise Service Bus pattern.

The iPaaS and API management are offered on CloudHub, MuleSoft's SaaS offering, and is located on Amazon Web Services. API management and the iPaaS run-time can also be deployed on-premise or in a private cloud. The run-time manager, Anypoint Runtime Manager (ARM), for monitoring and alerting on the run-time is located by default on CloudHub (AWS).

The API management capabilities are very mature and allow an organization to re-use microservices. It enables efficient self-service for connecting (external) API consumers through Anypoint Exchange. The API Manager includes out-of-the-box policies that can be used for rate limiting, throttling, and security.

The platform support High Availability, High Reliability and High Performance if the required patterns and network topology are followed.

The platform offers over 200 standard connectors for applications and technology, such as HTTP(s), databases, SOAP, XML, and REST, as well as premium connectors for SAP, HL7, EDI, etc.

Integrations are configured visually by dragging and dropping them on a canvas, but they do sometimes require some coding by Java, .NET or Groovy.

The API management, iPaaS and on-premise ESB run-times are based on the same source code and allow an smooth in-time move to iPaaS, if desired, with minimal changes to the existing configuration and code.

The recent Q3 2017 'Crowd' release of the platform included the flow designer, a browser based visual zero-code IDE for citizen integrators, and additional functionality for API management.

MuleSoft's release calendar is rather conventional with two major, two minor releases and hotfixes in between. The competition sometimes offer more rapid release cycles and provides improved and new functionality with a faster time-to-market.

None.

None. The minimal subscription offered is already highly scalable, and one can always upgrade to more processors, if required.

Good, but a bit formal with following process and policies, but that can be the case with technical support anywhere.

Point-to-point connections. An iPaaS and/or API management offers more advantages, such as shorter time-to-market, less staff required for development and maintenance, less incidents on support, etc.

MuleSoft has a pure and dedicated vertical focus on product development for integration with their API management and iPaaS offerings, which can be consider as a plus.

Very quick and easy. An environment (development, test, UAT and production) can be set up in a couple of hours on an on-premise infrastructure or private Infrastructure as a Service compute cloud.

I worked at a MuleSoft implementation partner in the past that did full implementations and support as well as enabling a customer in-house IT team on the platform.

As far as my experience goes, the vendor team is also strong.

The ROI is very good with this integration platform as is the case with similar iPaaS and API management offerings in the market.

The TCO of an application landscape is heavily reduced by phasing out possible existing middleware, custom point-to-point integration, underlying infrastructure, and reducing technical debt.

Vendor lock-in of existing IT suppliers with possible (legacy) applications and heavy customization can easily be reduced by following the proper implementation approach and by this decoupling Line of Business applications in a landscape. "Legacy modernization" is another use case, that can be realized with the platform.

The API-led approach of MuleSoft offers a very cost-efficient model and re-use for implementation and support of microservices, APIs and (generic) services when followed correctly, and is fully supported and enabled by the web engagement tools of the platform (Anypoint Exchange, Anypoint Portals, and Anypoint Design Center). The approach results in a decrease of maintenance costs and time for internal IT departments and external IT vendors and frees up time in an organization for innovation.

Licensing can be complex as is the case with most iPaaS/cloud offerings.

I would advise on making an overview of the type of connections needed, technology, and applications used and to match this to the licensing model and take the time for the explanation on the licensing model. What is the minimal licensing model, which parts are mandatory, when can you scale up or down, etc. One needs a full picture to understand it.

MuleSoft is also known for Mule ESB, their initial Open Source offering, and this one is still available. It should not, however, be considered for enterprise class use cases as it does not include the required out-of-the-box connectors and requires heavy coding in Java. The Anypoint Runtime Manager is also part of the Enterprise Licenses and no management console is thus available for Open Source making it a black box on production as is the case with custom point-to-point middleware.

BizTalk, Talend, and WSO2.

Using Mule ESB, we have solved all of the client’s integration needs. Because it was developed based on the Java Spring framework, it can easily be understood by folks with a Java background.

As I have used more ESB features, I have grown to love this more than an API gateway. Developing and exposing your API using Mule ESB is also quite interesting and easy to use.

Some improvements are required in the batch component in case of errors in the batch steps and when processing a large volume of data.

There was an issue in the previous version, 3.6. They have improved and it has been stable since version 3.7.

The initial setup was not complex for folks with a Java background. It can be bit complex for people who only have tools experience.

It is a very good ESB tool for integration. It is easy to learn and their documentation is very well organized.

Since we work in a consulting firm, we develop apps on MuleSoft Anypoint MQ. We mainly use this solution for integrations.

The solution is very scalable with solid performance and the capability of extending it using any custom Java in case you don't have anything out of the box. MDP is strong. It is good compared to other products regarding its capabilities in managing or orchestrating the issue load.

The solution is very costly. The solution should provide a package with fewer capabilities at a lower price for specific companies that don’t have a big IT budget. Not every customer requires all the capabilities of the software. It will be a good fit in the market, and they will easily sell it more.

I have been using Anypoint MQ for four years.

The solution is stable.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

The solution is scalable. The solution is for the enterprise solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

I will compare the solution with SAP CPI. It is also for enterprise-level customers like companies with a very big IT spend and infrastructure. It is better in terms of capabilities and ease of use. CPI is more complicated, and it requires a lot of time to learn it.

The initial setup is not very complex. It depends upon the VPN, architecture, and customer. VPN is difficult because you need a network team and an understanding of what’s happening, but it is not involved in Anypoint; instead, it is the whole architecture of the IP landscape, which makes it complex.

We help our customers with initial implementation and then hand it over to the support team for maintenance.

The tool is heavily bundle-priced. I rate the solution’s pricing five on a scale of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap. 

I recommend the product for an enterprise level.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We are using Anypoint MQ for integrating third-party systems with synchronous messaging.

The most valuable feature of Anypoint MQ is it comes with MuleSoft so we don't have to maintain separate components.

Anypoint MQ could improve the user interface.

I have been using Anypoint MQ for approximately three years.

Anypoint MQ is a stable solution. We have deployed it in production.

 We raise tickets with support from Anypoint MQ.

I rate the support from Anypoint MQ a four out of five.

Positive

I have not used another similar solution to Anypoint MQ.

The initial setup of Anypoint MQ was simple for us to do because it is in the cloud. If we use the cloud-based version the setup is easy. however, if you use the on-premise version there will be a lot of things to do.

The solution has a high price.

I rate the price of Anypoint MQ a two out of five.

I can recommend this solution to MuleSoft users. Those are not individual users who only want a messaging system. This solution comes packaged with MuleSoft.

I rate Anypoint MQ a seven out of ten.