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IBM API Connect vs Microsoft Azure API Management comparison

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Buyer's Guide
IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management
September 2023
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 5, 2022

We performed a comparison between IBM API Connect and Microsoft Azure API Management based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: IBM API Connect users tell us the solution is complex to install, and technical expertise is necessary. Microsoft Azure API Management is straightforward and easy to install.
  • Features: IBM API Connect provides intuitive runtime capabilities. Users say the solution enables the simplicity of product creation, excellent hit rate, and easy-to-control monetization. However, they feel that documentation needs to be improved and there needs to be more cloud functionality.

    Microsoft Azure API Management users tell us this solution is very easy to configure, simple to use, and flexible. They like that the solution is a platform with a self-enablement process for the clients and users to self-register. Users would like to see better documentation and third-party integration.
  • Pricing: Users of both solutions feel they are expensive.
  • Service and Support: Users of both solutions feel there is room for improvement with service and support.

Comparison Results: Azure API Management provides DevOps by default and has a robust marketplace where users can easily integrate with existing APIs and begin work immediately. It scales easily and integrates seamlessly with Azure cloud infrastructure. In contrast, many users feel IBM is a bit dated and is lacking cloud-focused tools.It is also more difficult to deploy.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management Report (Updated: September 2023).
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744,865 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Walter Kuhn
stable with a developer portal based on Drupal but has upgrade issues
Unfortunately, this solution resulted (at least for us) in more problems than expected. We had severe installation and upgrade issues (maybe due to... Read more →
Anonymous User
Researched IBM API Connect but chose Microsoft Azure API Management: UI management is easy to use and technical support is very good
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD.""It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data.""WSRR is a powerful component for getting the endpoints.""The most valuable feature of IBM API Connect is the security of the protocol.""The services that I consume through IBM API Connect are beneficial. It can handle multiple API management.""The management of the API and API portal is good.""The statistics component is easy to use.""Scalable and stable API platform for creating and managing APIs."

More IBM API Connect Pros →

"Most of the features are valuable to me.""The most valuable features are the API and integrations.""The most valuable features of Microsoft Azure API Management are the easy configuration and deployment with automation.""Azure APIM's best features are its straightforward access management (it's a single point of access for all monitoring and logging and for policy implementation) and its integration with the Azure Cloud infrastructure.""The Application Gateway we have found to be the most useful in Microsoft Azure API Management. We have integrated the Microsoft Azure API Management with Application Gateway. Application Gateway is a type of load balancer that we are using for the high availability of our API calls.""Microsoft Azure API Management is 90 to 99 percent scalable. We have three instances running in parallel.""The API management is very good.""Azure API is scalable."

More Microsoft Azure API Management Pros →

Cons
"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.""We ran it on top of the Kubernetes cluster, so it wasn't a standalone service. In the worst-case scenario, API Connect couldn't stay online if all the containers went down. We had to restart all the services. We shut down all the containers automatically one by one.""The developer portal could be easier to customize.""The solution is overly complex.""Our main pain points are in these two areas: creating a better developer portal and improving stability in terms of synchronization and monetization.""The solution could improve security and performance.""There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps.""The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."

More IBM API Connect Cons →

"Specific to API development, I think Microsoft is still far behind AWS. AWS has grown by leaps and bounds, and Microsoft is a close second. But in terms of features and other stuff they provide, Microsoft's compatibility with publicly available APIs is a little limited. So, that is a little bit of a constraint. But what they provide is good, it's just that they need to build more on their API suite. I think Google is doing a really good job at that.""I would like to see more integration with other platforms, as well as increased security.""API Management's price could be lower.""One of the most important improvements for us would be if it supported the HTTP/3 version and new protocol over a quick connection.""Azure API Management could be improved with better integration with all of Microsoft's tools.""The implementation has room for improvement and can be more user-friendly.""It could be more user friendly for developers. It would be nice if developers could view things more easily.""The API gateway can be very complex."

More Microsoft Azure API Management Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."
  • "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."
  • "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."
  • "We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
  • "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."
  • "API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
  • "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."
  • "The price of the solution is expensive. However, there are a lot of customization capabilities."

    • More IBM API Connect Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Since everyone is isocentric here, it is reasonable for me."
  • "We pay for a yearly license."
  • "Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis."
  • "Azure's pricing is very competitive compared to platforms like Apigee and MuleSoft."
  • "Azure is a pay-as-you-go model. You build out your virtual environment and pay a monthly price depending on CPU cores, storage, etc."
  • "There are no additional costs above the main license."
  • "It's pay as you go. The subscription packages have room for different scales. It's calculated by the number of apps or computers you use. You do not have to use the enterprise subscription. These subscriptions have different pricing, so you can find one to meet your needs for scalability."
  • "Because of our partner relationship, our pricing is pretty decent. But in general, if I compare pricing, I think the initial offer that we got from Microsoft until the relationship kicked in was more expensive than AWS. There were some unexpected expenses because we had to pause. This was due to our inexperience and because we were doing this significant public cloud migration for the first time. We were using SAP on a public cloud for the first time."

    • More Microsoft Azure API Management Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    What do you like most about IBM API Connect?
    Top Answer:It offers enhanced security features to protect APIs, enforce access control, and secure sensitive data.
    Read all 46 answers   →
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM API Connect?
    Top Answer:The pricing is significantly high. I would rate it eight out of ten.
    Read all 22 answers   →
    What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
    Top Answer:There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps.
    Read all 43 answers   →
    How does Apigee differ from Azure API Management?
    Top Answer: Apigee offers both cloud-based and on-prem options while Microsoft Azure API Management currently only offers a cloud-based solution. Both solutions are easy to use. Apigee allows for the ability… more »
    Which is better - Azure API Management or Amazon API Gateway?
    Top Answer:If you use Azure products, API Management is a great solution. It solves many of the problems of externalizing web services. For example, when you need versioning, establish a developer portal and… more »
    What do you like most about Microsoft Azure API Management?
    Top Answer:The tool's most valuable feature is the integration of CI/CD with the API gateway.
    Read all 43 answers   →
    Ranking
    5th
    out of 62 in API Management
    Views
    13,051
    Comparisons
    10,074
    Reviews
    21
    Average Words per Review
    499
    Rating
    7.7
    1st
    out of 62 in API Management
    Views
    39,344
    Comparisons
    32,368
    Reviews
    39
    Average Words per Review
    439
    Rating
    7.9
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Azure API Management, MS Azure API Management
    Learn More
    IBM
    Microsoft
    Overview

    IBM API Connect is a stable API management solution that facilitates a robust intuitive protocol to enable users to easily and continuously monetize, socialize, create, manage, and secure APIs. The solution can also power digital transformation on premises and across various cloud environments. Users have the ability to seamlessly drive digital applications and stimulate modernization instantly. IBM API Connect is also available in many other iterations with multiple reliable capabilities as part of the IBM Cloud Pak, which provides for smooth integration and will allow users to better automate application innovation and API management as part of any organization's progressive journey to a cloud environment.

    IBM API Connect Benefits

    IBM API Connect has many valuable benefits. Some of its most useful benefits include:

    • Robust: The solution is loaded with many solid, value-added API management features essential for today’s busy organizations to instantly complete next-generation API strategy with the control and stability necessary to stay competitive in today’s marketplace and provide easy self-service for developers.
    • Reliable: IBM API Connect utilizes an innovative microservices-based architecture to seamlessly scale structures to adhere to organizational SLAs on the backend and to consistently administer and secure all services throughout each and every endpoint.
    • Intuitive: The solution implements API management with an award-winning user experience and the industry’s best developer portal to quickly socialize, create, manage and secure APIs across an organization's complete API lifecycle.
    • Secure: Blends trusted API management with a robust enterprise-grade API gateway to minimize any cybersecurity risks and protect organizational data across all cloud environments.

    IBM API Connect Features

    IBM API Connect has many value-added features. Some of its most desirable features include:

    • Development made easy: Users can easily share APIs with other team members and developers via the IBM-branded developer portal. On the portal, approved users are able to discover and subscribe to APIs in addition to being able to deploy and register coordinating applications.
    • Deployment flexibility: IBM API Connect is able to seamlessly run in almost any environment, such as cloud, on-premises, and also hybrid cloud.
    • Dynamic dashboard: Users have access to robust dashboards providing comprehensive visualization that allows users to fully comprehend and appraise API usage and how it affects the productivity and profitability of the organization.

    Reviews from Real Users

    “We use this solution for rest-based, micro services to complete authentication. We are able to gather statistics and audit and throttle traffic. It also has a developer portal that allows users to browse their APIs and develop applications on them. It has solid features compared to some of the API services management services out there.” - Chong S., Sr Technical Specialist at a financial services firm

    “API Connect is mainly used as a gateway solution to expose, secure, and manage APIs. 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. API Connect's most valuable features are API management and creation.” - A PeerSpot user who is an Associate Manager at a tech services company

    Microsoft Azure API Management is a reliable and scalable way to publish, consume, and manage APIs running on an Microsoft Azure platform. Azure API Management provides all essential tools required for end-to-end management of APIs. It ensures optimal performance of the APIs by tracking and enforcing usage and authentication.

    Microsoft Azure API Management is primarily used to provide a central interface to create, provision, and manage APIs for web and cloud applications and services. Today's innovative enterprises are adopting API architectures to accelerate growth. With Microsoft Azure API Management, businesses can streamline their work across hybrid and multi cloud environments with a unified place to manage all their APIs.


    Microsoft Azure API Management Features


    Microsoft Azure API Management has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Manage APIs across clouds and on premises: Optimize API traffic flow by deploying API gateways side by side with the APIs hosted in Azure, other clouds, and on premises. Meet security and compliance requirements with a unified management experience and full visibility across all APIs.
    • Customized usage limits: By applying authentication, authorization, and usage limits, you can protect your resources by controlling how data and services are exposed to employees, partners, and customers.
    • API-first approaches: Accelerate your business by building apps faster and delivering immediate value to customers through API-first approaches. This helps you decouple front- and back-end teams through API mocking, API revisions and versioning, and automated API documentation.
    • Customizable developer portal: Improve API discoverability by creating a customizable developer portal for all your APIs. This enables you to simply manage and share APIs with internal teams, external partners, and customers.
    • Facades for back-end services: Transform your existing services and automatically turn legacy web services into modern REST-based APIs using facades.
    • Security for your API’s: Keep all your APIs behind a single static IP or domain, and help protect them with tokens, keys, and IP filtering.

    Microsoft Azure API Management Benefits

    There are many benefits to implementing Microsoft Azure API Management. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Monitor the health of APIs, configure throttling, identify errors, and rate limits.
    • Enforce flexible and fine-grained quotas and rate limits. Modify the shape and behavior of your APIs using policies. Improve latency and scale your APIs with response caching.
    • Connect on-premises APIs to cloud services by creating a façade that lets you safely integrate.
    • Create and manage user roles and define end-to-end API usage policies.
    • Consolidate and manage thousands of APIs across multiple platforms in a central interface.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Microsoft Azure API Management stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Some of these include its DevOps integration, its easy setup, and its dynamic pricing. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

    Cecil S., a Software Engineer, writes of the solution, “The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure API Management is the developer portal because it's very quick and easy to get something published."

    Dmitri E., an Integration Architect at MiBanco, notes, “In particular, in API Management, used as front-end APIs, it's easy to manage. We use Microsoft due to the stability of the company. It is easy to set up. The solution is scalable. It is stable as a product as well.”

    Offer
    Learn more about IBM API Connect
    Learn More
    Learn more about Microsoft Azure API Management
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    Sample Customers
    1. American Airlines  2. Coca-Cola  3. Delta Airlines  4. General Motors  5. HSBC  6. Macy's  7. Marriott International  8. Mastercard  9. Nestle  10. Pfizer  11. Procter & Gamble  12. Samsung  13. Siemens  14. Sony  15. Target  16. Toyota  17. Unilever  18. Verizon  19. Visa  20. Walmart  21. Amazon  22. AT&T  23. Bank of America  24. BMW  25. Cisco  26. Citigroup  27. Ford  28. General Electric  29. Google  30. IBM (self-use)  31. Johnson & Johnson  32. Microsoft
    adnymics GmbH, LG CNS, Centrebet, netfabb GmbH, MedPlast, Accelera Solutions, Sochi Organizing Committee, realzeit GmbH, Opensistemas
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm41%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Retailer10%
    Insurance Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Educational Organization17%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Insurance Company9%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm16%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    Insurance Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Insurance Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise68%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise63%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise70%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management
    September 2023
    Free Report: IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
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    744,865 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM API Connect is ranked 5th in API Management with 21 reviews while Microsoft Azure API Management is ranked 1st in API Management with 39 reviews. IBM API Connect is rated 7.8, while Microsoft Azure API Management is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of IBM API Connect writes "Stable and scalable solution for API management, but it needs more versatility and integration with different platforms". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Azure API Management writes "Easy to set up with good access control but support could be better". IBM API Connect is most compared with IBM DataPower Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, Amazon API Gateway and Kong Enterprise, whereas Microsoft Azure API Management is most compared with Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, Kong Enterprise and WSO2 API Manager. See our IBM API Connect vs. Microsoft Azure API Management report.

    See our list of best API Management vendors.

    We monitor all API Management 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.