IBM API Connect vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration comparison

IBM API Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM API Connect is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5, while IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is ranked #26 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM API Connect holds a 6.4% mindshare in APIM, compared to IBM Cloud Pak for Integration’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM API Connect users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 76 IBM API Connect reviews

8,187 Views
4,398 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Read 5 IBM Cloud Pak for Integration reviews

683 Views
359 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

IBM API Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Integration are key competitors in the integration technology sector. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration holds a slight edge due to its expansive feature set, which appeals to enterprises needing comprehensive solutions.

Features: IBM API Connect delivers essential API management capabilities such as lifecycle management, powerful security protocols, and monitoring options. It also supports seamless integration with multiple service providers. Conversely, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration provides an extensive suite with features like application, data, and messaging integration, ensuring a holistic approach to complex enterprise needs.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could enhance its user interface for simpler navigation and increase its scalability for larger deployments. It would also benefit from enhanced automation features to streamline processes further. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration could improve by simplifying its setup process and improving documentation. It could also offer more native integrations to avoid reliance on third-party solutions and reduce implementation times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect is known for its ease of deployment, making it attractive for organizations seeking quicker integrations. Its responsive customer service supports users through implementations smoothly. On the other hand, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration offers a flexible deployment model suited to more intricate systems. Its customer service effectively assists clients through complex setups, enhancing its appeal for large enterprises.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect stands out with a cost-effective pricing strategy and relatively low initial costs, offering quicker returns for straightforward API management tasks. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration demands a higher upfront investment, but its extensive features potentially deliver higher ROI by optimizing broader business operations.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

June 2025

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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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Ranking in API Management

26th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Integration (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.4%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is 0.4%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management

Featured Reviews

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.

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Igor Khalitov

Owner/Full Stack Software Engineer at Maraphonic, Inc.

Manages APIs and integrates microservices with redirection feature

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration includes monitoring capabilities to track the performance and health of your integrations. You can quickly roll back to a previous version if an issue arises. Additionally, it supports incremental deployments, allowing you to shift traffic to a new version of an API gradually. For example, you can start by directing 10% of traffic to the new version while the rest continue using the legacy version. If everything works as expected, you can gradually increase the traffic to the new version over time. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration has a client base that includes numerous organizations using AI and machine learning technologies. We leverage an open-source machine learning framework and integrate it with Kafka to help create and manage various products and data retrieval processes. For companies with private data, the framework first retrieves relevant data from a GitHub database, which is then combined with the final request before being sent to a language model like GPT. This ensures that the language model uses your specific data to generate responses. Kafka plays a key role by streaming real-time data from file systems and databases like Oracle and Microsoft SQL. This data is published to Kafka topics, then vectorized and used with artificial intelligence to enhance the overall process. It's like an old-fashioned approach. The best way is to redesign it with products such as Kafka. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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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

"The interface is very nice. It makes the solution easy to use and navigate."

"The solution is very stable."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is very easy to use and is something that is easily configurable."

"It acts as a central gateway for both external APIs and underlying systems. It's basically a central middleware for hosting APIs to the internet and consuming APIs from internal systems. It provides central governance for any APIs going outside the network, ensuring security and a common contract for API definitions."

"The statistics component is easy to use."

"Policy configurations are pretty easy."

"Security is well organized and managed within the solution."

"IBM API Connect is a good product, and their technical support is excellent."

More IBM API Connect pros

"Cloud Pak for Integration is definitely scalable. That is the most important criteria."

"The most preferable aspect would be the elimination of the command, which was a significant improvement. In the past, it was a challenge, but now we can proceed smoothly with the implementation of our policies and everything is managed through JCP. It's still among the positive aspects, and it's a valuable feature."

"The most valuable aspect of the Cloud Pak, in general, is the flexibility that you have to use the product."

"It is a stable solution."

"Redirection is a key feature. It helps in managing multiple microservices by centralizing control and access."

Cons

"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."

"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."

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

"Our main pain points are in these two areas: creating a better developer portal and improving stability in terms of synchronization and monetization."

"There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps."

"The automation and the simplicity could be improved."

"The developmental process is not quite user-friendly."

"The integration of an API gateway that implements the sidecar pattern, which can be deployed in cloud applications, and expose the microservices directly in each pod, this can be more decentralized components."

More IBM API Connect cons

"The initial setup is not easy."

"Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent."

"The pricing can be improved."

"Setting up Cloud Pak for Integration is relatively complex. It's not as easy because it has not yet been fully integrated. You still have some products that are still not containerized, so you still have to run them on a dedicated VM."

"Its queuing and messaging features need improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"It is quite an expensive product."

"It is a pretty expensive tool."

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

"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."

"The pricing is significantly high."

"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."

More IBM API Connect pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing model is very flexible."

"It is an expensive solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

20%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Insurance Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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

What do you like most about IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

The most preferable aspect would be the elimination of the command, which was a significant improvement. In the past, it was a challenge, but now we can proceed smoothly with the implementation of ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?

It manages APIs and integrates microservices at the enterprise level. It offers a range of capabilities for handling APIs, microservices, and various integration needs. The platform supports thousa...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 25% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 20% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 15% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 7% of the time

Axway AMPLIFY API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

IBM App Connect vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 42% of the time

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 7% of the time

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 7% of the time

webMethods.io vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 6% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

API Management

May 2025

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Overview

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

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration gives you complete, flexible integration using capabilities you need to move at today's speed of business, including the tools to help you achieve your application modernization goals as part of your journey to the cloud.

IBM

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

CVS Health Corporation

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration

June 2025

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