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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
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th)
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 August 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM API Connect is 6.2%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Integration Suite is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Shanmugasundaram Shanmuganathan - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers basic API orchestration and provides robust security and governance features
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. Overall, I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. Almost all applications we've been exposing lately go through this middleware, so it's used extensively. There are around sixty applications directly using it, but six Kubernetes clusters serve those applications. It's heavily used for integration, including system-to-system integration and product integrations. Our usage has been increasing year-on-year based on our needs.
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

"It is a very scalable solution."
"This solution is ready to scale and already supports our agile CICD."
"The functionalities on offer are very good."
"What's best about IBM API Connect is the excellent administration. The development tool that builds the API is also very simple, and user-friendly, and it doesn't consume too much time. Another valuable feature in IBM API Connect is its good reporting feature, particularly for operations, but the most valuable feature of the solution for the customer is security. IBM API Connect provides a DMZ and a security gateway between the external and internal environment, so you can publish your API safely. IBM API Connect can also integrate with any tool or middleware that works on open standards without the need for development or coding, so integration with the solution is easier."
"Publishers can easily identify, create, and publish APIs on the developer portal, defining plans, packages, and potentially billing rules."
"IBM API Connect is a reliable and scalable solution."
"DataPower Gateway holds significant value for us as it serves as the cornerstone of our enterprise security controls."
"The most valuable feature for me is the ability to distribute work among our API developers, so we don't have to do all the work as IBM API Connect administrators and IBM DataPower administrators."
"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 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 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

"There is room for improvement regarding the connectivity of the DevOps."
"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."
"IBM API Connect could improve the security of the application and the integration."
"The implementation process could benefit from improvements, as it may take some time to become accustomed to the deployment."
"Our main pain points are in these two areas: creating a better developer portal and improving stability in terms of synchronization and monetization."
"It is expensive within this class of products."
"It would be nice to have a SaaS solution that can be deployed into the cloud."
"There are some performance issues and issues related to asynchronous APIs."
"The product's UI could be faster."
"The instances are costly."
"The setup process for the SAP integration Suite is not straightforward. It involves some technical aspects and can be complex."
"They could provide graphical data for over-viewing metrics such as payments, receipts, creditors, and refunds."
"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

"It can be quite expensive. It's okay for large-scale usage but quite expensive for smaller-scale implementations."
"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."
"It would be a good idea to bring down the pricing by at least 20 to 30 percent."
"It's an expensive product."
"It is expensive when compared to other products in this class. There were no extra fees for add-ons or technical support."
"It is an expensive solution. The licensing model is based on a per-subscription and per-subscriber end-user basis, meaning the price is determined by the end-users of the platform."
"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."
"I rate its pricing a five out of ten."
"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."
"It is inexpensive for smaller businesses and expensive for larger businesses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Insurance Company
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Non Profit
6%
Retailer
6%
 

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?
Pricing depends on how many instances run across environments. I don't deal with licensing, but compared to other IBM products, the licensing is not significantly higher.
What needs improvement with IBM API Connect?
When comparing API Gateway with DataPower Gateway, several features in DataPower Gateway are absent in the APIC layer. Examples include the lack of connectivity to MQ ( /categories/message-queue-mq...
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: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.