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Apollo GraphOS 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apollo GraphOS
Ranking in API Management
31st
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.6
Number of Reviews
2
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
76
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 Apollo GraphOS is 0.4%, up from 0.0% 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
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM API Connect6.0%
Apollo GraphOS0.4%
Other93.6%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sagor Rana - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently filters API data though experiences slower performance with larger projects
I would like to see better performance in larger projects. When dealing with large amounts of data, it can become slow, causing users to potentially abandon the application. Improving performance and ensuring the app runs smoothly would enhance user experience. Stability issues, where it sometimes breaks down, need to be addressed as well.
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

"The most valuable features of Apollo GraphOS OS for me are its security and authentication processes."
"Apollo GraphOS has significantly enhanced both the developer experience and product delivery timelines by offering a centralized approach to managing GraphQL schemas and services, helping reduce overhead and improve collaboration between frontend and backend teams."
"The most valuable features of Apollo GraphOS OS for me are its security and authentication processes."
"The main benefits of IBM API Connect for our API life cycle management are the core API functionalities, the developer's portal, and robust security capabilities. IBM API Connect's security protocols enhance our data protection strategies by offering end-to-end security, mechanisms to counter common attacks like DDoS, and the ability to define policies for API groups to control traffic and prevent unwanted access to our systems."
"The solution is very stable."
"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."
"API Connect is a very good platform for the development of APIs."
"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD."
"WSRR is a powerful component for getting the endpoints."
"The ability for all of our web applications to share standard functions and documents easily is valuable."
"It is easy to use and stable."
 

Cons

"There’s room for improvement in schema collaboration tools, especially in large teams where multiple developers are working on overlapping parts of the API."
"Apollo GraphOS OS is using a detailed project, and it can be time-consuming because it has a lot of data to manage. It sometimes takes longer than three seconds, which can affect loading times and lead to user dissatisfaction. I would like to see improved performance."
"Apollo GraphOS OS is using a detailed project, and it can be time-consuming because it has a lot of data to manage."
"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."
"Components, like caching, should be implemented as policies, not requiring dependency on an external solution."
"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."
"Documentation for the CLI is not very complete. Also, the support could be improved, and we have had several problems with backing up and restoring the product."
"IBM API Connect could improve the security of the application and the integration."
"The installation was difficult with the IBM toolkit."
"The documentation needs to be a bit better."
"The installation process could use improvement. I hope that in the next release, the installation process is easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It is a pretty expensive tool."
"The price of the solution is very expensive, it can turn many customers away."
"It's an expensive product."
"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
"API Connect is quite pricey."
"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
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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
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apollo GraphOS?
I am not sensitive to nor very knowledgeable about the pricing and setup cost.
What needs improvement with Apollo GraphOS?
I would like to see better performance in larger projects. When dealing with large amounts of data, it can become slow, causing users to potentially abandon the application. Improving performance a...
What is your primary use case for Apollo GraphOS?
I primarily use Apollo GraphQL to work with APIs in conjunction with Node.js. When I make API calls, I receive a lot of information, but I only need specific details like names, emails, and photos....
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.
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.
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...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
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