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IBM API Connect vs Pipedream 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
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (12th)
Pipedream
Ranking in API Management
26th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 5.0%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pipedream is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM API Connect5.0%
Pipedream0.4%
Other94.6%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

SM
Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Have addressed performance challenges while benefiting from flexible subscription models and reliable user access
To improve IBM API Connect, based on customer experience, you could work on latency. You can increase scalability and availability. If you're connecting with any other cloud, it connects to the infrastructure which needs to be managed with the customers and cloud providers, so if you have a setup, we can handle it easily. I have faced latency issues on the server, related to our management. If you need to stabilize your server based on peak traffic, you need to configure the scalability model. You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes. If the application is not in use, the value should be zero, and it starts from zero. Based on customer experience, the value will increase, and when there is no customer servicing, the peak would be reduced, making the value remain zero. Following this approach, you should be able to optimize costs and satisfy customer experience.
FrankHo - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst at MSXI
A tool that ensures that its users see a return on investment from its use
The UI and the fact that the product is not easy to use are areas with shortcomings where improvements are required. Documentation isn't available for everything in the solution, so you may have to figure out a lot of things by yourself. Pipedream is easy to use for someone with tech skills or someone new who is trying to learn how to code. Though it is user-friendly for people with tech skills, it is not at all user-friendly for people who do not have any tech skills. The user interface of Pipedream is very simple compared to the user interfaces of some other products like monday.com or Asana. Asana and monday.com have visually appealing user interfaces. The user interface of Pipedream is not visually appealing at all. The aforementioned details need to be considered for improvement in the solution. I just wish there was a little bit more documentation on how everything worked when it came to deployment since I was a fairly new employee at the company at that time. Sometimes, the workflow wouldn't work fine in Pipedream, and I had to check it myself for errors. Finding the errors in Pipedream is hard to find. I think it would be good if Pipedream had the ability to send an email to notify you that there is an error with the code instead of having to go back in and then look every day or every hour if there was an error in the code.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It gives a holistic environment for us to set up the APIs and that's the main value that it adds. It gives end to end for us."
"The most valuable feature of IBM API Connect is the security of the protocol."
"The capabilities are very good."
"In-built policies and security functions."
"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."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"This product is well integrated with other products. Its ability to interact with IBM Secure Gateway and other integration products is the core feature. Also, the lead time to put it into production is relatively short ."
"The most valuable features of IBM API Connect are its performance and user-friendliness."
"The most valuable feature of Pipedream is the ability to use Python code in general."
"It is a developer-friendly platform that allows writing custom scripts."
"The most valuable features of Pipedream are the prebuilt integrations that require no coding."
"The solution enables users to integrate several things."
 

Cons

"The documentation needs to be a bit better."
"There are some performance issues and issues related to asynchronous APIs."
"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."
"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."
"Components, like caching, should be implemented as policies, not requiring dependency on an external solution."
"We have encountered challenges with IBM API Connect, particularly during significant upgrades. These upgrades demand substantial labour and financial resources, including consulting services from IBM. I'd like to see increased flexibility, more frequent updates with new features, an efficient upgrade process, and additional AI capabilities for future releases."
"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."
"They should give more information about trigger failure."
"We faced some server timeouts."
"Documentation isn't available for everything in the solution, so you may have to figure out a lot of things by yourself."
"There is a potential area for improvement in handling loop operations over items."
 

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."
"It's an expensive product."
"The pricing is too expensive with IBM. Sometimes, we prefer to go with an open source or something more lightweight."
"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
"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."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
"IBM API Connect could be cheaper."
"The product price is fair and inexpensive than one of the competitors."
"Price-wise, for a company, it is a nice product, but for personal use, it is not very beneficial."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Insurance Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise61
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?
I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
We are relatively new to IBM API Connect, so I do not have significant improvements to suggest at this time.
What do you like most about Pipedream?
It is a developer-friendly platform that allows writing custom scripts.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pipedream?
The product price is fair and inexpensive than Zapier.
What needs improvement with Pipedream?
They could provide seamless integration with Jira, similar to classic code integration. Additionally, they should give more information about trigger failure.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Pipedream and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.