Gloo Platform vs IBM API Connect comparison

Solo.io and IBM are both solutions in the API Management category. Solo.io is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.0, while IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. Solo.io holds a 0.7% mindshare in APIM, compared to IBM’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Solo.io users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Gloo Platform

Read 2 Gloo Platform reviews

857 Views
857 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Read 80 IBM API Connect reviews

9,142 Views
8,136 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Gloo Platform

IBM API Connect

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Gloo Platform and IBM API Connect based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two API Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Gloo Platform vs. IBM API Connect Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Gloo Platform vs. IBM API Connect

June 2026

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Helped 902,988 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

Gloo Platform

Ranking in API Management

26th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

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

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Gloo Platform is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM API Connect is 4.5%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM API Connect	4.5%
Gloo Platform	0.7%
Other	94.8%

API Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer2813076

Software Engineer at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees

Unified API gateway has reduced tool sprawl and has improved traffic control and observability

I give Gloo Platform a rating of 10 out of 10 because I genuinely appreciate it; it has all the features and requirements that I need. I give it a 10 because it fits my use case perfectly, enabling me to achieve my objectives, and I genuinely appreciate the Gloo Platform community and the people there. Regarding Gloo Platform's AI capabilities, I find them beneficial because they recently added agentic features and many AI capabilities that I find helpful. The accuracy and reliability of Gloo Platform's AI features is mostly consistent, although sometimes it does experience hallucinations. If you need a solution that provides management for your APIs along with features such as rate limiting, mTLS, and other functionalities, I would recommend Gloo Platform; it is truly excellent. I rated this review 10 out of 10.

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MehdiEl Filahi

DB A Sysadmin Devops Software Ag Adabas/Natural/Ibm Entire X Webmethods at Bundesamt für Informatik und Telekommunikation BIT

API management has strengthened security and monitoring but still needs better support and tooling

There are areas of IBM API Connect that need to be improved. I want what Gravitee made, which is much better. Gravitee made many samples for different use cases. First of all, they made examples of use cases, codes, and what the module expects and what the module returns for multiple examples and use cases inside the development. I do not even have to go to the documentation website because everything is included inside the tool when I work on it. This is great, in fact. IBM API Connect should show examples. One other thing is the support. The support of IBM is in India. Every time I want to ask something, they say they need logs, they want this, they want that. Gravitee API asks me to explain the problem without asking a thousand times as if it is a request for a green card in the USA. Then they really explain quickly. IBM is a big company, so everything is standardized with the approach of "You do that, you do that, you request that. If you do not have that, you do not reply to the client." Clients want flexibility today, even if it is a huge company. A stressed client is a client that will want to change to other flexible solutions. When everything is fine, we do not care, but when there is stress and problems, that is when the customer of IBM evaluates the tool really. It is when there are problems. IBM makes a lot of efforts on sales and technical sales, and then that is it.

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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

"Gloo Platform's features are optimal for my use case because I have numerous applications and microservices running, requiring rate limiting and traffic management integrated into one platform, which proves very beneficial."

"You don't need many frameworks or other things to run Glue."

"At the end of the day, it's a great product, I can't fault it for now."

"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."

"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."

"WSRR is a powerful component for getting the endpoints."

"IBM are the market leaders, when it comes to integration technology."

"Licensing is expensive but it's a good product."

"API Connects has absolutely helped to reduce the time it takes to deliver new integrations to my clients."

More IBM API Connect pros

Cons

"I sometimes face issues with integration."

"I rated it an 8/10 because it's not fully mature yet."

"Extracting the data could be improved. My team members sometimes find it difficult to get something out of this solution."

"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."

"It should be cheaper."

"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."

"As a tool, I wouldn't recommend it to somebody looking for an API management platform, due to the limited API monetization capabilities."

"The solution is overly complex."

"I wouldn't recommend this solution to other organizations at this time."

More IBM API Connect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"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'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."

"API Connect is quite pricey."

"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."

"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."

"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 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 is quite an expensive product."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

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	62

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Gloo Platform?

I have not faced any pain points with Gloo Platform; the current features are sufficient for my needs. I cannot think of any needed improvements at this stage. Currently, the platform is in a good ...

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What is your primary use case for Gloo Platform?

Gloo Platform provides numerous features including mesh and gateways, and I primarily use the gateway feature, with occasional use of the mesh feature for specific components. The gateway feature m...

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What advice do you have for others considering Gloo Platform?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?

I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM API Connect?

The usual use cases for IBM API Connect that I worked with mostly involved three things: security, monitoring, and message control. The purpose was to address these areas, though there was one feat...

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Comparisons

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs Gloo Platform

Compared 31% of the time

Coralogix vs Gloo Platform

Compared 19% of the time

Traefik Enterprise vs Gloo Platform

Compared 18% of the time

Gravitee vs Gloo Platform

Compared 9% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs Gloo Platform

Compared 9% of the time

More Gloo Platform Competitors

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 31% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM API Connect

Compared 4% of the time

Kong Gateway Enterprise vs IBM API Connect

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

API Management

June 2026

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Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

June 2026

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Overview

Gloo Platform is a versatile API and microservices management tool known for its robust security, seamless integration, and advanced traffic handling capabilities. It effectively bolsters organizational efficiency by improving workflows and reducing manual tasks through automation. Users value its support for multiple languages, comprehensive analytics, and its ability to enhance service mesh implementations for better network management.

Solo.io

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

Information Not Available

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

Buyer's Guide

Gloo Platform vs. IBM API Connect

June 2026

Free Report: Gloo Platform vs. IBM API Connect

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