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IBM DataPower Gateway vs InterSystems Ensemble comparison

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Executive Summary

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 DataPower Gateway
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (6th), SOA Application Gateways (1st), API Management (16th)
InterSystems Ensemble
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 3.9%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of InterSystems Ensemble is 1.6%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM DataPower Gateway3.9%
InterSystems Ensemble1.6%
Other94.5%
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

AkshaySawant - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at CSB Bank Ltd
Security features excel but development limitations emerge
We are using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes. As per the development perspective, there are some limitations with IBM DataPower Gateway because it only supports XML and XSLT language, but it does not support the Java language. This is the only limitation of the IBM DataPower Gateway. For the authentication and authorization purpose, we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. It's a very good product. We are mostly using the IBM DataPower Gateway for security purposes and load balancing purposes. If we are handling the load for a particular server, then we can use the IBM DataPower Gateway. The IBM DataPower Gateway is mostly used for security purposes. If we have some APIs and we are using some security for those APIs, then we can use it. It can also be used as a load balancer. It's also used for certificate management, user management purposes, authentication, and authorization. For routing, the IBM DataPower Gateway has multiple URL-based routing and content-based routing capabilities. If we have multiple URLs, then we can use an XML script. Using the XSLT language, we can configure multiple URLs and implement URL-based routing. Content-based routing means if we have multiple requests, we can route the request to a particular URL. For this, we need to use the XSLT language only. We can't use XML, Java, or other scripting languages. With IBM DataPower Gateway, we are using all the APIs. All APIs have been configured on the gateway. We have configured the particular TLS profile and some TLS client profiles as well. Using that TLS profile, we have configured the APIs and authentication. We have configured some tokens also, including JWT tokens and different types of auth tokens. There is also a rate limiting feature which we use for handling API loads.
it_user463221 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a tech vendor
We use the solution for web services.
It would be good to enhance the schedule interface. There is no indication that lets us know if a module has stopped. Shortly speaking, each business host has color in the Production page. Meanings of colors are described in a "Legend" link on the Production page. Also, each business host either has or has no private pool (processes that work with its queues). When we stop a business host by scheduling, its private processes are killed (if they exist). Such a situation is not expressed in changing business host color. The only way to check if a business host is stopped by scheduling is to check its processes presence.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We did not experience any downtime, even if the number of transactions increased heavily."
"The solution's technical support is excellent."
"I like the API Gateway feature."
"I like that it is very stable, and we never experience any downtime."
"I recommend this solution; it is a good security application and it incorporates integrations and the latest security controls that are available in the market."
"The solution is robust, and we use the appliance version, which comes with good security features and troubleshooting tools, so we are happy with IBM DataPower."
"IBM DataPower Gateway has positively impacted my organization by allowing me to implement rate limits on the different API usage, which is the benefit."
"Support for PCA and non-PCA services is valuable."
"The InterSystems technical support (WRC) is perfect and highly qualified."
 

Cons

"New users just starting with this product find it a little complex or difficult to use, compared to other products such as AWS."
"The IBM community does not have much engagement from the IT community in Saudi Arabia and developers for this solution are difficult to find."
"Its support services could be better."
"The product should be more adapted to the DevOps process."
"I would like the tool to improve its training."
"It is a costly product."
"It is challenging to understand the solution's design and support skills."
"The DCDR process should be less complex."
"It would be good to enhance the schedule interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The total cost of IBM DataPower Gateway would depend on the configuration, but in my experience, it can amount to 60,000 Euros per box, even for the virtual version. Usually, customers need high availability and a non-production environment, so the total price for IBM DataPower Gateway can be quite a lot. It can be 200,000 Euros or a similar figure."
"The solution has a return on investment but is a little expensive."
"It's expensive when you compare it with others."
"IBM DataPower Gateway is quite expensive to get resources to work on this product. If the price could be cheaper, I think that will make it a little bit better and easily accessible to smaller clients. Then it could compete with other solutions that are available in the market. There's a whole lot of other solutions available that work well and are cheaper than IBM's products."
"The tool's initial costing is expensive for small banks and financial institutions."
"The solution is expensive in comparison to other products."
"The cost is very high and requires all five components in the API management solution."
"This product is a bit expensive as IBM products are costly assets. However, for enterprise customers it is a worthwhile investment."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
I don't know if the current licensing cost of IBM DataPower Gateway is high, but I think it's acceptable. I don't have any complaints about it.
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
I noticed that the Gateway Script libraries could be improved, as they are not covering everything I need.
What is your primary use case for IBM DataPower Gateway?
The primary purposes for which IBM DataPower Gateway is used include security purposes, and sometimes you need to put some configurations and mapping into the process.
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Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower
Ensemble
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity
CysNET, Pennine Acute Hospitals, Kettering Health Network, Objectway, WS trends, Ontario Systems, Assurenet, 3M, Northgate Public Services, CentraCare
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, F5, Apache and others in Application Infrastructure. Updated: September 2026.
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