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IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Oracle Service Bus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

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
13
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (16th)
Oracle Service Bus
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 4.4%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Service Bus is 11.1%, up from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
 

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
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 Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore.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.
Awa Sri - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers valuable features of API management and protocol definition
The initial setup process of Oracle Service Bus is quite easy. The installation of the product can be completed in one or two hours, but the total deployment time varies from case to case. I believe the entire deployment of Oracle Service Bus can be finished within a day. One engineer is enough to deploy the solution. The solution can be easily maintained.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The documentation, performance, stability and scalability of the tool are valuable."
"The solution has good integration."
"Performance-wise, this solution is really good."
"It has many interfaces and you can connect to any backend source that has another format, and convert it to the desired format."
"Straightforward development and deployment."
"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."
"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"
"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The solution integrates external systems by providing a lot of APIs for external transactions, such as open purchase orders and sales orders."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that you can connect with different applications."
"The stability is consistently high, with only one notable issue encountered."
"The flexibility offered by Oracle Service Bus, especially in the latest versions, includes abstracting underlying processes and enabling drag-and-drop mappings from source to destination."
"Service Bus is good at routing the transformation."
"The routing and aggregation are the most valuable features. It's split and join."
"The communication between applications is already defined, which means that you don't have to redefine your service infrastructure at the lower level."
"It has improved the efficiency of development."
 

Cons

"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."
"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."
"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."
"Stability and pricing are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"The solution can add container engines such as docker."
"The images and size of the containers are too big and I think that they should be more lightweight."
"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."
"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."
"The consolidation functionality is minimal, lacking advanced features for complex integrations."
"The main problem could be related to timeout issues. This can happen due to legacy systems that might not allow the use of microservices."
"The pricing of the product could be better. It's a bit high."
"The connectivity with the solution is an area that needs to be improved. On occasion, requests are lost due to losing connectivity."
"There are times when I select components in composite and they do not appear, and I cannot figure out why."
"The interface console is very slow. Even in production, we need to increase the RAM or CPU. And even after that, the performance is still not good in production."
"It needs to support more adapters, because the integration points keep changing and new things keep coming up. It also needs to be more scalable."
"There is significant room for improvement in the monitoring capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"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 software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."
"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."
"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."
"I'm not aware of how much Oracle Service Bus costs."
"We have an unlimited yearly license."
"Oracle Service Bus is a bit expensive"
"This is a very expensive product and the price varies depending on factors such as the number of processors and the number of users. Our licensing fees are approximately $300,000."
"The price of this solution is better than the subscription-based Mule ESB."
"The pricing is on the higher side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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.
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...
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.
What do you like most about Oracle Service Bus?
The stability is consistently high, with only one notable issue encountered.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Service Bus?
I view both Oracle and IBM products as expensive. There are no significant differences in pricing between these products.
What needs improvement with Oracle Service Bus?
The main problem could be related to timeout issues. This can happen due to legacy systems that might not allow the use of microservices. It's a different viewpoint of the system, and such constrai...
 

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire
MakeMyTrip Ltd., Griffith University, Colab Consulting Pty. Ltd., Pacfico Seguros Generales, IGEPA IT-SERVICE GmbH, Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Pacfico Seguros Generales, Bank Audi S.A.L., Rydges Sydney Airport, Intelligent Pathways, Nacional Monte de Piedad IAP
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Oracle Service Bus and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.