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IBM API Connect vs Oracle API Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)
Oracle API Management
Ranking in API Management
24th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.1%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle API Management is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM API Connect6.1%
Oracle API Management0.5%
Other93.4%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Sagar SampadMall - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides robust security for financial transactions and protects the ERP database from direct exposure
My main feedback is about the account management. I feel they should connect with clients more frequently, beyond just selling the product. They should actively seek feedback and tailor the approach to client needs. It shouldn't always be about pushing additional products. My main suggestion is focused solely on the account management approach, specifically fostering closer and more proactive client relationships. So, the pricing could also be bit improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is quite stable. We've not had any problem. It has made for a good buy because we are finding that other companies that have similar set ups go down maybe once a month."
"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."
"IBM API Connect is a good product, and their technical support is excellent."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"One of the most valuable features is the easy-to-use web interface."
"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."
"The centralized management: this provides a management module that can deploy and apply security policies to all APIs, including all the gateways that are deployed on-premises and on any cloud because the gateway component can run at a VMware or in a Kubernetes cluster."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"It is very secure, easy to manage, and easy to configure. It is a web-based API. Moreover, we get direct support from Oracle guys."
"The security, the authentication, and the publishing qualities are great."
"The most valuable features for us are security and centralization."
"The initial setup isn't overly difficult."
 

Cons

"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."
"The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side."
"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."
"Business applications could be exposed to users."
"The solution would be better if it had cloud functionalities."
"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."
"API Connect's analytics subsystem could be improved to make it easier to render content from the analytics system and offload it to an external database."
"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."
"Oracle should actively seek feedback and tailor the approach to client needs. It shouldn't always be about pushing additional products."
"Before gaining experience with the product, I found that it was not simple to use and things took longer to do than I had anticipated."
"We'd like it if they could reduce the cost without sacrificing on features."
"From an administration and developer point of view, the user interface and user experience are not great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an expensive product."
"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'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."
"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."
"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."
"I haven't seen anyone go from on-premise to the cloud. In fact, I am seeing people go from the cloud to on-premise because the costs can quickly grow on the cloud."
"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"Oracle is not a cheap solution and it is not affordable for all of our clients in Portugal."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Insurance Company
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise58
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.
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...
What do you like most about Oracle API Management?
It is very secure, easy to manage, and easy to configure. It is a web-based API. Moreover, we get direct support from Oracle guys.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle API Management?
We opted for a five-year license. It's mid-range, not too high. More affordable than many other options. It's already more affordable than others, especially for small companies it is accommodating...
What needs improvement with Oracle API Management?
My main feedback is about the account management. I feel they should connect with clients more frequently, beyond just selling the product. They should actively seek feedback and tailor the approac...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Oracle API Management and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.