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IBM DataPower Gateway 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 DataPower Gateway
Ranking in API Management
12th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (5th), Application Infrastructure (8th), SOA Application Gateways (1st)
Layer7 API Management
Ranking in API Management
11th
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 June 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway is 4.0%, up from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 2.9%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mehdi El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Security features meets compliance needs and offers MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) that simplifies integration efforts
While I like IBM products, I'm not an evangelist. I work with Java, Microsoft ASP.NET, and various technologies. I'm not tied to any specific vendor. However, I do find IBM to be a bit greedy. It's a large, profit-driven company. The support team is mostly based in India, and they follow a very structured process and protocol. Sometimes, it feels like playing ping pong with them – lots of back and forth before the problem gets escalated. You might even have to get your sales rep involved to push things along. For me, the support it could be better. Indian support teams aren't inherently bad, but with IBM, it feels impersonal. They respond, sure. But if it's a complex technical issue, they might ask you a lot of questions that just seem designed to waste your time. Sometimes it feels like they hope you'll get frustrated and solve the problem yourself.
NikhilChaudhari - PeerSpot reviewer
Valued for its drag-and-drop functionalities, the available policy options, and the excellent security features
I work as a PG developer, primarily dealing with Layer7 API Management and MuleSoft API management. My focus is mainly on VM management platforms such as Layer7 and Apigee Layer7 API Management is most valued for its drag-and-drop functionalities, the available policy options, and the excellent…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is stable...The product is scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the security appliance, it's very secure."
"I like the API Gateway feature."
"The product's most valuable features are AAA policies and security features."
"My company has a good impression of IBM DataPower Gateway. What I like about it is that because it's an appliance, it's a turnkey solution that's very fast and out of the box. Compared to other gateways, I also like that IBM DataPower Gateway is function-rich. For example, for one of the projects, there was a need for specific transformation and security features available in IBM DataPower Gateway out of the box, so my team just needed to configure the appliance. There was no need for separate development, and I found it quite neat. Another valuable feature of IBM DataPower Gateway is that it's easy to integrate with other products."
"It is a scalable solution."
"Support for PCA and non-PCA services is valuable."
"The most valuable features for our business include the ability to monitor and log data transactions and handle multiple request at an enterprise level."
"We are able to go to market very quickly and deploy our functionalities very quickly."
"Initial setup is straightforward. It is simple and easy to do."
"The most valuable feature is the security with its out-of-the-box policies."
"The administration interface (Policy Manager) is very easy to understand and use."
"The Mobile API Gateway is also great."
"It can be scaled as we need. And it can be used in different regions. We have different data centers in the U.S. and Beijing. We use it on-premise, on-cloud, and it can be hosted and used at any place and scaled across the regions."
"Key features include: lightweight mediation, transformation from JSON to XML and XML to JSON, API portal and API key management, the Developer Portal, and Circuit Breaker is a cool feature, too."
"It is fairly stable for the Gateway side."
 

Cons

"In terms of OEM support, it is poor. If I raise a CBRT one, as per the SLA, they should respond in one hour, however, sometimes it takes four or five hours to respond."
"For the workloads that are not too high, appliance is a little bit expensive."
"The product should be more adapted to the DevOps process."
"It is a costly product."
"One area that could be improved is the integration with Postgres and SQL databases. Currently, IBM DataPower Gateway only integrates with Oracle databases."
"We are always looking for more features wherein it could be easily integrated with cloud applications. We are looking for either a cloud solution or a cloud integration option."
"The product's cost for data appliances or hardware is quite high. It needs improvement."
"The components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail."
"CA double up portal is a pain. It is something that we are struggling with right now."
"One of the features that the tool provides is the ability to simply onboard new APIs to an existing security platform. We build all the policies for security upfront, and then we can add those policies pretty simply and straightforwardly to any new API that gets developed in the enterprise."
"The setup was not as straightforward as it should have been. Support should be improved."
"Some users say that the API lacks some features and is lagging behind the competition although that has not been my personal experience."
"As the number of instances increases, its complexity of installation increases if you do not use the OVA."
"​There is still room for improvement for the CA API Developer Portal. It is still not on par with what the competencies are."
"The Policy Manager tool that is used to manage the solution is very heavy to use because it is based in Java. Sometimes it takes a long time to load. There could be some improvements to it. If they could make Policy Manager on a web page that would be a good alternative."
"Needs to work better with DB2 UDB."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of this product varies from customer to customer and the relationship with IBM, including how many offerings from IBM are already being used."
"The licensing cost is very expensive."
"The cost is very high and requires all five components in the API management solution."
"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 is expensive in comparison to other products."
"It's expensive when you compare it with others."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Most customers' use case budgets are not inlined with the price of IBM DataPower Gateway. It is too expensive."
"Be aware of additional licenses for your warm standby. Ensure you get plenty of non-production licenses."
"It depends on your use case of course, how much you want to go with that, because it can get pricey and depends on the size of your company."
"The price of Layer7 API Management is reasonable compared to Apigee."
"The price of Layer7 API Management is too high and should be reduced. However, it is a good solution in the market."
"Licenses are required to operate the product, but I don't know much about the validity periods attached to it."
"The product is moderately priced."
"We weren't comfortable with the pricing of licensing. It was slightly more expensive than its competitors."
"Pricing is competitive. CA is ready to offer attractive discounts."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Insurance Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM DataPower Gateway?
The MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) is great because it allows you to easily expose services using various protocols – web services, REST (JSON), and others. This flexibility simplifies things.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM DataPower Gateway?
I would rate the pricing a two out of ten, with one being high price, and ten being low price. It's high-priced for smaller companies. But it is okay for enterprises. So, the price could be more fl...
What needs improvement with IBM DataPower Gateway?
The DCDR process should be less complex. AI should improve developer efficiency and effort. Whenever I am writing code, it should give recommendations automatically by incorporating AI so I can wri...
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...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower
CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

RBL Bank, Availity
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 DataPower Gateway vs. Layer7 API Management and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.