Flowgear vs IBM API Connect comparison

Flowgear and IBM are both solutions in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category. Flowgear is ranked #24, while IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.3. Flowgear holds a 0.3% mindshare in PaaS, compared to IBM’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Flowgear users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Flowgear

Read 7 Flowgear reviews

165 Views
165 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

7,279 Views
364 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Flowgear

IBM API Connect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and Flowgear compete in the API management category. Flowgear tends to have the upper hand in modern features, while IBM API Connect excels in support and pricing.

Features: IBM API Connect is known for robust security, scalability, and integration capabilities. Flowgear is recognized for its ease of use, flexibility, and automation features. Flowgear's feature set is more user-friendly and adaptable to various workflows.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect users seek a less complex setup and better documentation. Flowgear users want more advanced reporting tools and integration enhancements. Each product has distinct improvement areas reflecting varied user needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect has a streamlined deployment process; however, assistance might be necessary. Its customer service is highly rated for responsiveness. Flowgear deployment is straightforward with minimal support needed, but its customer service could improve in response times.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect users like its competitive pricing and notable ROI due to its extensive capabilities. Flowgear's pricing is higher, but the ROI justifies the cost due to efficient performance and advanced features. IBM API Connect is cost-effective, while Flowgear reflects its premium functionality.

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

Buyer's Guide

Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

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

Flowgear

Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

24th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM API Connect

Ranking in Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

API Management (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) category, the mindshare of Flowgear is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 2.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

Featured Reviews

Fulufhelo Sibei

DevOps Engineer at Astute - The Financial Services Exchange

Fast support, good data ingestion, and a nice UI

I am happy with the product. It has solved our business challenges. It is easy to integrate into multiple sources. We did have to use a data transformation tool which would take months to map and transform data that was being dumped into our secure file transfer. Previously, by the time we finished ingesting the data, it was no longer relevant. This has since changed. Therefore, there are no areas needed for improvement.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The no-code visual front end, along with pre-built samples, allows someone with very little technical ability to get an integration up and running."

"The Flowgear tool is helping us reduce the manual work that is done."

"It has improved our integration with our data supplier."

"Being able to seamlessly make changes to how one can do mapping visually without having to be a seasoned developer is great."

"Great for data flow."

"Well-managed version control of workflows and the simplicity in promoting workflows through each environment has aided my team in developing workflows for various environments without the risk of losing development work."

"The solution has increased efficiency and productivity and saved us time and money."

"Using API Connect allows us to quickly create proxy APIs and saves time on end-to-end testing, which lets us deliver quickly to clients."

"The product gathers data to measure API performance."

"API Connect's most valuable feature is its ability to act as a gateway. It's very easy to configure security and everything else in it. You don't have to kill yourself implementing custom configurations."

"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."

"This is a very easy to use solution."

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

"I have found IBM API Connect to be highly secure, efficient, easy to deploy, and has a great GUI. It can operate and integrate well with other vendors, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft."

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

More IBM API Connect pros

Cons

"The initial setup was a bit complex as we were new."

"The product needs to improve the self-help tools and samples."

"The software itself needs to keep up with the daily demand to service all clients as the need arises."

"Currently, when designing and testing larger workflows, the sessions timeout and re-authentications are frequently required."

"The product would be nice if it could provide the deployment features in the lower packages."

"We would like to see more learning videos for beginners."

"The UI could be improved."

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

"The new version is very unstable."

"I would like to see support for non-Java based services. We struggle a bit to be able to deploy and connect our .NET services because of things like data types. We had to map a couple of things. For one solution provider, we had to move them to .NET Core before we could use it properly. I would like to see more agnostic tool service platforms rather than moving it more towards Java or open source."

"Improving the documentation would be beneficial as it currently presents navigation challenges. Incorporating a step-by-step guide could facilitate the integration or migration of various systems, including databases. The existing documentation only comprises plain text, hence incorporating more interactive instructions could enhance its usefulness."

"They seem to have left out a feature for microservices and also a certification module for OIDC."

"The solution is not scalable."

"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."

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

More IBM API Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"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."

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

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

"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."

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

"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."

"The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

20%

Insurance Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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

No data available

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 26% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 14% 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

Flowgear

August 2025

Download Flowgear product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

August 2025

Download IBM API Connect product report

Overview

Flowgear enables companies of all sizes to increase efficiency and reduce cost by integrating their apps, services, API’s and databases. No coding with 200+ pre-built connectors, reusable workflows and APIs.

Flowgear

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

Information Not Available

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

Buyer's Guide

Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

July 2025

Free Report: Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect

Find out what your peers are saying about Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Flowgear vs. IBM API Connect report.

See our list of best Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) vendors.

We monitor all Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.