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Amazon API Gateway vs Apiary vs IBM API Connect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Amazon API Gateway is 12.6%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apiary is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.3%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Rahul Kundu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost-effective serverless routing with room for extended timeout settings
We are using API Gateway to route the traffic to our Lambdas. Every API pass is linked to some of the Lambdas. When traffic hits CloudFront, it redirects it to API Gateway, which then redirects it to the respective Lambda server. We have different kinds of services invoked through these Lambdas…
PW
The ability to configure rules to check for consistency has helped
Apiary provides a free tier of the platform which allows a small group of developers to collaborate easily on the design of open source APIs. In addition to this, it provides mock endpoints allowing people to experiment with the API without depending or having to stand up a real backend. With our clients, using Apiary allows us to very quickly pull together an API definition (particularly when using API Blueprint). The whole API design process for the simpler use cases can be done in a relatively short workshop which makes it a lot easier to agree, publish, version-manage an API definition with suitable documentation. This can then be evolved and enhanced (particularly in the documentation aspects). With the ability to support Swagger (Open API v2 and introducing/ed support for v3) and API Blueprint makes it a very versatile tool.
Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features
While Azure API Management offers configurable scalability, IBM API Connect relies on Kubernetes clusters. This might seem manual and require defining cluster instances upfront, but it's completely customizable and not on-the-fly scaling. It's completely custom-driven, not on-the-fly scaling, which some may consider cumbersome. Overall, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Almost all applications we've been exposing lately go through this middleware, so it's used extensively. There are around sixty applications directly using it, but six Kubernetes clusters serve those applications. It's heavily used for integration, including system-to-system integration and product integrations. Our usage has been increasing year-on-year based on our needs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a low-code solution that helps our company manage operations seamlessly"
"t is easy for integrations if it is deployed in AWS Services."
"API Gateway is easy to set up, allows for custom domain assignment and rate limiting based on customer tiers, and works well for defining different states for different customers based on their purchase plans."
"In terms of scalability, I haven't encountered any issues with API Gateway. We've significantly increased our traffic from hitting it once or twice a minute to now hitting it ten to fifteen times within a minute. In an hour, we're receiving hundreds of hits. So, it's performing excellently."
"A most valuable feature of Amazon API Gateway is how quickly we can connect to backend services and have APIs accessible from anywhere."
"The most valuable feature is it has lots of integration."
"It's flexible. It was valuable."
"The best features of Amazon API Gateway include security and metering, which involves the analytical part of how the APIs are being consumed since it's for consumer APIs built for use by other applications."
"I find the generation of mock services very useful, especially when demonstrating for new consumers."
"In two years, there was one time the service was down for an hour or so."
"Git integration"
"Quick and easy way to share a new API design with teams."
"I do like the overall performance of the solution."
"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."
"API Connect's most valuable feature is its ability to act as a gateway. It's very easy to configure security and everything else in it. You don't have to kill yourself implementing custom configurations."
"The centralized management: this provides a management module that can deploy and apply security policies to all APIs, including all the gateways that are deployed on-premises and on any cloud because the gateway component can run at a VMware or in a Kubernetes cluster."
"It is easy to use and stable."
"The gateway is the most valuable aspect of this solution."
"What's best about IBM API Connect is the excellent administration. The development tool that builds the API is also very simple, and user-friendly, and it doesn't consume too much time. Another valuable feature in IBM API Connect is its good reporting feature, particularly for operations, but the most valuable feature of the solution for the customer is security. IBM API Connect provides a DMZ and a security gateway between the external and internal environment, so you can publish your API safely. IBM API Connect can also integrate with any tool or middleware that works on open standards without the need for development or coding, so integration with the solution is easier."
"The solution is very scalable because it's on the cloud."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is that it protects our backend system. We are exposing services to external parties and using this solution to protect the backend system, and to have a navigation in between."
 

Cons

"API Gateway could improve by allowing debugging capabilities, particularly when dealing with high volumes."
"The API Gateway lacks the capability to directly facilitate API strategy development or user onboarding workflows."
"There should be more videos and documentation about the new features that are released every month."
"The integration could be improved."
"Amazon API Gateway will wait for only 30 seconds to get a response from other services, such as the Lambda function."
"The product's high price is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"When using APIs, the manual bit for intermediate confirmation with VTL can be a challenge."
"The solution should include change data capture (CDC) features that will help reduce workload"
"The Oracle release cycle is very bad because the patches only update once a year."
"Swagger (OpenAPI Specification) and Blueprint Support"
"I would like an integrated option to download a Swagger version of the definition."
"The initial setup and installation could be easier."
"Like any typical IBM infrastructure setup, you need to learn to set it up yourself. It's not one of those simple zip files or an archive unzip and you're up and running in some few minutes. Knowledge to set it up is key."
"The solution would be better if it had cloud functionalities."
"Different versions of the same thing can mean unnecessary duplication."
"We have encountered challenges with IBM API Connect, particularly during significant upgrades. These upgrades demand substantial labour and financial resources, including consulting services from IBM. I'd like to see increased flexibility, more frequent updates with new features, an efficient upgrade process, and additional AI capabilities for future releases."
"I would like to see automation of the installation. If there could be a single-click function where you could automate everything, that would be helpful."
"In terms of what needs improvement, some of the product documentation could be better."
"Debugging could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Fees are volume-based."
"It is somewhat costly, particularly when it introduces server-related features, which are often scheduled on our end."
"This is a pay-per-use service, where you only pay for what you use."
"It's cost-effective, even as our workload and the number of APIs we manage have increased."
"There are no licensing fees."
"The solution is expensive. Though the product was previously available at a cheap rate, nowadays it is expensive."
"My understanding is that it easily goes to $14,000 or $15,000 USD each month for each account, and we have several such accounts."
"The product is a little expensive."
"It is easy to get started with personal (free) accounts, but a subscription is required for additional features."
"There is a free subscription option to start and try the service."
"It is a pretty expensive tool."
"It is an expensive solution. The licensing model is based on a per-subscription and per-subscriber end-user basis, meaning the price is determined by the end-users of the platform."
"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
"This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."
"It is expensive when compared to other products in this class. There were no extra fees for add-ons or technical support."
"Pricing for IBM API Connect varies, e.g. it could be subscription-based. Deploying it on private cloud also means you have to own most of the software licensing."
"The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."
"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
5%
No data available
Financial Services Firm
20%
Insurance Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Apigee or Amazon API Gateway?
Amazon API Gateway is a platform that supports the creation and publication of API for web applications. The platform...
How does Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager compare with Amazon API Gateway?
I have found that Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager is the best integration tool out there for API management. It is easy...
Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web se...
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What do you like most about IBM API Connect?
Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and poten...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments. I don't deal with licensing, but compared to other IBM...
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
When comparing API Gateway with DataPower Gateway, several features in DataPower Gateway are absent in the APIC layer...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Autodesk, Fox Digital Consumer Group, iFlix, UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Miovision, Olympusat, PhotoVogue, Royale International Group, Veracode
Microsoft, salesforce.com, Bloomberg, GoodData, Viacom, Akamai Technologies, DigitalGlobe
Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and others in API Management. Updated: June 2025.
861,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.