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IBM Integration Bus vs Mule ESB vs webMethods.io comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
6.3
IBM Integration Bus offers varied ROI, aiding digital transformation, with long-term benefits and cost reductions from efficient integrations.
Sentiment score
5.6
Calculating ROI from Mule ESB varies, influenced by design strategies, licensing costs, and varying perceptions of its value.
Sentiment score
7.1
Organizations achieve significant ROI with webMethods.io, citing reduced manual work and integration time, despite potential cost considerations.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
IBM Integration Bus customer service is rated high for expertise, though some users cite delays and high costs.
Sentiment score
6.6
Mule ESB support varies by subscription, offering quick responses but sometimes lacks depth; forums provide additional insights.
Sentiment score
6.6
webMethods.io customer service is praised for quick support, though responses vary, with suggestions for localized and faster service.
I would rate the technical support of IBM Integration Bus as nine out of ten; it was the best.
We have a good relationship with our vendor, and they are ready to help us with any technical issues.
The technical support of Mule ESB can be rated from nine to ten.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Integration Bus excels in scalability, supporting diverse configurations and high performance, ideal for enterprise deployment with minor version limitations.
Sentiment score
7.5
Mule ESB scales efficiently for diverse enterprises, supporting seamless cloud deployments and handling extensive data through flexible integration.
Sentiment score
7.2
webMethods.io is highly scalable for cloud solutions and adaptable for large integrations, despite licensing and configuration challenges.
Mule ESB is a scalable solution.
Whenever more resources are needed, they become available automatically without any human interference.
Vertically, scalability is fine, however, I have not expanded horizontally with the product yet.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
IBM Integration Bus is praised for its exceptional stability and reliability, crucial for handling extensive infrastructure integration smoothly.
Sentiment score
7.1
Mule ESB is stable and reliable, despite minor issues with older versions, large files, and clustering.
Sentiment score
7.6
webMethods.io is stable and reliable with minor issues, enhanced by frequent updates, though rapid changes can be problematic.
In my experience, it is a scalable solution, and IBM Integration Bus is indeed a stable product.
We provide support to our clients, and the minimum calls I receive are for webMethods.io; it's very stable.
There are some issues like the tool hanging or the need for additional jars when exposing web services.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Integration Bus needs enhancements in functionality, support, cost, interface, architecture, and integration with cloud and DevOps.
Mule ESB users report challenges with documentation, stability, performance, licensing costs, support, and integration, requiring significant improvements.
webMethods.io needs better documentation, stability, integration, performance, and user-friendly features, including cost-effective licensing and advanced capabilities.
They are improving one of the nodes such as the HTTP request node, implementing the indirect retry mechanism itself, and we are getting new features.
More information is needed from MuleSoft.
From my perspective, Mule ESB is lightweight, but it can be improved when it comes to the agility of the system.
webMethods.io lacks advanced monitoring and analytics capabilities, so my customers need to use something additional.
A special discount of at least 50% for old customers would allow us to expand our services and request more resources.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Integration Bus is costly for small firms but reasonable for large enterprises, with concerns over licensing complexity.
Mule ESB is seen as expensive with flexible pricing and offers support only in the paid Enterprise version.
webMethods.io is costly, ideal for big enterprises; licensing complex; negotiations common, but valued for its capabilities and support.
Regarding the pricing setup cost and licensing for IBM Integration Bus, I believe it is expensive.
Regarding the pricing and licensing of webMethods.io, I don't think it's expensive when compared with the features.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Integration Bus excels with protocol support, scalability, and security, offering seamless system integration and intuitive GUI for enterprises.
Mule ESB provides flexible, high-performance integration with extensive connectivity, DataWeave, API-led architecture, cloud capabilities, and strong support.
webMethods.io provides scalable integration, intuitive API management, extensive connector support, robust security, and seamless connectivity for complex integrations.
The features I find most valuable in IBM Integration Bus are very useful for performing transformations from systems such as SAP to Salesforce, and from Salesforce to S/4 and 365.
They have their own language called DataWeave, which helps transform data and is efficient enough to handle any kind of transformation.
The best features of Mule ESB are that it's very robust and solid; I find that even our legacy systems go well with ESB.
It facilitates the exposure of around 235 services through our platform to feed various government entities across the entire country.
I believe data transformation is exceptional in webMethods.io because they have an online database that can cache the database online.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM Integration Bus is 21.9%, up from 21.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Mule ESB is 18.7%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of webMethods.io is 11.1%, up from 9.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
 

Featured Reviews

Ashraf Siddiqui - PeerSpot reviewer
Helpful for complex integrations because it has tools and functionality to integrate with other systems
Everything needs to be improved. As far as integration and the cloud are concerned, things are moving to the cloud side. When you use Kubernetes and similar technologies, IBM Integration Bus doesn't greatly facilitate these environments. Maybe I don't know enough about that, but I feel that when it comes to the DevOps environment, the tool needs to be deployed on production in a way that's just like pods. Cloud integration needs to be more facilitated with the DevOps environment. This IBM technology needs to adapt because in the recent world, in the real world, we see that everything is just a cloud pod. Whenever you need to scale anything, you just put some cloud and pod and improve it, make any server and deploy it. But in IBM Integration Bus, there is a problem because we can't do this as easily. In short, IBM needs to more emphasize or more integrate with the cloud environments as well, similar to DevOps. There are limitations in IBM Integration Bus when it comes to DevOps.
Maharsh-Kapadia - PeerSpot reviewer
Transforms enterprise integration with comprehensive platform and excellent support
The best features of this solution are that everything we get into a single platform, whether it's integration, API, or data modeling; everything is available in one platform. It's a hybrid, including cloud and on-premise solutions with good connectivity and good connectors. From the benefits of using Mule ESB, we could reduce the manual tasks to 50% in one to two years. The cost is still something we are trying to make lower because we see some advantages when we move from point-to-point integration to API-led connectivity. We have seen a lot of reusable assets, so the cost is reduced. Ultimately, we want to see how it's transformed into business revenue; that's what we are still looking into.
MohanPrasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Smooth integration and enhanced deployment with high licensing cost
webMethods.io was used to integrate APIs through the webMethods.io platform, trigger database events, and connect backend APIs through a Java backend. It was used extensively for integration purposes in my organization Integration became smoother, troubleshooting was easier, and deployment and…
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Migration from IBM Integration Bus to Mulesoft ESB for a large enterprise tech services company
I was previously part of the Oracle SOA/OSB development team. In my current capacity I architected solutions using Mu...
IBM Integration Bus vs Mule ESB - which to choose?
Our team ran a comparison of IBM’s Integration Bus vs. Mule ESB in order to determine what sort of ESB software was t...
What do you like most about IBM Integration Bus?
The message queue, like, message queue connectors. Then they have a built in connectors for most of the systems, like...
What do you like most about Mule ESB?
The solution's drag-and-drop interface and data viewer helped us quite a lot.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mule ESB?
Regarding my experience with pricing, although I'm not the chief decision-maker on it, our leader has involved us wit...
What needs improvement with Mule ESB?
From my perspective, Mule ESB is lightweight, but it can be improved when it comes to the agility of the system. It's...
What do you like most about Built.io Flow?
The tool helps us to streamline data integration. Its BPM is very strong and powerful. The solution helps us manage d...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Built.io Flow?
webMethods.io is expensive. We have multiple components, and you need to pay for each of them.
What needs improvement with Built.io Flow?
webMethods.io needs to incorporate ChatGPT to enhance user experience. It can offer a customized user experience.
 

Also Known As

IBM WebSphere ESB
No data available
Built.io Flow, webMethods Integration Server, webMethods Trading Networks, webMethods ActiveTransfer, webMethods.io API
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesbox, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Road Buddy, Swiss Federal Railways, Electricity Supply Board, The Hartree Centre, ESB Networks
Ube, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Justice Systems, Camelot
Cisco, Agralogics, Dreamforce, Cables & Sensors, Sacramento Kings
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Salesforce, Oracle and others in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). Updated: July 2025.
864,574 professionals have used our research since 2012.