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Layer7 API Management vs MuleSoft API Manager vs TIBCO Cloud API Management 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the API Management category, the mindshare of Layer7 API Management is 2.9%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MuleSoft API Manager is 4.6%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TIBCO Cloud API Management is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
API Management
 

Featured Reviews

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…
Dipanjan_Nandi - PeerSpot reviewer
Valuable testing stubs and policy enforcement with room for better security and cost management
From an API management perspective, MuleSoft's API Manager is not as powerful as some other tools available. Features like monetization and advanced security, which are present in Apigee, are missing. I also want the API Manager to be used as a separate product apart from MuleSoft's other integration solutions. Additionally, the licensing cost is high, and many clients are looking to switch due to this.
Amitava Roy - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers pre-built packages for quick and easy onboarding of APIs but configuration is not that easy
The configuration is not that easy. It's not that user-friendly, and security-wise when you try to implement the security layer on top of it, it's not that easy either. There are certain things where the performance is not that great. When the traffic is huge, we see some lag in performance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the performance matrix that API Gateway gives off, we monitor them via SNMP traps, and then we tie them into our monitoring system. You can actually monitor some of the latencies and some of the performance aspects of both API Gateways, as well back end services. So having that line of sight surely helps in terms DevOps."
"There are many security policies within this solution that help to prevent attacks. We are also able to implement TLS to allow us to look at the application from the backend. There are workflows inside of the gate that help us a lot to implement customers and improve user experience. Our customers are also able to move from a customized creative view to taking advantage of AI bot solutions."
"We have more than 50 applications in the backend. We monitor the infrastructure through a database monitoring tool. Our daily tasks involve working on P1 incidents, managing change requests, conducting patching updates, working on P2 tickets, backend server certificate renewals, etc."
"It's pretty easy to use, and once we have templating set up we can add new APIs, at least through the gateway, and apply the security to them; it takes a minute."
"A big win for CA was the expertise of the local country support plus having support staff on site in a matter of hours, if required."
"I appreciate Layer 7 API management for its comprehensive approach to the entire API lifecycle, including governance, management, and analytics."
"From a security standpoint, it works great. It is the right solution for us. It's lightweight, a software-appliance configuration which was easy to deploy and configure."
"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."
"The most valuable features of the solution are the low code environment, the drag-and-drop functionality, and the ability to drop the connectors on the fly, which are extremely helpful."
"The entire offering and suite of tools that this solution provides have been very valuable. We are able to manage APIs on runtime on a cloud basis which has been very useful."
"It provides various advantages in the integration field, including support for Azure services and cloud integrations."
"We use it heavily because Azure offers better pricing than its competitors."
"MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager is a great solution. I like it very much because of its speed of delivery and because it allows API-led integration."
"We have all the policies available via drag and drop. It made it very easy."
"Anypoint API Manager's most valuable feature is its connectors."
"The ESB, the enterprise service bus is what we primarily use. In addition to that, the API management. These are the two tools which we have been using extensively. The enterprise platform."
"The control that we have and the security features are very valuable. With regard to API implementation or API orchestration, it works very well in the cloud because as soon as you create an API with one click, you can actually expose your APIs."
"It is easy to work with ."
"We can completely manage the APIs at the org level and BU (business unit) level."
"The solution is a good general API manager. They have a few propriety features but are offering items that are standard in the industry as well."
"The most valuable aspect of Mashery is its stability."
"This has provided a new stream of traffic and exposure of our catalogue beyond the normal web store offering."
"Conversion to RESTful and SOAP protocols and management console (can manage individually throttled settings to manage our service levels for customers)."
"The platform's most valuable features are its capabilities to support security measures such as tokenization, token refresh, throttling, and enforcement of payloads."
 

Cons

"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 interface is Java which is difficult to make look very nice."
"The Portal lacks maturity. Since the move from Portal 3.x to 4.x, a lot of features were removed. It is slowly coming back. I can see a lot of changes are done in the "background" to decouple components and make it more flexible. Those changes are just not getting to the UI side quick enough."
"There is a need for the migration of policies, better reporting, and monitoring integration."
"The product's initial setup phase is not very straightforward, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Layer7 API Management could have a live API creator feature, so my team can easily create APIs. Right now, the product doesn't have that feature."
"The product needs to keep up with newer trends even though customers might not be requesting it yet."
"Increase tools for manipulation of JSON messages."
"Their studio performance is very slow, it requires a lot of memory, and should be improved."
"The solution should facilitate the creation of custom connectors for use cases where a user would require extra connectors."
"Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager can improve some of the gateway features. We could use some more customization in creating rules. A lot of the policies are related to the APIs rather than the client. If I want to apply a policy based on a client that is not available."
"To improve Anypoint API Manager for the next release, it should focus on better consumption scalability, especially for smaller APIs."
"MuleSoft has advanced features but is slower."
"The cost for using MuleSoft is approximately $500,000 USD per year. It includes various subscriptions like the signature success plan and platinum subscriptions, making it a costly infrastructure."
"Migrating any existing middleware platform to Mulesoft is difficult because of the transformation, conversion and integration involved. Better tools are needed to achieve quicker time to market."
"Rather than focusing on numbers, they should focus more on the customer support service."
"Policy management has been a bit of a concern."
"There are some areas for improvement in TIBCO Cloud API Management, especially regarding network protocols such as SMPP, SMTP, GVI, SVI, and Diameter which could show performance issues in terms of handling and connection management pooling efficiency."
"I'd like to see TIBCO integrate authentication and security features into Mashery."
"The security needs improvement, specifically, propagation of security to an API. Calling other APIs is something that is missing in the product and that makes us think about going to a competitor."
"The way agile life cycle is working needs improvement. I also want to see more support for open API standards. I want to see some improvement on the protocol transformation. That is quite missing now. These are the three main issues."
"It lacks many features at the API gateway compared to other solutions."
"Monetization is not that great in API management. You need customization. Improvements are needed with sandbox local as well as with monetization. Those features are missing."
"The management console of API and customers' applications are not the most intuitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are some costs for maintenance that we are charged, but that seems fair because we get the support."
"Do not buy piecemeal."
"Licenses are required to operate the product, but I don't know much about the validity periods attached to it."
"It has a reasonable pricing model by instance."
"Layer7 API Management is cheaper than Apigee."
"Pricing is competitive. CA is ready to offer attractive discounts."
"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."
"It's not very expensive, reasonably priced. There are no additional costs."
"It is really expensive from a Zimbabwean perspective."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"I'm unsure about licensing costs because I'm not the person who handles this. But, ballpark, it's probably somewhere around $300,000-$400,000 or something like that."
"The product is expensive."
"The licensing model is based on how many cores are used. It is a very simple licensing scheme."
"Pricing can be improved."
"Our customers have a lot of concerns about the increased pricing. The customer feels MuleSoft is very costly, and they are also exploring other integration tools for a lesser price. Maybe we should retain the existing customers by offering some discounts. At least the existing customers can be retained this way. This is regarding the licensing part only because customers based out of North America and Europe have shown many concerns recently. They are a bit concerned about pricing."
"Licensing is quite flexible."
"Its price is pretty reasonable. There are some lightweight API options available in the market, but given the feature set that TIBCO provides, its price is really reasonable."
"We have secured terms on which we have been happy to renew for a number of years."
"TIBCO Cloud API Management is not an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 ), s...
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 migrat...
How does Kong Enterprise compare with Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager was designed with its users in mind. Though it is a reasonably complex piece of sof...
How does Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager compare with Amazon API Gateway?
I have found that Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager is the best integration tool out there for API management. It is easy...
What do you like most about Mulesoft Anypoint API Manager?
The most valuable features of the solution for securing APIs stem from the tool's ability to allow users to deploy po...
What do you like most about TIBCO Cloud API Management?
The platform's most valuable features are its capabilities to support security measures such as tokenization, token r...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TIBCO Cloud API Management?
My primary role was to assess the solution from a capability perspective. So, there are some issues with the licensin...
What needs improvement with TIBCO Cloud API Management?
There are some areas for improvement in TIBCO Cloud API Management, especially regarding network protocols such as SM...
 

Also Known As

CA API Management, CA Live API Creator, Espresso Logic, CA API Gateway
Anypoint API Manager
Mashery API Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Coca-Cola, Splunk, Citrix, UCSF, Vertu, State of Colorado, National Post, TiVo, Deakin, LLS, Oldcastle Precast, ParcelPoint, Justice Systems, Ube, Sumitomo Corporation, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Groupe Initiatives, Camelot, Panviva
uShip, Sabre, TouchTunes, Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, athenahealth, Coca-Cola Enterprises, CentralIndex.com, Constant Contact, Edmunds.com, FoodEssentials, Getty Images, Klout, Rovi, Rotten Tomatoes, Sportradar, TomTom, ACTIVE.com
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google and others in API Management. Updated: June 2025.
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