IBM App Connect vs Zapier comparison

Read 45 Zapier reviews

633 Views
247 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

IBM App Connect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

IBM App Connect and Zapier are leading solutions in the integration tools category. IBM App Connect holds an advantage in complex environments due to its extensive integration tools and security features, while Zapier excels in user-friendliness and built-in integrations.

Features: IBM App Connect offers robust integration tools and adapters, supporting complex IBM and non-IBM ecosystems with high security and reliability. It provides scalability and middleware functions. Zapier is known for its ease of use, providing point-and-click workflows and a wide range of built-in integrations, perfect for non-technical users seeking quick and diverse automation.

Room for Improvement: IBM App Connect could improve support responsiveness, user-friendliness, and enhance its audit/logging features. Users also seek better integration capabilities with non-IBM systems. Zapier would benefit from enhanced Google Sheets integrations, features for two-way synchronization, and more comprehensive logic-based workflows. Expanding its app library and improving customer support response times are also identified areas for growth.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM App Connect can be deployed on-premises, hybrid, private, and public cloud environments, requiring technical expertise for setup and facing occasional support delays. The support quality varies. Zapier is primarily a public cloud solution with straightforward setup and generally positive support ratings, although some users desire faster response times.

Pricing and ROI: IBM App Connect involves higher licensing costs, typically favored by large enterprises leveraging its ecosystem for integrated solutions. It requires expertise, reflecting its higher costs but promises ROI over time. Zapier offers a flexible pricing model, starting with a free plan, which scales as needs grow. It is cost-effective for startups and smaller companies, delivering quick ROI through easy-to-deploy automations, although costs can rise with increased usage.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM App Connect vs. Zapier Report (Updated: June 2025).

IBM App Connect vs. Zapier

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

7.2

IBM App Connect enhances efficiency and ROI with centralized integrations, requiring expertise for long-term success across various sectors.

Sentiment score

6.8

Zapier is praised for automation and cost savings, offering significant value especially in early stages despite ROI challenges.

No quotes available

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

In a scenario where employing three resources for three months might cost approximately $18,000 to $20,000, Zapier provides substantial cost savings.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Chief Technology Advocate at PURESOFT GLOBAL LLC

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.6

IBM App Connect support is responsive and competent, but inconsistencies and delays exist, especially in non-urgent and local support.

Sentiment score

7.6

Zapier's technical support is praised for efficiency and competence, though some users desire more immediate communication options.

When opening a ticket with the global team, problems are resolved promptly and effectively.

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

The technical support from IBM is good.

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

Developer at Wipro Limited

The experience was positive with prompt responses from their team.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Chief Technology Advocate at PURESOFT GLOBAL LLC

Sometimes, in my early days, when I was stuck with something, they helped me solve these issues, and even helped me solve some of my automations.

Muhammad Bazal Iqbal

Chief Executive Officer at FlowVeo

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.4

IBM App Connect is praised for scalability in cloud and container environments, with suggestions for improved administration features.

Sentiment score

7.7

Zapier is ideal for small to mid-sized businesses, offering effective scalability and integration, but may not suit larger enterprises.

IBM App Connect demonstrates good scalability.

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

I would rate the scalability of IBM App Connect as nine out of ten.

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

Developer at Wipro Limited

Scaling it gets quite expensive, and while I cannot evaluate it purely from a technology perspective, compared to Workato, I would give Zapier a seven for scalability.

René Ludwigs

Product Owner | Integration

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

IBM App Connect is stable, with high reliability, though occasional issues arise from environment, configuration, or resource management.

Sentiment score

6.9

Users generally find Zapier reliable with occasional minor issues often linked to external factors, rating stability six to nine.

IBM App Connect occasionally crashes for various reasons, requiring problem-solving intervention.

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

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

In my current company, we had significant challenges with Zapier regarding maintenance, as Zaps were often broken, not necessarily due to Zapier, but due to changes in the input variables.

René Ludwigs

Product Owner | Integration

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Room For Improvement

IBM App Connect users seek improved logging, interface enhancements, better community support, and simpler, more cost-effective version transitions.

Zapier users desire enhanced features, better integrations, improved support, and more flexibility alongside competitive pricing and comprehensive documentation.

I find it particularly good for on-premises and now cloud use.

Developer at Wipro Limited

Version 13 includes around 200 features with cloud platform compatibility.

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

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

While Zapier already has more than 2,000 webhooks, users or developers should have the flexibility to create additional custom connectors.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Chief Technology Advocate at PURESOFT GLOBAL LLC

Specific workflows could be created to pull transformed data through Zapier workflow directly into visualization tools for dashboard and report creation.

reviewer2716083

Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

I would appreciate if there would be a feature where we can use actions right after loops. Currently, you cannot use any other action after the loop. Everything needs to be within the loop.

Muhammad Bazal Iqbal

Chief Executive Officer at FlowVeo

Setup Cost

IBM App Connect's annual pricing varies by transactions and partnership, with complexities and flexibility in setup and licensing.

Zapier offers flexible pricing, with costs rising for heavy use, yet many find it valuable for automation and time savings.

For insurance companies with simple JDBC connections, the process is straightforward.

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

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

The pricing is in accordance with market standards and even lower in some cases.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Chief Technology Advocate at PURESOFT GLOBAL LLC

Valuable Features

IBM App Connect excels with robust integration, user-friendly design, scalability, and flexibility for seamless, secure, and complex integrations.

Zapier facilitates seamless app integration and task automation with user-friendly tools, supporting platforms like Salesforce and Google Sheets.

File operations are simple to execute, and converting between XML to JSON formats is effortless with IBM App Connect.

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

The features I find most valuable are message routing, message transformation, and protocol translation.

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

Developer at Wipro Limited

The automation capabilities are impressive.

reviewer2716083

Business Intelligence Developer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees

Even a person with no technical knowledge can use Zapier to create automations.

Muhammad Bazal Iqbal

Chief Executive Officer at FlowVeo

Creating integration points through webhooks is particularly useful for anyone working on integration projects.

For more quotes and insights, download the Zapier report

Chief Technology Advocate at PURESOFT GLOBAL LLC

Categories and Ranking

IBM App Connect

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zapier

Ranking in Cloud Data Integration

13th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Cloud Data Integration category, the mindshare of IBM App Connect is 4.9%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zapier is 2.0%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Data Integration

Featured Reviews

Transforms data efficiently and navigates licensing challenges with ease

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

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

FrankHo

Analyst at MSXI

Though the tool offers a visually appealing UI, it needs to improve its documentation

With Zapier, improvements are required in the areas of concerns like bugs, ease of use, and documentation. The product has many bugs, so users have to wait for a period ranging from five minutes to an hour to see where the Zap went. In Zapier, Zaps aren't very understandable owing to the way they work. As a user, you would think that in Zapier, a Zap works in a particular way once you set it up, but it won't happen. At times, some Zaps can interfere with each other, because of which there might be infinite loops that may occur, owing to which multiple Zaps continue to run or break down in general, after which nothing would run in your environment. You would not be notified about the breakdown of Zaps. The bugs in the product may be considered to understand or get an explanation of how Zaps works between software systems, so for something between Gmail and HubSpot, Zapier would explain through better documentation what would work and what wouldn't work. Maybe if Zapier had better functionality with Python or any other coding language in general, it would make the product a lot better.

Read full review

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Data Integration solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

33%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Educational Organization

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...

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

Configuration time varies by implementation. For insurance companies with simple JDBC connections, the process is straightforward. However, companies requiring multiple configurations for ODBC, JDB...

What is your primary use case for IBM App Connect?

I am a developer specializing in IBM App Connect. We have a customer interested in comparing ESB tools, such as webMethods, which was previously owned by Software AG company before IBM acquired the...

What do you like most about Zapier?

The product's most valuable feature is automation.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zapier?

The pricing is suitable. It's not cheap, but not expensive.

What needs improvement with Zapier?

The pricing could be a little cheaper.

webMethods.io vs IBM App Connect

Comparisons

Compared 33% of the time

IBM Cloud Pak for Integration vs IBM App Connect

Compared 21% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs IBM App Connect

Compared 10% of the time

TIBCO BusinessWorks vs IBM App Connect

Compared 9% of the time

SAP Process Orchestration vs IBM App Connect

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM App Connect Competitors

Coefficient vs Zapier

Compared 19% of the time

Fivetran vs Zapier

Compared 14% of the time

SnapLogic vs Zapier

Compared 10% of the time

AWS Glue vs Zapier

Compared 9% of the time

Coupler.io vs Zapier

Compared 8% of the time

More Zapier Competitors

Product Reports

Download IBM App Connect product report

IBM App Connect

June 2025

Download Zapier product report

May 2025

Also Known As

IBM Cast Iron

No data available

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

Zapier is a tool for primarily non-technical users to connect together web apps.

An integration between two apps is called a Zap. A Zap is made up of a Trigger and one or more Actions or Searches.

Whenever the trigger happens in one app, Zapier will automatically perform the actions or searches in another app in order.

Zaps are very lightweight and easy to set up. Zaps do not import or export old data (they only operate on new items created after the Zap is enabled). Zaps are also not kept in sync ("two way syncing") after the Zap is triggered.

Zaps are deceivingly simple if you're used to dealing with complex and difficult integrations. Their simplicity is what enables anyone to create them.

Sample Customers

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

BuzzFeed, Groupon, Spotify, Columbia University, FOX