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IBM API Connect vs Red Hat Integration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.4
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (13th)
Red Hat Integration
Ranking in API Management
43rd
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 4.6%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Integration is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM API Connect4.6%
Red Hat Integration0.6%
Other94.8%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mehdi-El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Middleware Tech Lead at MQnovaTool
API management has strengthened security and monitoring but still needs better support and tooling
There are areas of IBM API Connect that need to be improved. I want what Gravitee made, which is much better. Gravitee made many samples for different use cases. First of all, they made examples of use cases, codes, and what the module expects and what the module returns for multiple examples and use cases inside the development. I do not even have to go to the documentation website because everything is included inside the tool when I work on it. This is great, in fact. IBM API Connect should show examples. One other thing is the support. The support of IBM is in India. Every time I want to ask something, they say they need logs, they want this, they want that. Gravitee API asks me to explain the problem without asking a thousand times as if it is a request for a green card in the USA. Then they really explain quickly. IBM is a big company, so everything is standardized with the approach of "You do that, you do that, you request that. If you do not have that, you do not reply to the client." Clients want flexibility today, even if it is a huge company. A stressed client is a client that will want to change to other flexible solutions. When everything is fine, we do not care, but when there is stress and problems, that is when the customer of IBM evaluates the tool really. It is when there are problems. IBM makes a lot of efforts on sales and technical sales, and then that is it.
CHEW YONG - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle Solution Architect at beans
Facilitates seamless integration while offering room for OpenShift flexibility
I am still a reseller for IBM products today. I focus on integration solutions. For integration, my clients are using CP4I. For CP4I, I'm using ACE-S, API Connect, and MQ. These are the three products I'm selling from IBM. My clients are using IBM App Connect on-premises. I basically sell open source, specifically Red Hat Integration for integration purposes. Red Hat Integration is part of the Red Hat Integration bundle, which includes two different software solutions bundled together with Red Hat. It's bundled with the OpenShift plus the foundation. I am a Principal Solution Architect. I would be available for them to reach out by email for any questions or comments regarding my review. I want to be a reference for them. I rate Red Hat Integration an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would say that if you want stability and security, you should go for API Connect, as it's a very robust product that lets you easily create and manage your API."
"Policy configurations are pretty easy."
"Easy to configure security and generate API keys."
"Scalable and stable API platform for creating and managing APIs."
"The customer seems to really like how this particular solution works."
"One of the most valuable features is that we can seamlessly and harmoniously expose our capabilities, from a security point of view."
"IBM API Connect has a designer and CLI features which can be used to completely automate the API, so if a business analyst has a basic understanding of what the input and output payload is, they can directly create the API."
"One of the most valuable features is the easy-to-use web interface."
"Real-time event streaming is good because you can do real-time data insight, monitor any event that happens, take the action, and provide a real-time dashboard based on certain data."
"The most valuable features of Red Hat Integration lie in its ease of customization for business needs and the flexibility to design workflows according to specific requirements."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve security and performance."
"A lot of the features require improvement, such as better integration with the other suites of the product and a more secured way to put it on the cloud."
"IBM has improved this product significantly in last 2 years but it is still not stable and requires further improvements."
"IBM info-center help documentation also needs improvement. Competitive product like Apigee provide out of the box policies to run Javascript, JAVA and better/flexible logging policies."
"The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side."
"It was frustrating that we almost could not install it by ourselves because some information I will never find because IBM keeps it."
"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."
"Our main pain points are in these two areas: creating a better developer portal and improving stability in terms of synchronization and monetization."
"The disadvantage of Red Hat Integration is that it has to be tightly coupled to the OpenShift platform, so I couldn't run it on any platform other than OpenShift."
"The performance of a few computations for the message broker version could be more stable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"API Connect is quite pricey."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"The price of the solution is very expensive, it can turn many customers away."
"It is a pretty expensive tool."
"API Connect is expensive - I'd rate their pricing five out of ten."
"There was a need to purchase an upfront license or a one-time license or upfront license, but I cannot remember the details about it clearly."
"We pay for the IBM API Connect monthly. We only need to pay the standard licensing fee."
"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."
"It is an expensive platform and not suitable for small companies."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which API Management solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise62
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
There are areas of IBM API Connect that need to be improved. I want what Gravitee made, which is much better. Gravitee made many samples for different use cases. First of all, they made examples of...
What is your primary use case for IBM API Connect?
The usual use cases for IBM API Connect that I worked with mostly involved three things: security, monitoring, and message control. The purpose was to address these areas, though there was one feat...
What needs improvement with Red Hat Integration?
The disadvantage of Red Hat Integration is that it has to be tightly coupled to the OpenShift platform, so I couldn't run it on any platform other than OpenShift.
What advice do you have for others considering Red Hat Integration?
I am still a reseller for IBM products today. I focus on integration solutions. For integration, my clients are using CP4I. For CP4I, I'm using ACE-S, API Connect, and MQ. These are the three produ...
What is your primary use case for Red Hat Integration?
The use cases for Red Hat Integration are integration and transformation.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. Red Hat Integration and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.