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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

"The solution is very stable."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"It is easy to use and stable."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The solution enables users to integrate several things."
"The most valuable features of Pipedream are the prebuilt integrations that require no coding."
"It is a developer-friendly platform that allows writing custom scripts."
 

Cons

"The platform’s integration with the payment gateway needs enhancement. The setup process and support services could be improved."
"The implementation process could benefit from improvements, as it may take some time to become accustomed to the deployment."
"The initial setup and installation could be easier."
"The solution is overly complex."
"One thing about API Connect that could be improved is the security schemes. There are so many security schemes, and from a product perspective, IBM could improve the user experience of the configuration security scheme."
"Firstly, the pricing model, when compared to other open sources, is high. Secondly, the availability of resources in the market, specifically the developers available in the market, is not so much."
"The monetization of the API could be improved. The pricing for the consumer is also very important to improve this solution."
"Different versions of the same thing can mean unnecessary duplication."
"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."
"They should give more information about trigger failure."
"There is a potential area for improvement in handling loop operations over items."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is significantly high."
"This is a licensed product. If your company is looking to obtain a license, you have to work with IBM partners."
"It is a pretty expensive tool."
"The price of the solution is very expensive, it can turn many customers away."
"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."
"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."
"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 would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"Price-wise, for a company, it is a nice product, but for personal use, it is not very beneficial."
"The product price is fair and inexpensive than one of the competitors."
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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.