Apigee vs IBM API Connect vs Tyk comparison

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Apigee

IBM API Connect

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Apigee, IBM API Connect, and Tyk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in API Management.

To learn more, read our detailed API Management Report (Updated: April 2025).

API Management

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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:

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Apigee is 13.7%, down from 15.3% 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 Tyk is 2.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

ShawkyFoda

Senior Consultant at Goverment

Provides high visibility and control with good traffic monitoring

Analytics is one of the areas needing enhancement, specifically more visibility and control over traffic to improve capacity management and high availability. The replication process between Master and Slave for disaster recovery takes too long. Dependencies on analytics impact the performance of the user interface, which should be separate. The complex setup process on-premises, especially with multi-node installations, could also be improved. Additional control in product declarations, based on operations like POST and GET, is needed.

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KavitaChavan

Associate Manager at Baariz

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.

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MarkDoherty

Founding Director at Point Group

Fastest to get up and running and fewer idiosyncrasies than competitors

In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the considerations for what those enhancements and extensions are. So it could be slightly better communication with the customer base that would be my main issue with them. But as a product, it's very difficult to find any major faults.

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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

"It's easy to use and the security features are valuable."

"The most valuable features are low-code play, quick packaging, and production."

"Apigee is the heart of the architectural design for building an integration layer in our digital transformation projects. Organizations need an integration layer to connect their legacy backend services with the external world, such as Fintechs. This layer must be secure, not just a simple pass-through or gateway."

"The opportunity for customization is really vast and it is a really good feature built into the product."

"The most valuable feature of Apigee is its simplicity of deploying an API and restricting access, like rate limit, with the API."

"The analytics function and the developer portal are the two valuable features of Apigee. The analytics part is very good, and the developer portal is quite rich in features."

"It is easy to set up. It is on Google Platform, and there are multiple deployment models they support, which is great."

"Easy interface to monetize and deliver APIs with very easy integration for third-party development environments/delivery."

More Apigee pros

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

"The ability for all of our web applications to share standard functions and documents easily is valuable."

"The solution provides a common place for all APIs, allowing for easy sharing and exchange of information between internal and external stakeholders."

"The most valuable features are stability and security."

"The most valuable feature for me is the ability to distribute work among our API developers, so we don't have to do all the work as IBM API Connect administrators and IBM DataPower administrators."

"We are able to share those APIs instantly within the organization; even if we want to share it outside publicly, then we can have those capabilities."

"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."

"API Connect is a good product, and everything works fine. All the analytics are good, and it is easy to follow up. I like it in that sense. I'm more focused on following up on analytics by seeing how many API calls we are getting and where we see a lot of problems. I was working on that API level."

More IBM API Connect pros

"The feature I find most valuable is that this solution allows us to manage our security."

"The portal for developers that this solution provides has great functionality."

"The scalability is very good. That was a key factor in the selection, like how it could be pushed to high volume and scalability, which seemed to be very good."

"It is a good product for API management."

"The most valuable feature is the load balancing with the circuit-breaker function."

"You can set up workflows and write limited pieces of logic."

Cons

"There is room for improvement in v-logging for each transaction."

"An area for improvement would be to provide more information while troubleshooting."

"When there is an update on a new version or an automatic update, you have to be present and double-check that the update is reflected in the environment with no issues."

"The caching capabilities are somewhat limited. This is more on the developer-oriented capabilities."

"Maintaining and deploying revisions need to be more defined."

"I would like them to add features, such as caching and mediation policies."

"When it comes to the rate limit, we don't have a specific category for rate limits for a particular customer."

"Access restrictions can be improved."

More Apigee cons

"IBM API Connect could improve the security of the application and the integration."

"There are some performance issues and issues related to asynchronous APIs."

"Support for this platform could still be improved. It also needs to have more levels of versatility. Its compatibility and integration with different platforms also need improvement."

"The documentation needs to be a bit better."

"Debugging could be improved."

"Installation is weak."

"There are issues with upgrading in the cloud version. The cloud version is extremely buggy. We prefer to use the on-premise version."

"It would be helpful to have access monitoring."

More IBM API Connect cons

"We would like a better tool for generating documentation for the APIs to be developed."

"Sometimes when new features are released, they are not immediately stable."

"I would like to see some additional features like having some extensions for .NET core because we use it for our back-end language."

"It is a young product and does not have the kind of brand recognition that would make it a more popular solution with our clients."

"We ran it for a while, but then we decided to move away from Tyk, because Tyk's cloud version, the SaaS version, has a significant limitation of limited flexibility, so you can't program very much."

"In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the considerations for what those enhancements and extensions are. So it could be slightly better communication with the customer base that would be my main issue with them."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You do not necessarily pay for the license. The cloud solution is based more on transactions. So, you pay for it either way."

"Apigee has several different licenses you can obtain depending on your needs."

"In Latin America, Apigee is expensive. It's not for small businesses; it's more for big businesses."

"The solution is a bit expensive. It's not for organizations in the early stages of their lifecycle but is more suited for mid- to enterprise-level platforms. Pricing varies by deployment model, with SaaS being the cheapest, costing around $100,000 per year for a subscription. For hybrid and on-prem deployments, the price increases. The on-prem model includes a license and additional installation and configuration professional service costs, which can be at least $40,000 to $60,000 for the initial setup. While it's not cheap, it offers long-term value and can be worthwhile."

"I would like to see the implementation of further options for billing because as it is now, the opportunities you have in terms of a package are limited."

"Apigee is a pretty expensive solution."

"Since it was acquired by Google, we can get a license based on our requirements and the cost level will depend on cloud access and support."

"The iicense is subscription-based."

More Apigee pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is significantly high."

"There was a need to purchase an upfront license or a one-time license or upfront license, but I cannot remember the details about it clearly."

"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."

"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."

"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."

"API Connect is quite pricey."

"It is quite an expensive product."

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

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"The price is low compared to other products of a similar type."

"There are different versions and plans available depending on the requirements, so there is flexibility in terms of the pricing."

"The cost curve is far smoother, both in terms of volume and the number of calls it's running on, compared to most competitors. So it's a tad more expensive at the very low end, but the curve is nothing like Apigee or some of the others."

"We are using the open-source version of this product, so there are no licensing costs for its use."

"It had a free version, which suited many of our needs, but not all, but we were happy to go ahead with the licensed version as well, which is the paid version."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

24%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?

Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a clou...

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...

What do you like most about Apigee?

We can customize the dashboard.

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?

Price depends on many factors like size of the deal, competitive factors, timing, customer profile or where the prici...

What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?

The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side. Scalability is an issue with IBM A...

What do you like most about Tyk?

The scalability is very good. That was a key factor in the selection, like how it could be pushed to high volume and ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tyk?

The pricing is actually quite competitive. In Azure environments, it gets beaten by Microsoft API Gateway, but on the...

What needs improvement with Tyk?

In terms of our usage, the main area of concern is that they tend to build enhancements slightly ahead of the conside...

Microsoft Azure API Management vs Apigee

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Compared 1% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Apigee

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IBM API Connect

Download IBM API Connect product report

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Overview

Apigee is a platform for developing and managing APIs. Apigee offers an interface for your core services by wrapping them with a proxy layer which is then accessed by other developers. With Apigee, you can design and build APIs and then securely share their services and data without exposing any code.

Because app developers make HTTP requests to an API proxy rather than directly to your services, your services are separated from the developers. All the developer needs to know is the URL of the API proxy endpoint, necessary query parameters, authorization credentials (if they exist), and the response data format.

The API proxy isolates the app developer from your backend service. Therefore, you are free to change the service implementation if the public API remains consistent. By maintaining a consistent frontend API, existing client apps will continue to work regardless of changes on the backend.

Key capabilities of the Apigee API management platform include:

Security: Protect APIs, messages, and backends with configurable policies such as OAuth, API key verification, XML/JSON threat protection, and access control.
API gateway: Secure and mediate the traffic between clients and backends, and between a company’s APIs and the developers who use the APIs.
Developer portal: Attract and engage application developers, enabling them to discover, explore, purchase, and test APIs and register to access and use the APIs.
API console: The console helps developers learn and work with APIs.
API lifecycle management: Manage the process of designing, developing, publishing, deploying, and versioning APIs.
Automated documentation: Automate the development of API documentation and software development kits.
Machine learning: Utilize machine learning and analytics to generate actionable insights and reports.

API monitoring: Apigee offers monitoring tools for API troubleshooting, security, and optimization.

Reviews from Real Users:

Apigee stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its rich developer portal, its advanced analytics, and its central monitoring system.

Carlos R., a software architect at Caja Los Andes writes, “The central monitoring feature is the most valuable. It also provides security for the APIs and high availability for our use cases. Apigee is the best product in the industry in comparison to other API management solutions. It helps in fast development, which is a top point. It also supports a lot of industry standards and has excellent documentation.”

An associate vice president at a tech services company notes, “The analytics function and the developer portal are the two valuable features of Apigee. The analytics part is very good, and the developer portal is quite rich in features. The authentication mechanisms are quite easily built into Apigee, which is something that most of the other products have also now started supporting.”

Google

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

Tyk is an open source API Gateway that is fast and scalable, an API management platform featuring an API gateway, analytics, developer portal and dashboard. Available in three flavours to best suit your architecture and governance. We offer full cloud or on-premises options, and the best of both worlds with our unique hybrid model. www.tyk.io