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IBM API Connect vs SAP Integration Suite 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
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (7th)
SAP Integration Suite
Ranking in API Management
13th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.4%, up from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Integration Suite is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

KavitaChavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Quite flexible and provides excellent performance for API gateway
The only disadvantage I can see is that it requires heavy hardware support, which can be considered quite expensive. In terms of new functionality, I think the analytics can be improved in V10. The analytics feature was better in the older version, 2.18. But in V10, it's not as flexible. When exporting analytics as KSP or JSON, it's not well formatted. They can work on enhancing the analytics part. Additionally, they can focus on reducing the hardware cost.
AhmedHaridy - PeerSpot reviewer
Has many add-on services and supports different authentication methods
The SAP Integration Suite can work with different authentication methods. It supports physical authentication, certificate-based integration, and mTLS authentication. This allows customers to choose the best integration approach based on their policies and procedures. Additionally, the suite offers both push and data integration capabilities. The SAP Integration Suite has different add-ons and services that are easy to activate. You can create chatbots and integrate them with websites and apps. You can also build custom customer apps from scratch using various technologies. These apps can be based on databases or programming languages like Java. The suite also supports special intelligence like machine learning, although we haven't used it yet. It offers various methods, such as API management. You can easily access data files in formats like JSON or Excel, depending on your needs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The services that I consume through IBM API Connect are beneficial. It can handle multiple API management."
"Using API Connect allows us to quickly create proxy APIs and saves time on end-to-end testing, which lets us deliver quickly to clients."
"I have found the API Management to be most valuable."
"The solution's technical support team is good."
"The functionalities on offer are very good."
"The most valuable features of IBM API Connect are its performance and user-friendliness."
"API Connect is a very good platform for the development of APIs."
"The most beneficial feature of SAP Integration Suite for our operation is its capability to enable API-based cloud applications to integrate seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA."
"The most beneficial feature for our clients is the easy access to their information, achieved effortlessly through integration."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The technical support services are good."
"The SAP Integration Suite can work with different authentication methods. It supports physical authentication, certificate-based integration, and mTLS authentication. This allows customers to choose the best integration approach based on their policies and procedures. Additionally, the suite offers both push and data integration capabilities."
 

Cons

"Installation is weak."
"The product's setup phase and its setup for the users in different environments, along with DevOps integration, are areas of concern where there is a need for improvement."
"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."
"The developer portal could be easier to customize."
"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."
"The integration of cloud-based services is where we're looking for improvement in this platform."
"We ran it on top of the Kubernetes cluster, so it wasn't a standalone service. In the worst-case scenario, API Connect couldn't stay online if all the containers went down. We had to restart all the services. We shut down all the containers automatically one by one."
"It would be helpful to have access monitoring."
"They could provide graphical data for over-viewing metrics such as payments, receipts, creditors, and refunds."
"The setup process for the SAP integration Suite is not straightforward. It involves some technical aspects and can be complex."
"The product's UI could be faster."
"The instances are costly."
"I believe there are areas where SAP Integration Suite could be improved, such as enhancing message transformation capabilities and simplifying conditional routing features compared to the on-premise tool SAP PO (Process Orchestration)."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"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 should be cheaper. It has a yearly licensing."
"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 is quite pricey."
"It is inexpensive for smaller businesses and expensive for larger businesses."
"I'm not well-versed in the details of pricing and standard licensing for SAP Integration Suite as I primarily focus on technical aspects. As far as I know, clients can choose between different levels of offerings based on their messaging frequency and business requirements, with premium levels offering more features and customization options."
"I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Non Profit
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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?
Price depends on many factors like size of the deal, competitive factors, timing, customer profile or where the pricing for API Calls is very competitive comparing to any of the leader players.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
The only downside where improvements are needed is probably on the licensing side. Scalability is an issue with IBM API Connect, making it an area where improvements are required.
What do you like most about SAP Integration Suite?
The SAP Integration Suite can work with different authentication methods. It supports physical authentication, certificate-based integration, and mTLS authentication. This allows customers to choos...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP Integration Suite?
I'm not well-versed in the details of pricing and standard licensing for SAP Integration Suite as I primarily focus on technical aspects. As far as I know, clients can choose between different leve...
What needs improvement with SAP Integration Suite?
I believe there are areas where SAP Integration Suite could be improved, such as enhancing message transformation capabilities and simplifying conditional routing features compared to the on-premis...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Heineken, Tine, Finologee, Axis Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM API Connect vs. SAP Integration Suite and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.