IBM API Connect vs Postman Enterprise comparison

IBM and Postman are both solutions in the API Management category. IBM is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while Postman is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8. IBM holds a 5.0% mindshare in APIM, compared to Postman’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Postman users who would recommend it.

IBM API Connect

Read 79 IBM API Connect reviews

6,218 Views
5,907 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Postman Enterprise

Read 65 Postman Enterprise reviews

4,193 Views
1,132 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM API Connect

Postman Enterprise

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

In the competitive landscape of API management, IBM API Connect and Postman Enterprise both stand out. IBM API Connect appears to have an edge for enterprise-level applications due to its advanced capabilities, while Postman Enterprise is favored for its simplicity and efficiency in testing and collaboration.

Features: IBM API Connect is noted for its advanced security gateway, efficient API management, and integration capabilities, including REST and SOAP conversions. It also provides robust developer portal support and advanced analytics. Conversely, Postman Enterprise is praised for its ease of use, automation features, and strong API testing capabilities. Users value its collection features and environment variables for flexible, code-based testing.

Room for Improvement: IBM API Connect could benefit from refining integration with other IBM products, enhancing stability, and adding better customization and monetization capabilities. Improvements in documentation and cloud functionalities are also suggested. Postman Enterprise, on the other hand, would benefit from more seamless reporting, more efficient SOAP API handling, and better collaboration features. Users also look for improved data-driven testing capabilities and broader platform integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM API Connect offers flexible deployment options across on-premises, hybrid, and public cloud environments, though its setup is seen as complex. Its technical support is knowledgeable but sometimes slow. Postman Enterprise is easier to deploy, especially for cloud solutions, and does not typically demand extensive technical support due to its user-friendly design, with responsive customer service when needed.

Pricing and ROI: IBM API Connect is known for its higher pricing, making it more suitable for large enterprises with complex requirements seeking operational efficiencies. Its subscription-based model is seen as costly. In contrast, Postman Enterprise offers significant value with its free version, making it cost-effective. Its professional and enterprise versions offer robust features at an affordable price, delivering a favorable ROI by improving API testing efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM API Connect vs. Postman Enterprise Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Postman Enterprise

December 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

5.9

IBM API Connect saves time and costs, enhances integration, and improves ROI, though microservices' profitability is still unclear.

Sentiment score

4.1

Postman's streamlined API workflows enhance collaboration, reduce manual testing time, minimize errors, and improve productivity, leading to cost savings.

Reducing development hours from eighty to four for an API was possible due to reusing existing scripts from DataPower.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

I have seen a return on investment from using IBM API Connect, as we created multiple plans based on customer usage.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

A minimum of 50% time is saved when comparing manual to automation.

reviewer1144818

Senior QA Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.2

IBM API Connect's support is responsive and knowledgeable but can be slow, lacking documentation with varied customer service experiences.

Sentiment score

5.7

Postman's documentation and forums effectively resolve most issues, though some users desire improved support responsiveness and enhanced technical support.

Support is excellent when it comes to APIC.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

Support is extremely good, especially with Sev 1 issues.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

I appreciate the ease of using Postman, especially its desktop version, due to the features it offers such as cookie management and environment synchronization.

SergioMartinez

Senior developer at Digital world advisory

There is a lot of support available through forums and user groups, which has been sufficient for me.

VishalPatil

Automation Architect at Cognizant

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM API Connect offers scalable API management, supporting large transactions and customizable deployments, making it ideal for enterprises.

Sentiment score

7.2

Postman Enterprise excels in scalability and adaptability for various teams, despite noted areas for performance improvement.

With container versions, scaling up or down the gateways deployed into pods is a two to three-minute task for the operations team.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

It is distributed among IBM MQ, IBM Ace, IBM DataPower, and IBM API Connect.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

IBM API Connect's scalability is good, as you can handle it easily similar to how you manage cloud providers.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

Postman does not have database validation available, which affects its scalability.

VishalPatil

Automation Architect at Cognizant

This solution is scalable.

reviewer2391117

Erp Lead at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.3

IBM API Connect is highly stable and reliable, with minimal issues, especially improved in recent versions, despite initial concerns.

Sentiment score

8.0

Postman Enterprise is highly reliable, stable, and handles daily use well, with minimal issues and rare glitches.

The runtime engine for the APIC Gateway is still a DataPower component, which has been stable in the industry for about fifteen years.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

If it is functioning well, you won't have a bad experience and your application becomes more reliable.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

I rate it ten out of ten for stability.

reviewer2391117

Erp Lead at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees

I have not experienced any issues or downtimes.

MOHAMED RAMIGARALI

Full Stack JS(ReactJS/NodeJS) & IBM Integration Bus(IIB) Developer at Eviden France

During the development phase, you will face issues, but once it goes to production, you won't face such issues.

VamsiKrishna10

Software engineer 2 at Quantiphi

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Room For Improvement

IBM API Connect requires improvements in integration, usability, scalability, support, monetization, documentation, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness across environments.

Postman Enterprise users request improved documentation, UI, integrations, automation, and pricing, while addressing compatibility, speed, and testing challenges.

Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

You need to know when traffic peaks, so use auto-scaling when traffic comes.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Connectivity to MQ is not available in IBM API Connect.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

One of the primary challenges with Postman is handling authentication issues, especially relating to tokens and passwords.

SergioMartinez

Senior developer at Digital world advisory

If they can enhance it to have a database kind of validation like we have in ReadyAPI, it would be better.

VishalPatil

Automation Architect at Cognizant

Maybe Postman can be a good contender and replicate some features such as more scripting and control over API calls.

reviewer1144818

Senior QA Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Setup Cost

IBM API Connect is pricey, favoring larger enterprises, but negotiating with IBM can reduce costs for smaller businesses.

Postman Enterprise offers competitive pricing with free and paid plans for various team sizes, balancing cost with features.

Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

Postman's pricing model includes a basic free version, which is favorable given the Professional enterprise options offered.

SergioMartinez

Senior developer at Digital world advisory

Postman is open-source, so the cost is minimal compared to commercial platforms.

VishalPatil

Automation Architect at Cognizant

Postman is much cheaper than the other tools.

reviewer1144818

Senior QA Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Valuable Features

IBM API Connect provides secure, efficient API management with advanced analytics, multi-cloud support, and intuitive functionality for enterprises.

Postman Enterprise offers user-friendly API testing with automation, collaboration, and integration features for streamlined team workflows and validation.

It offers significant development efficiency, reducing man-hours from eighty to four when creating APIs.

KANCHAN CHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at Royal Cyber Inc.

We can add some policies to provide extra security, protect your backend, validate the consumers, and analyze based on the traffic limit to throw things out.

Sairathish Murugesan

Works at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

IBM API Connect has a designer and CLI features which can be used to completely automate the API.

KANCHANCHALASANI

Software Engineer IV at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM API Connect report

The desktop version's features like cookie management, environment compatibility, security settings, proxy integration, and data synchronization add significant value.

SergioMartinez

Senior developer at Digital world advisory

It's easy to navigate because tons of documentation and examples are available.

reviewer1144818

Senior QA Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Postman's collaboration tools, such as version control and team workspaces, are particularly useful when working with teams of three to four people.

Marcel Cote

Programmeur-Analyste Research and Development at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Postman Enterprise report

Categories and Ranking

IBM API Connect

Ranking in API Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (12th)

Postman Enterprise

Ranking in API Management

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

API Monitoring Software (1st), API Testing Tools (1st), AI Software Development (6th)

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 Postman Enterprise is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

API Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Postman Enterprise	1.5%
IBM API Connect	5.0%
Other	93.5%

API Management

Featured Reviews

Sairathish Murugesan

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.

Read full review

TOMISLAV SOKAC

API Integration Engineer at Airbnb

Automated testing optimizes API workflow and collaboration

Since I am using the free tier, one improvement would be to increase the number of requests you can send in a short time period. Currently, if I send 200-300 requests in a short period, Postman Enterprise requires a 30-second wait before sending another bundle of requests unless you upgrade to a higher tier. Secondly, Postman Enterprise sometimes takes several minutes to load the whole workspace. With 2,000-3,000 requests in a workspace, it can take a minute or two to load all requests. When creating a new workspace and moving requests between workspaces, depending on internet speed, it can take a longer period to copy those requests or workspace from one place to another.

Read full review

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Insurance Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

14%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	61

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	41

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?

I do not handle the pricing, setup cost, and licensing details.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

How does Postman compare with Apache JMeter?

Postman lets you easily define variables, which then get updated automatically. This is a huge time-saver and makes processes very efficient. We can also export the test cases we create and share t...

See all answers

What do you like most about Postman?

The product is easy to implement.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Postman?

Postman is much cheaper than the other tools. I am not aware of the current pricing for Postman because that's taken care of by the client; we just pay and they simply create options. On a per-pers...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM DataPower Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 31% of the time

Apigee vs IBM API Connect

Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Azure API Management vs IBM API Connect

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon API Gateway vs IBM API Connect

Compared 5% of the time

MuleSoft API Manager vs IBM API Connect

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM API Connect Competitors

Katalon Studio vs Postman Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

ReadyAPI Test vs Postman Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

Tricentis Tosca vs Postman Enterprise

Compared 10% of the time

Apache JMeter vs Postman Enterprise

Compared 8% of the time

Parasoft SOAtest vs Postman Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect

January 2026

Download IBM API Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

Postman Enterprise

January 2026

Download Postman Enterprise product report

Overview

IBM API Connect is an API management tool providing robust security, seamless REST and SOAP conversion, and flexible deployment options for diverse cloud environments. It aids organizations in securing and monetizing their APIs while streamlining the development process.

IBM API Connect offers features like a security gateway, API lifecycle management, and integration with DataPower. Its intuitive interface enhances ease of use, supporting extensive analytics and traffic management. However, there are areas for improvement in automation, system integration, and user configuration. Organizations can deploy API Connect on-premises or in the cloud, delivering secure access control and analytics for banking, financial services, and government sectors. Compliance with standards like PSD2 ensures secure external API exposure and integration with multiple systems.

What are the most important features of IBM API Connect?

Security Gateway: Provides robust protection and data security for APIs.
Seamless Conversion: Facilitates easy conversion between REST and SOAP protocols.
API Management: Supports full API lifecycle management for efficient development.
DataPower Integration: Integrates seamlessly with DataPower for enhanced functionality.
Developer Portal: Offers a user-friendly interface for managing APIs and developers.
Analytics: Delivers powerful insights through comprehensive API analytics.
Flexible Deployment: Supports deployment on different cloud platforms for versatility.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from IBM API Connect?

Traffic Management: Efficiently manages high volumes of API traffic without compromising performance.
Data Protection: Ensures data is protected during API communication.
API Monetization: Facilitates API monetization strategies to drive revenue.
Scalability: Provides scalable solutions to handle growing demands seamlessly.

In specific industries like banking, financial services, and government sectors, IBM API Connect plays a crucial role in API management, orchestration, and regulation tasks. It provides secure access, control, and compliance with industry standards, serving as an essential gateway for data exchange and integration across multiple systems.

IBM

Postman Enterprise provides API testing capabilities with features like automation, integration, and shared environments, enhancing efficiency for REST and SOAP APIs. Teams benefit from its intuitive interface and support for automation and scripting.

Postman Enterprise is designed for API testing, supporting REST and SOAP APIs to enhance manual and automated testing. It offers endpoint validation, unit and integration testing, and data-driven testing. This platform is valued for its easy setup, flexibility in automation, and scripting, enabling collaborations through shared collections and generating reports. However, users find room for improvement in automation, integration with platforms, SOAP API testing, and collection management.

What are the key features of Postman Enterprise?

Intuitive Interface: Simplifies navigation and usage across teams.
Automation Capabilities: Speeds up testing processes.
Integration Support: Connects with tools like Jenkins and Newman.
Scripting and Version Control: Enhances collaboration.
Testing Flexibility: Supports REST and SOAP API testing.

What benefits can users expect from Postman Enterprise?

Efficiency Gains: Streamlines API testing processes.
Improved Collaboration: Facilitates teamwork through shared environments.
Better Testing Accuracy: Validates requests and responses thoroughly.

In industries relying on API development, Postman Enterprise aids in creating robust testing environments. Whether technology, finance, or healthcare, teams leverage its data-driven testing capability and collaboration features for comprehensive and accurate testing outcomes.

Postman

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank

PayPal, Shopify, Microsoft, Adobe, Atlassian, Twitter, BestBuy, Coursera

Buyer's Guide

IBM API Connect vs. Postman Enterprise

December 2025

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