IBM App Connect vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data comparison

The compared IBM App Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Data solutions aren't in the same category. IBM App Connect is ranked #6 in CDI , with an average rating of 8.2, and holds a 4.8% mindshare in the category. IBM Cloud Pak for Data is ranked #3 in DV , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 19.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM App Connect users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of IBM Cloud Pak for Data users who would recommend it.

IBM App Connect

Read 25 IBM App Connect reviews

1,608 Views
988 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Read 13 IBM Cloud Pak for Data reviews

282 Views
190 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

IBM App Connect

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM App Connect and IBM Cloud Pak for Data based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Cloud Data Integration solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM App Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data Report (Updated: May 2023).

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data

May 2023

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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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM App Connect

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Data Integration (6th)

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Integration (25th), Data Virtualization (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Data Integration and Access solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM App Connect is designed for Cloud Data Integration and holds a mindshare of 4.8%, up 3.3% compared to last year.
IBM Cloud Pak for Data, on the other hand, focuses on Data Virtualization, holds 19.3% mindshare, up 14.9% since last year.

Cloud Data Integration

Data Virtualization

Featured Reviews

Emirhan Guven

Team Leader, Software Development at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees

Transforms data efficiently and navigates licensing challenges with ease

The transition between version 12 and version 13 presents some challenges. While version 12 had approximately 10 features, version 13 includes around 200 features with cloud platform compatibility. The learning curve for developers moving from version 12 to 13 could be smoother. When using new components, better context explanations would be beneficial. In version 13, accessing new features requires connecting through a web browser, which can be challenging to understand. The explanation of new features could be more user-friendly.

Read full review

Michelle Leslie

Data asset management engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

Starts strong with data management capabilities but needs a demo database

What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated. There are so many components to data management, and more often than not, people understand one thing really well. They may understand DataStage and how to move data around, but they do not see the impact of moving data incorrectly. They also do not see the impact of everyone understanding a piece of data in the same way. I would love Cloud Pak to come with a demo database that illustrates the different components of data management in a logical way, so I can see the whole picture instead of just the area I'm specializing in. It would be great if Cloud Pak, from a data modeling point of view, allowed us to import our PDMs, for example. It would be ideal to import and create business terms in Cloud Pak. The PEA would be great to create the technical data. The association between the business and the technical metadata could then be automated by pulling it through from your ACE models. The data modeling component is available in Cloud Pak. Additionally, when it comes to Cloud Pak, even though it has the NextGen DataStage built into it, there is Cloud Pak for data integration as well. Currently, I do not think we have a full enough understanding of how CP4D and CP4I can enhance each other.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has different type of interfaces that can integrate with companies."

"One of the most beneficial features is the ability to handle multiple communication technologies, like integrating Kafka flows, which is helpful as other teams heavily use it. Regarding error handling, I initially wrote most of the handling myself. While built-in features for error handling are built-in, it largely depends on the developer. We use a custom solution that catches all exceptions, logs them in a database, and replays them as needed. It has been effective for us for over twenty years."

"The solution is fast and supports Open UI 3.0 certification."

"The transformation capabilities in IBM App Connect are particularly beneficial."

"The solution is very fast-paced when it comes to making things right. We can quickly download what we need if we need any app migrations for our software business. We can download it plenty of times when we need to use it. It gives us very high speed for delivering any development."

"It has an efficient design flow."

"Very scalable, flexible, and user-friendly."

"Provides good security features."

More IBM App Connect pros

"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten."

"Cloud Pak is a very, very, very good system."

"IBM Watson Catalog and data pipelines are the most valuable features of the solution."

"Cloud Pak's most valuable features are IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, and ISPF."

"Its data preparation capabilities are highly valuable."

"What I found most helpful in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is containerization, which means it's easy to shift and leave in terms of moving to other clouds. That's an advantage of IBM Cloud Pak for Data."

"The most valuable features of IBM Cloud Pak for Data are the Watson Studio, where we can initiate more groups and write code. Additionally, Watson Machine Learning is available with many other services, such as APIs which you can plug the machine learning models."

"One of Cloud Pak's best features is the Watson Knowledge Catalog, which helps you implement data governance."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data pros

Cons

"Updates are constantly delayed."

"The user interface of IBM App Connect can be a little bit more user-friendly, I would say because the first-time developer is onboarded while using IBM App Connect, he or she may get a little intimidated or daunted looking at all the options available or the pipelines, et cetera."

"In the next release, I would like to get some quality connectors."

"The product should improve its support."

"The installation of containers could be simplified, as it currently requires a senior-level installer."

"The setup time for App Connect could be improved."

"More connectors could be available for the product as some of the third-party software doesn't have default connectors."

"I've been using IBM App Connect for about twenty-five years, and while I like it, there are some areas for improvement. The trace policy is ridiculous, and the biggest issue is the cost—it's expensive. People would use it much more if the price point weren't so high."

More IBM App Connect cons

"What I would love to see is an end-to-end, almost a training demo database of some sort, where one of the biggest problems with data management is demonstrated."

"The technical support could be a little better."

"The solution could have more connectors."

"The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem."

"The interface could improve because sometimes it becomes slow. Sometimes there is a delay between clicks when using the software, which can make the development process slow. It can take a few seconds to complete one action, and then a few more seconds to do the next one."

"The solution's catalog searching or map search needs to be improved."

"The solution's user experience is an area that has room for improvement."

"One challenge I'm facing with IBM Cloud Pak for Data is native features have been decommissioned, such as XML input and output. Too many changes have been made, and my company has around one hundred thousand mappings, so my team has been putting more effort into alternative ways to do things. Another area for improvement in IBM Cloud Pak for Data is that it's more complicated to shift from on-premise to the cloud. Other vendors provide secure agents that easily connect with your existing setup. Still, with IBM Cloud Pak for Data, you have to perform connection migration steps, upgrade to the latest version, etc., which makes it more complicated, especially as my company has XML-based mappings. Still, the XML input and output capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Data have been discontinued, so I'd like IBM to bring that back."

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be better."

"IBM App Connect's pricing is high compared to other products."

"It is very expensive if we want to scale."

"The licensing cost for IBM App Connect is very high."

"The cost depends upon the consumer."

"The solution's pricing isn't cheap, but you can get good discounts based on your competitive deal."

"Initially, App Connect was quite expensive because the cost was based on the number of processors we used. However, it's now based on containers, which means we can be more specific about our consumption and get a better price."

"App Connect is not cheap."

"I don't have the exact licensing cost for IBM Cloud Pak for Data, as my company is still finalizing requirements, including monthly, yearly, and three-year licensing fees. Still, on a scale of one to five, I'd rate it a three because, compared to other vendors, it's more complicated."

"For the licensing of the solution, there is a yearly payment that needs to be made. Also, since it is expensive, cost-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten."

"The solution is expensive."

"I think that this product is too expensive for smaller companies."

"Cloud Pak's cost is a little high."

"It's quite expensive."

"The solution's pricing is competitive with that of other vendors."

"IBM Cloud Pak for Data is expensive. If we include the training time and the machine learning, it's expensive. The cost of the execution is more reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

44%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM App Connect?

I like the adapters. The adapters help us achieve scalability. If you want to connect to SAP, there's an adapter. Salesforce? There's an adapter. You want to connect to another system? There's like...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM App Connect?

IBM App Connect's pricing is high compared to other products.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM App Connect?

I have been using IBM App Connect for application integration.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

DataStage allows me to connect to different data sources.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

The setup cost is very expensive. The cost depends on the pieces of the solution I'm using, how much data I have, and whether it's on the cloud or on-prem.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Data?

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 34% of the time

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Compared 21% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs IBM App Connect

Compared 11% of the time

TIBCO BusinessWorks vs IBM App Connect

Compared 9% of the time

IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM App Connect

Compared 4% of the time

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IBM InfoSphere DataStage vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 40% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 16% of the time

Azure Data Factory vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 11% of the time

Denodo vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 10% of the time

Palantir Foundry vs IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Cloud Pak for Data Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect

May 2025

Download IBM App Connect product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

May 2025

Download IBM Cloud Pak for Data product report

Also Known As

IBM Cast Iron

Cloud Pak for Data

Overview

Rapidly connect public clouds, private clouds and on-premises application

App Connect Professional is IBM’s cloud integration offering which delivers an integration solution
• With ease-of-use, flexibility and increased responsiveness to the evolving business needs, while removing the daunting complexities of integration.
• Provides the powerful combination of a ‘simple integration experience’ for business users looking to automate how their applications talk to each other; coupled with a ‘configuration based integration’ approach for IT.
• App Connect Professional is for the teams and integration developers who need to solve more complex problems and need powerful tooling for integration scenarios

IBM

IBM Cloud Pak® for Data is a fully-integrated data and AI platform that modernizes how businesses collect, organize and analyze data to infuse AI throughout their organizations. Cloud-native by design, the platform unifies market-leading services spanning the entire analytics lifecycle. From data management, DataOps, governance, business analytics and automated AI, IBM Cloud Pak for Data helps eliminate the need for costly, and often competing, point solutions while providing the information architecture you need to implement AI successfully.

Building on the streamlined hybrid-cloud foundation of Red Hat® OpenShift®, IBM Cloud Pak for Data takes advantage of the underlying resource and infrastructure optimization and management. The solution fully supports multicloud environments such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud™ and private cloud deployments. Find out how IBM Cloud Pak for Data can lower your total cost of ownership and accelerate innovation.

IBM

Sample Customers

United Way of Allegheny County, Saint-Gobain CPS, Ricoh, SunTrust Banks Inc.

Qatar Development Bank, GuideWell, Skanderborg Music Festival

Buyer's Guide

IBM App Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data

May 2023

Free Report: IBM App Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM App Connect vs. IBM Cloud Pak for Data and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.

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