Apiary vs IBM API Connect comparison

Oracle and IBM are both solutions in the API Management category. Oracle is ranked #37, while IBM is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5. Oracle holds a 0.3% mindshare in APIM, compared to IBM’s 6.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Oracle users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Apiary

Read 4 Apiary reviews

393 Views
202 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

8,187 Views
4,398 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Apiary

IBM API Connect

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and Apiary compete in the API management space. IBM API Connect seems to have the upper hand with its enterprise-grade security and extensive feature set, while Apiary excels in user-friendly design and efficient collaboration tools.

Features: IBM API Connect includes robust security, lifecycle management, and detailed analytics capabilities. Apiary offers a streamlined design with outstanding API documentation, mock server functionalities, and strong team collaboration features. IBM focuses on enterprise-level security and control, whereas Apiary prioritizes user engagement and ease of use.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could enhance user interface simplicity, reduce complexity for smaller projects, and increase integration support with third-party tools. Apiary might improve by enhancing security features, expanding deployment options for larger enterprises, and improving scalability for high-volume traffic.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect supports hybrid cloud environments with comprehensive technical assistance, making it ideal for large organizations. Apiary’s cloud-based platform offers quick setups and focuses on easy customer engagement. Apiary is known for rapid deployment, while IBM provides extensive configurations and support for complex environments.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect requires a higher initial investment but promises significant ROI with its features for large-scale operations. Apiary attracts startups and small teams with lower setup costs and efficient team collaboration, providing cost-effective ROI. Apiary is budget-friendly for SMEs, while IBM is a long-term investment for established enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed Apiary vs. IBM API Connect Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. IBM API Connect

June 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

Apiary

Ranking in API Management

37th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apiary is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.4%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

Phil Wilkins

Enterprise Integration Architect at Capgemini

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.

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Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan

Solutions Architect at Synechron

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.

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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

"Quick and easy way to share a new API design with teams."

"I find the generation of mock services very useful, especially when demonstrating for new consumers."

"Git integration"

"I do like the overall performance of the solution."

"In two years, there was one time the service was down for an hour or so."

"One of the most valuable features is the easy-to-use web interface."

"It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data."

"Scalable and stable API platform for creating and managing APIs."

"Policy configurations are pretty easy."

"It allows enterprises to expose some of their tech to outside stakeholders."

"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."

"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD."

"Our version supports containerized integration. I can write APIs, which can be moved into a testing environment without needing a forklift. It can check if APIs are compliant before moving them into production."

More IBM API Connect pros

Cons

"Swagger (OpenAPI Specification) and Blueprint Support"

"The Oracle release cycle is very bad because the patches only update once a year."

"I would like an integrated option to download a Swagger version of the definition."

"It is expensive within this class of products."

"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."

"In the next version, I don't know if they've already been included it or not, but the designer and all the tools should be on the cloud. I don't want any external installation or local installation."

"One thing about API Connect that could be improved is the security schemes. There are so many security schemes, and from a product perspective, IBM could improve the user experience of the configuration security scheme."

"The design time setup has a lot of customizable fields, but we need certain standard fields to be added, such as what all of the consuming systems are. This needs to be very clearly articulated during the design time."

"In terms of what needs improvement, some of the product documentation could be better."

"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."

"Firstly, the pricing model, when compared to other open sources, is high. Secondly, the availability of resources in the market, specifically the developers available in the market, is not so much."

More IBM API Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"API Connect was highly expensive for us, but the decision to switch was made before I joined the company. It seems like the company bought it, but they didn't know how to use it. After two years, they decided to reevaluate and conduct some cost estimates."

"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."

"I rate the product price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."

"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."

"This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."

"The price for IBM API Connect is reasonable. It's $20,000 to $30,000 yearly for a subscription, and the pricing could vary around $40,000 per year, per subscription. Its price is reasonable for customers who have around sixty million API calls yearly for unlimited environments."

"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."

"API Connect's license cost could be a little lower. But, unfortunately, there aren't many open-source API gateways. Ideally, some new developers could come up with a minimum-functionality open-source solution."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

19%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Insurance Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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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 potentially billing rules.

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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 products, the licensing is not significantly higher.

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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. Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ ( /categories/message-queue-mq...

See all answers

Comparisons

Postman vs Apiary

Compared 40% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Apiary

Compared 33% of the time

Oracle API Platform Cloud Service vs Apiary

Compared 27% of the time

More Apiary Competitors

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 25% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

API Management

May 2025

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Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

June 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Overview

Apiary's pioneering APIFlow solution provides the framework and tools for developing application programming interfaces (APIs) that share enterprise services and data and help create modern, cloud-based applications and experiences. APIFlow spans the API creation lifecycle, including design, governance, testing, and documentation, while supporting API Blueprint and OpenAPI industry standardsץ

Oracle

IBM API Connect facilitates API management and integration in the financial sector. Companies use it to expose, secure, and manage APIs for banking, insurance, and fintech, deploying it on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid solution.

IBM API Connect focuses on creating and monetizing APIs while enabling seamless transactions and integration with third-party services. It is vital for compliance with regulations and enhances external communication among institutions. With deployment options suitable for different environments, it supports centralized gateway management, robust security features, and comprehensive API lifecycle management. Users benefit from powerful analytics, user-friendly interfaces, and high performance with capabilities in message transformation and efficient monitoring.

What are the most important features?

Centralized Gateway: Manages all APIs through a single entry point.
Robust Security: Ensures API protection with advanced security measures.
Comprehensive API Lifecycle Management: Covers creation, deployment, and retirement of APIs.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies API creation and management tasks.
Powerful Analytics: Provides insights into API usage and performance.
Seamless Integration: Connects easily with third-party services and internal systems.
Flexible Deployment Options: Supports on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
High Performance: Optimizes API performance and reduces latency.
Message Transformation: Manipulates and formats messages between different systems.
Visualization Tools: Enables clear and detailed views of API usage statistics.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

API Monetization: Generates additional revenue streams from APIs.
Enhanced Compliance: Ensures adherence to industry regulations and standards.
Improved External Communication: Facilitates integration and communication among financial institutions.
Technical Support: Benefit from reliable customer support and easy configuration.
Deployment Flexibility: Choose from on-premises, cloud, or hybrid options.

IBM API Connect is extensively implemented in the financial sector, enabling banking, insurance, and fintech services to manage APIs efficiently. Companies use it to ensure secure transactions, integration with third-party services, and compliance with regulatory standards. Its deployment flexibility accommodates different infrastructure needs, making it suitable for a wide range of financial applications.

IBM

Sample Customers

Microsoft, salesforce.com, Bloomberg, GoodData, Viacom, Akamai Technologies, DigitalGlobe

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. IBM API Connect

June 2025

Free Report: Apiary vs. IBM API Connect

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