IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs JBoss ESB comparison

IBM and Red Hat are both solutions in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category. IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0, while Red Hat is ranked #12. IBM holds a 4.4% mindshare in E, compared to Red Hat’s 3.3% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

980 Views
764 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

JBoss ESB

Read 2 JBoss ESB reviews

390 Views
382 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

JBoss ESB

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM WebSphere Message Broker and JBoss ESB based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Salesforce, Oracle and others in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).

To learn more, read our detailed Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

August 2025

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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 WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

8th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (16th)

JBoss ESB

Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

12th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 4.4%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JBoss ESB is 3.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar

Technical Architect at HCL Technologies

Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability

I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.

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AshutoshUpadhyay

Senior Software Engineer at Deloitte

Efficient orchestration and security features improve business processes effortlessly

JBoss ESB should focus on startup and performance as EAP is heavier than lightweight Java frameworks, which impacts microservices and cloud environments. Improvements should include faster start times and reduced memory footprints. Better cold-start performance in containers should be emphasized. Cloud-native features must be enhanced since many enterprises are shifting to Kubernetes and OpenShift, making EAP more cloud-friendly. This could include providing smaller container images, native auto-scaling support, and improved integration with cloud configuration services. Enhancing the developer experience is crucial; while the current configuration is powerful, it can be complex for newcomers. As an experienced user, I navigate it easily, but newcomers struggle due to heavy reliance on XML configuration. Transitioning to a JSON-based configuration or YAML format would be beneficial, and simplifications in clustering setup for local testing would greatly assist users.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is the ability to facilitate communication with legacy systems, offering a multitude of great capabilities. For example, if there is a mainframe system in place with a web service serving as the front end. In that case, the solution enables efficient protocol transformations to convert all request payloads into a format that the legacy systems can accept, rendering the integration and transformation processes seamless and highly effective."

"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."

"It's reliable for our day-to-day operations, ensuring fast and secure data integration across different systems."

"The solution has good integration."

"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."

"Message Broker is valuable because most of the applications are using MQ. Even in my current engagement, the few applications which I audit to onboard the bank are using MQ."

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"The solution is very easy to use. I can download the trial version and just give it a go."

Cons

"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."

"It is currently a weighty product."

"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."

"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."

"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"The EPA, from what I understand, lacks a lot of features and it doesn't really know how to interface with legacy systems or how to develop APIs for legacy systems."

"JBoss ESB should focus on startup and performance as EAP is heavier than lightweight Java frameworks, which impacts microservices and cloud environments."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"The solution is expensive."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.

See all answers

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 40% of the time

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Compared 25% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

August 2025

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Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

No data available

Overview

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

JBossESB is the next generation of EAI - better and without the vendor-lockin characteristics of old. As such, many of the capabilities mirror those of existing EAI offerings: Business Process Monitoring, Integrated Development Environment, Human Workflow User Interface, Business Process Management, Connectors, Transaction Manager, Security, Application Container, Messaging Service, Metadata Repository, Naming and Directory Service, Distributed Computing Architecture. Plus JBossESB is part of an SOI (Service Oriented Infrastructure). However, SOA is not simply a technology or a product: it's a style of design, with many aspects (such as architectural, methodological and organisational) unrelated to the actual technology.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Rancore, Sprint, ResMed, Brazil's Ministry of Health, ING Services Polska

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

August 2025

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