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Apiary vs IBM API Connect vs SwaggerHub 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 May 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 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SwaggerHub is 1.4%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
KavitaChavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Quite flexible and provides excellent performance for API gateway
The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive. In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.
SwaminathanSubramanian - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitating enterprise-wide API governance and management
Some areas of SwaggerHub that could be improved include the interface between the code editor and the visual editor, the integration with private APIs, which currently requires an upgraded account. The scalability also needs enhancement, as it becomes flaky under increased load. Additionally, the versioning management could be improved to be on par with source code management tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Git integration"
"Quick and easy way to share a new API design with teams."
"I do like the overall performance of the solution."
"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."
"It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data."
"Policy configurations are pretty easy."
"Security is well organized and managed within the solution."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"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."
"The capabilities are very good."
"It's quite flexible and easy to deploy, especially for beginners. It has almost all the features that an API gateway should have."
"The most valuable feature of IBM API Connect is the security of the protocol."
"The most valuable features are the collaboration between multiple teams and the control and distribution of specifications."
"I rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten."
"One of the best features of SwaggerHub is how it allows me to create APIs and control the evolution of APIs within an organization."
"One of the best features of SwaggerHub is how it allows me to create APIs and control the evolution of APIs within an organization."
"The tool's most valuable feature is licensing."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy and not at all difficult."
"The scalability is endless."
"It is a stable solution."
 

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."
"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."
"API Connect's analytics subsystem could be improved to make it easier to render content from the analytics system and offload it to an external database."
"The developmental process is not quite user-friendly."
"There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps."
"Understanding the architecture, deployment criteria, and communication methods of the installation can be time-consuming."
"We have asked IBM for scalability and for some other features that we wanted. We had a dialogue with them and in the end, they have agreed to provide us with features related to API setup and security."
"We would have more capability to interact with the catalog and inventories, so a more DevOps-friendly solution is needed."
"The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support."
"More integration and usability with the cloud microservices would be nice"
"We have to use additional tools to test APIs."
"SwaggerHub's UI needs to be improved as it looks very old school."
"It has limited functionality...Unfortunately, some of its features are not what we need."
"It could be more intuitive compared to one of its competitors."
"SwaggerHub could be improved with better integration for tools."
"The scalability aspect of SwaggerHub can be improved. It becomes a bit unreliable when the load is increased and isn't up to par with expectations for scalability."
"Some areas of SwaggerHub that could be improved include the interface between the code editor and the visual editor, the integration with private APIs, which currently requires an upgraded account."
 

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."
"The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."
"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."
"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."
"It is quite an expensive product."
"It should be cheaper. It has a yearly licensing."
"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
"API Connect is quite pricey."
"It has a yearly subscription, but I am not sure."
"The tool is cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Insurance Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Media Company
8%
Educational Organization
24%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
7%
Government
6%
 

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 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...
What do you like most about SwaggerHub?
The tool's most valuable feature is licensing.
What needs improvement with SwaggerHub?
Some areas of SwaggerHub that could be improved include the interface between the code editor and the visual editor, ...
What is your primary use case for SwaggerHub?
I started using SwaggerHub in its previous version, SmartMiner, with a tool called SoapUI. I used it to create mock w...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft, salesforce.com, Bloomberg, GoodData, Viacom, Akamai Technologies, DigitalGlobe
Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Sonic, Zuora, Woolworths, CrowdFlower
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in API Management. Updated: April 2025.
851,174 professionals have used our research since 2012.