IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Magic xpa Application Platform comparison

IBM and Magic Software are both solutions in the Application Infrastructure category. IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0, while Magic Software is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 1.9% mindshare in AIS, compared to Magic Software’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Magic Software users who would recommend it.

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Read 13 IBM WebSphere Message Broker reviews

1,019 Views
296 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Magic xpa Application Platform

Read 10 Magic xpa Application Platform reviews

1,123 Views
472 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Magic xpa Application Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

Magic xpa Application Platform and IBM WebSphere Message Broker are both contenders in the application development and integration market. While IBM WebSphere Message Broker may lead with its feature depth and capabilities suited for enterprise-level demands, Magic xpa often appeals with its competitive pricing and support features.

Features: Magic xpa Application Platform offers rapid development, scalability, and cross-platform support, useful for creating a wide range of applications. IBM WebSphere Message Broker, known now as IBM App Connect, is notable for its advanced message routing, transformation, and enterprise environment connectivity, fitting more complex integration scenarios.

Room for Improvement: Magic xpa could enhance its integration capabilities with third-party systems, address scaling issues more robustly, and improve documentation clarity. IBM WebSphere Message Broker might benefit from simplifying its deployment process, reducing resource demands, and offering more cost-effective solutions for smaller enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Magic xpa is praised for its user-friendly setup and strong developer support, making it accessible for smaller teams and projects. IBM WebSphere Message Broker provides more intricate deployment options with comprehensive enterprise support, suiting large-scale environments that require robust system integration and management.

Pricing and ROI: Magic xpa is noted for its lower initial investment and quicker ROI due to streamlined installation and minimal resource needs. In contrast, IBM WebSphere Message Broker presents higher initial costs but delivers a more complete ROI scenario in data-centric enterprises, benefiting from its extensive feature range and integration strengths.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Magic xpa Application Platform Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

July 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 Application Infrastructure

16th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (8th)

Magic xpa Application Platform

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

14th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Server (9th), Mobile Development Platforms (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Magic xpa Application Platform is 1.5%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

MANUEL VALDIVIA

Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Routes messages efficiently across our services, but the features for scalability need improvement

One of the key benefits has been its ability to expose services and securely integrate applications within our architecture. It's been integral in maintaining a stable infrastructure despite its limitations with dynamic service creation and flexibility compared to newer technologies like Kubernetes. The main challenge has been scalability during peak usage times.

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Mylsamy T.

Senior Associate - IT at Himalaya Wellness Company

Enables us to develop more than 90 applications in-house, which are used across our organization

It's a bit difficult to work with purely web-based applications to get the data and display it. There have been a few times when the connection was disconnected between the server and your browser. The connectivity on browser-built applications needs to be improved. The mobile application development could be easier. They could include different external applications, like finger sensors. I'm not sure whether it's in version 3.8 or not.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"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."

"Straightforward development and deployment."

"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"

"The solution has good integration."

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

"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."

"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"Magic’s Database Gateway allows the logic of the program to be isolated from the underlying database. This provides the flexibility not only to move existing programs to different database environments without the need to change the logic in the program but also allows the programmer access to different databases without the need to know how to "talk" to them."

"Typically an experienced Magic developer can do the work of two to three experienced C#/.NET developers. Customers are amazed at how quickly most new features can be added and bug fixes implemented. I have worked for four employers - including myself - using Magic, and in most instances, bug fixes are addressed and deployed in under six hours."

"Without the need to compile code, the time spent in the development cycle is greatly reduced, allowing the programmer to test modifications to a program immediately after they have been saved."

"Magic is rapid, it's a tool which we use to develop, change and maintain our programs. xpa has a lot more features onboard and it gives us the opportunity to do such things so that we can easily adapt and maintain our programs. It gives certain benefits to stay with our customers and the market."

"Speed of development and database connectivity (MS SQL, Oracle, DB2, Btrieve/Pervasive PSQL, ODBC, MySql, and SQLite)."

"Magic’s unique approach to development ensures that the programmer stays focused on the objective of the program (i.e. display all customers in California), instead of the repetitive tasks that surround it (i.e. connect to database, open customers table, create the query to retrieve records within the specified criteria, fetch the result of the query, connect it to a data grid, etc.)."

"The solution makes the managing and adapting of the software very easy."

"The ability to use the same development environment for both Windows and Android applications. Magic xpa also supports iOS applications."

More Magic xpa Application Platform pros

Cons

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

"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."

"The product's features are not being upgraded or enhanced by the vendor"

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

"It is currently a weighty product."

"I know that Message Broker was a very tightly copied product with another IBM product, that is, IBM MQ. I would like to have a little bit more decoupling from the IBM MQ because it should not be a prerequisite for IBM WebSphere Message Broker usage."

"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."

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

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"It is missing basic charting tools for bar/pie/series charts. It is left to the developer to acquire and deploy charting tools or the customer to purchase a third-party reporting tool to produce charts."

"Support is very bad."

"The user interface could be improved to be more friendly for developers."

"I would like to see a spell checker included with optional language support. Currently, this has to be purchased from a third-party."

"There is room for improvement in Magic's marketing and licensing. I would like to see more integration of web functionality."

"The configuration of the xpa RIA mobile environment is complex and a discouragement to new developers. Also, Magic's documentation can be less than complete at times which leads to frustration for new developers. (I encourage new Magic developers to join the Magic Users Group)."

"In the next version of the Magic xpa Application Platform, I want tables or small programs where I can directly add expressions. I can do it on SQL, but it would make life much easier if that specification were added to the platform."

"Throughout my career, I've encountered difficulties when integrating new technologies with Magic xpa Application Platform. In particular, when attempting to incorporate features from other development languages into earlier versions of the solution called uniPaaS. I struggled to integrate .NET components due to the limited options available. This made the process more challenging and complicated. I find it challenging to create a more user-friendly experience for users who may be comparing the system to other systems they have used outside or within the company on different platforms."

More Magic xpa Application Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The solution is expensive."

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

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

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

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

"The main problem with the Magic xpa Application Platform is pricing. You have to pay a lot of money for development, and you also have to pay a lot for the deployments and runtime, while in most competitors, you have to pay a lot for one of the two and not both."

"Magic is not the cheapest IDE out there. If you are considering Magic xpa, you should do a cost-benefit analysis to feel comfortable with your decision. The Magic sales staff is very helpful in providing pricing."

"My clients have to purchase additional licenses in order to use what I built. It's not a fair approach."

"The licensing is too costly."

"It's not cheap. The licenses are not cheap. Not at all. They cost much money. There are other tools with free licenses but Magic asks for a lot of money."

"The licensing cost varies because nowadays Magic has tailor-made offerings for clients. I think the solution is worth the money."

"There are different licenses, we have the application and the online application. There are two different licenses for two different program sites for the Magic xpa Application Platform."

"The cost for developers is high because you have to pay for licenses as well as runtime."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

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Compared 34% of the time

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 26% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

July 2025

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Buyer's Guide

Magic xpa Application Platform

July 2025

Download Magic xpa Application Platform product report

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

uniPaaS

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

Magic xpa Application Platform is a mobile development platform that is designed to enable organizations to simplify and manage every aspect of their application development process. It enables users to construct applications while expending a minimal number of resources. Developers can leverage AI technology in a way that maximizes their ability to effectively deploy their resources toward the end of producing the best possible applications. Ultimately, Magic xpa Application Platform allows developers to rapidly develop and deploy applications across multiple platform types.

Magic xpa Application Platform Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by deploying Magic xpa Application Platform include:

Decrease time needed for application production and refinement. Magic xpa Application Platform comes with pre-built application components that can be used to quickly create iterations of the application that can then be deployed or tested. It also makes it so that any and all changes or upgrades that are applied to the application take effect across all of the devices that run the application.

Allows developers to be far more productive than they would be otherwise. Various features, such as Magic xpa Application Platform’s drag-and-drop capability, allow developers to worry less about the more technical aspects of designing the applications and have more time to design the best possible application.

Ease of use. Magic xpa Application Platform is a low-code application development platform. This means that developers do not need to have extensive programming knowledge to create applications. Solutions of this type are far more accessible to the general employee of an organization than a program that is code-heavy. Fewer resources need to be spent training users to employ Magic xpa Application Platform than would be true of other similar platforms. Organizations increase their overall productivity when the process of application development becomes something that even those employees who are not the most technically savvy can take part.

Magic xpa Application Platform Features

Some of the many useful features Magic xpa Application Platform has to offer include:

AI-powered development capabilities. Magic xpa Application Platform has a built-in AI that users can leverage to simplify every step of the development process. Users can use this AI to automate various development steps. This increases the speed at which they can produce applications.

Mobile use capability. Magic xpa Application Platform has a mobile application that organizations can use to run their product development from anywhere in the world.

Collaboration tools. Magic xpa Application Platform provides developers with tools that enable them to work with others to create the enterprise applications that their organizations need.

Reviews from Real Users

Magic xpa Application Platform is a solution that beats out the competition in a number of areas. Two major advantages are the way that it simplifies the application management process and its scalability. It greatly eases the work that developers and administrators do by providing all of the tools that they need to meet their objectives. Additionally, users never have to worry about running out of development capacity in their digital environment. Magic xpa Application Platform can scale up and provide developers with the capacity to design and create their applications in the way that best meets their needs.

Per H., the CEO of Mass Marketing Software AB, writes, “The solution makes the managing and adapting of the software very easy. When it comes to the application's service, mistakes can easily be resolved. This shortens the time it takes to progress from an idea to a new function.”

He also writes, “The solution is highly scalable, allowing one to use very large databases and systems.”

Magic Software

Sample Customers

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

ADD, Cape plc, Adecco, Kuno Kinzoku Industry Co., GE Capital, Dove Tree, CBS Outdoor, Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center, Allstate Life Insurance Company, Titan Software Systems

Buyer's Guide

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

July 2025

Free Report: IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

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