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IBM Cloud Pak for Integration vs Layer7 API Management 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 Cloud Pak for Integration
Ranking in API Management
28th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Integration (20th)
Layer7 API Management
Ranking in API Management
16th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 1.9%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Layer7 API Management1.9%
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration1.0%
Other97.1%
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Igor Khalitov - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner/Full Stack Software Engineer at Maraphonic, Inc.
Manages APIs and integrates microservices with redirection feature
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration includes monitoring capabilities to track the performance and health of your integrations. You can quickly roll back to a previous version if an issue arises. Additionally, it supports incremental deployments, allowing you to shift traffic to a new version of an API gradually. For example, you can start by directing 10% of traffic to the new version while the rest continue using the legacy version. If everything works as expected, you can gradually increase the traffic to the new version over time. IBM Cloud Pak for Integration has a client base that includes numerous organizations using AI and machine learning technologies. We leverage an open-source machine learning framework and integrate it with Kafka to help create and manage various products and data retrieval processes. For companies with private data, the framework first retrieves relevant data from a GitHub database, which is then combined with the final request before being sent to a language model like GPT. This ensures that the language model uses your specific data to generate responses. Kafka plays a key role by streaming real-time data from file systems and databases like Oracle and Microsoft SQL. This data is published to Kafka topics, then vectorized and used with artificial intelligence to enhance the overall process. It's like an old-fashioned approach. The best way is to redesign it with products such as Kafka. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Integration capabilities excel and support for varied platforms enhances communication across backend systems
We mainly use REST APIs, and the solution's integration capabilities are excellent. It allows communication with a number of back-end providers and data consolidation. The flexibility to develop APIs for various platforms, from front-end applications to ATM machines, is valuable. Code changes and migration are straightforward, and it supports identity and access management integration.

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 stable solution."
"The most valuable aspect of the Cloud Pak, in general, is the flexibility that you have to use the product."
"Cloud Pak for Integration is definitely scalable. That is the most important criteria."
"The most preferable aspect would be the elimination of the command, which was a significant improvement. In the past, it was a challenge, but now we can proceed smoothly with the implementation of our policies and everything is managed through JCP. It's still among the positive aspects, and it's a valuable feature."
"Redirection is a key feature. It helps in managing multiple microservices by centralizing control and access."
"In general, the solution works very, very well."
"It provides a simple endpoint for applications to call and for customers to call, so it reduces a lot of the complications of API services."
"Ease of use."
"As the APIs are built and published and made available to developers, we can build applications on top of those APIs in days and weeks as opposed to months."
"It is flexible in how it creates custom policies and uses builds with impressive methods."
"Because of the efficiency of the product actually doing that, pulling data from disparate sources, and integrating it into the response format that I want, that my customer demands, that's so easy."
"CA API Gateway provides rich policy sets in regards to XML and REST services, is great for all B2B integrations, and is a very agile component to set up and use."
"CA API suite is a strong solution with very good security capabilities and end-to-end lifecycle management of APIs."
"You can create little, custom Java assertions that you can insert to do your business logic, which might not be covered by the commercial product out-of-the-box."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is not easy."
"Its queuing and messaging features need improvement."
"What needs to be improved is the restriction that they have on the product."
"Setting up Cloud Pak for Integration is relatively complex. It's not as easy because it has not yet been fully integrated. You still have some products that are still not containerized, so you still have to run them on a dedicated VM."
"The pricing can be improved."
"Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent."
"I would like to see it work better with one of our back-end databases, DB2 UDB."
"The security protocols in CA's product, for financial services, weren't as good as those in API Connect."
"In terms of what could be improved, I think they do not have a good enough knowledge base on setting up the API Management Layer, especially on Azure using containers."
"There is a need to automate the process of retrieving the SSL certificate when it has expired. Currently, the product doesn't have this feature automated."
"The interface is Java which is difficult to make look very nice."
"ESM gives a hard time. For example, 7.3 to 8.3 migration is hardest."
"There is room for improvement in terms of innovation and investment, especially when compared to other leading products in the market."
"The development portal could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing model is very flexible."
"It is an expensive solution."
"APIs can be developed to provide security. We can show them in one single pane of glass, such as the CA API Management API Developer Portal. It is there that we can provide the monetization for their APIs and what is happening on third-party applications, like Paytm or BookMyShow."
"Pricing for Layer7 API Management is excellent, so it's an eight out of ten. The product is less expensive than other solutions. Layer7 API Management charges you based on the number of transactions, so the enterprise-level pricing my company got was excellent."
"I feel that it is costly for medium-sized companies."
"Do not buy piecemeal."
"There is an annual license for the use of this solution. I think we are paying for some support maintenance fees, included in that license. I don't know how it works. They should provide more information."
"If the CA pricing for API management would be a little lower, they would be able to cover a broader market."
"We weren't comfortable with the pricing of licensing. It was slightly more expensive than its competitors."
"Be aware of additional licenses for your warm standby. Ensure you get plenty of non-production licenses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
14%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise84
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?
Enterprise bots are needed to balance products like Kafka and Confluent.
What is your primary use case for IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?
It manages APIs and integrates microservices at the enterprise level. It offers a range of capabilities for handling APIs, microservices, and various integration needs. The platform supports thousa...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Cloud Pak for Integration?
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration includes monitoring capabilities to track the performance and health of your integrations. You can quickly roll back to a previous version if an issue arises. Addition...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Layer7 API Management?
Pricing is more than average. While I am used to Layer7 API Management ( /products/layer7-api-management-reviews ), seeing other products makes the tool's pricing seem high.
What needs improvement with Layer7 API Management?
Broadcom's push for upgrades from version nine to ten, ten to 10.3, and onwards to twelve needs improvement in migration processes, especially with service dependencies. The migration path sometime...
What is your primary use case for Layer7 API Management?
I am not the client. I implement Layer7 API Management ( /products/layer7-api-management-reviews ) for the clients. I have worked on multiple projects as a developer, implementing for Hydro Tasmani...
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CVS Health Corporation
1. IBM  2. Microsoft  3. Oracle  4. Salesforce  5. SAP  6. Cisco  7. Dell  8. HP  9. Adobe  10. VMware  11. Accenture  12. Capgemini  13. Deloitte  14. PwC  15. Ernst & Young  16. Infosys  17. TCS (Tata Consultancy Services)  18. Wipro  19. Cognizant  20. HCL Technologies  21. Tech Mahindra  22. Fujitsu  23. Hitachi  24. NEC  25. NTT Data  26. Ericsson  27. Nokia  28. Siemens  29. AT&T  30. Verizon  31. Vodafone  32. Orange
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Cloud Pak for Integration vs. Layer7 API Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.