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 #8 with an average rating of 8.3. Oracle holds a 0.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to IBM’s 6.0% 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

434 Views
434 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

6,620 Views
6,421 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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apiary vs. IBM API Connect

September 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

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apiary is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.0%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM API Connect	6.0%
Apiary	0.4%
Other	93.6%

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

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

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

"Git integration"

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

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

"API Connect's data gateway is one of the strongest in the market."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is very easy to use and is something that is easily configurable."

"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 product gathers data to measure API performance."

"This product is well integrated with other products. Its ability to interact with IBM Secure Gateway and other integration products is the core feature. Also, the lead time to put it into production is relatively short ."

"I have found the API Management to be most valuable."

"The solution's technical support team is good."

"This is a very easy to use solution."

More IBM API Connect pros

Cons

"Swagger (OpenAPI Specification) and Blueprint Support"

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

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

"The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."

"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."

"The implementation process could benefit from improvements, as it may take some time to become accustomed to the deployment."

"IBM info-center help documentation also needs improvement. Competitive product like Apigee provide out of the box policies to run Javascript, JAVA and better/flexible logging policies."

"Debugging could be improved."

"The solution would be better if it had cloud functionalities."

"The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side."

"The installation process could use improvement. I hope that in the next release, the installation process is easier."

More IBM API Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a free subscription option to start and try the service."

"It is easy to get started with personal (free) accounts, but a subscription is required for additional features."

"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."

"It can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."

"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."

"It is expensive when compared to other products in this class. There were no extra fees for add-ons or technical support."

"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."

"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."

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

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

20%

Insurance Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	58

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...

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Comparisons

Postman Enterprise vs Apiary

Compared 58% of the time

Apigee vs Apiary

Compared 42% of the time

More Apiary Competitors

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 27% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 13% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

API Management

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

September 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 is an API management tool providing robust security, seamless REST and SOAP conversion, and flexible deployment options for diverse cloud environments. It aids organizations in securing and monetizing their APIs while streamlining the development process.

IBM API Connect offers features like a security gateway, API lifecycle management, and integration with DataPower. Its intuitive interface enhances ease of use, supporting extensive analytics and traffic management. However, there are areas for improvement in automation, system integration, and user configuration. Organizations can deploy API Connect on-premises or in the cloud, delivering secure access control and analytics for banking, financial services, and government sectors. Compliance with standards like PSD2 ensures secure external API exposure and integration with multiple systems.

What are the most important features of IBM API Connect?

Security Gateway: Provides robust protection and data security for APIs.
Seamless Conversion: Facilitates easy conversion between REST and SOAP protocols.
API Management: Supports full API lifecycle management for efficient development.
DataPower Integration: Integrates seamlessly with DataPower for enhanced functionality.
Developer Portal: Offers a user-friendly interface for managing APIs and developers.
Analytics: Delivers powerful insights through comprehensive API analytics.
Flexible Deployment: Supports deployment on different cloud platforms for versatility.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from IBM API Connect?

Traffic Management: Efficiently manages high volumes of API traffic without compromising performance.
Data Protection: Ensures data is protected during API communication.
API Monetization: Facilitates API monetization strategies to drive revenue.
Scalability: Provides scalable solutions to handle growing demands seamlessly.

In specific industries like banking, financial services, and government sectors, IBM API Connect plays a crucial role in API management, orchestration, and regulation tasks. It provides secure access, control, and compliance with industry standards, serving as an essential gateway for data exchange and integration across multiple systems.

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

September 2025

Free Report: Apiary vs. IBM API Connect

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