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Mule ESB vs WSO2 Enterprise Integrator 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

Mule ESB
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WSO2 Enterprise Integrator
Ranking in Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (29th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) category, the mindshare of Mule ESB is 16.6%, down from 20.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WSO2 Enterprise Integrator is 6.1%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Mule ESB16.6%
WSO2 Enterprise Integrator6.1%
Other77.3%
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
 

Featured Reviews

Srinivas-Kanduri - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise integrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Integration architecture has enabled reliable multi-channel messaging and secure API management but now needs better analytics and simpler development
In my opinion, the real-time analytics part of Mule ESB is not up to the mark for the decision-making process. While there are some analytics features, they lack the standards needed for enterprise use. Compared to other analytics tools such as Power BI, MuleSoft falls short.Points for improvement in Mule ESB definitely include enhancing the analytics capabilities because currently, they rely on external logging tools such as Splunk or ELK, which is lagging behind compared to other tools such as Workato that offer more analytical features. Additionally, issues arise with AI-based use cases due to dependencies on Salesforce tools such as agent force, making development more complicated when it should be more independent. Developing AI-based agents without being tied to Salesforce applications could also enhance functionality.
AC
Technical director at Cremete
Effective data transformation and integration in complex environments with high functionality
Something that could be improved in WSO2 Enterprise Integrator is that the problem is not a lack of capability or functionalities. The problem is that it is a very complex environment. To put your hand on this environment is a very demanding task. This is the real problem. The problem is not about the product, but about the complexity to manage, to configure, to decide what to do. I have some experience using SAP R/3. It seems to me something similar. When you have to configure a situation with a client, especially for a client not in an industrial sector, but in a service sector, it is quite usual that you are in trouble for some reason. This is always the story that I found in the implementations I have done. Maybe there are only three or four big problems, in some other cases there are more than that, but this is the situation usually. For WSO2 Enterprise Integrator, not the same, but I must say it is quite often there is a need to put together some pieces and make it work in a coordinated way.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The cloud and integration abilities are most useful allowing us to use applications such as Salesforce and DataWeave."
"I like that Mule ESB provides fast and good technical support."
"Everything runs in Java, which is a useful feature."
"The connectors help to connect with a variety of applications."
"The solution offers multiple deployment options."
"I like that it's user-friendly. Compared to other ESBs, I find it easier to use. I like it better than other ESBs. I like the connectors, which make calling the APIs through the routers easier."
"This solution has good performance and support, but not everybody can use it because many of the features are expensive."
"Mule ESB helps a lot with our microservice architecture that we're trying to build, and it is still our go-to technology when it comes to that, so it's very promising for us."
"The learning curve for this solution is very good."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the integration between core banking and other systems."
"The learning curve for this solution is very good."
"The customer service executives are very responsive."
"The solution's customer service is good."
"The stability is excellent."
"WSO2 Enterprise Integrator may cost you about twenty-five thousand dollars annually per year compared to IBM Cloud Pak, which would cost you around one million dollars."
"The solution's technical support is very knowledgeable."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is not easy."
"We would like the ability to use our own code. This would allow us to develop customizations with ease. Additionally, it would be nice to have more analytics or insights on the exchanged information between databases."
"In my opinion, the real-time analytics part of Mule ESB is not up to the mark for the decision-making process."
"Mule ESB could be more user-friendly. I think users must learn about the architecture before they start coding."
"The initial setup could be more straightforward."
"The payment system needs improvement."
"In respect of the UI or the interface, a concept such as that offered by Microgateway would be preferable."
"The price of Mule ESB could improve."
"The setup can be difficult for those not familiar with the solution."
"We had some challenges with the installation of this solution."
"One of the reasons that we are looking for a replacement is their way of defining integration. The language of the XML structures that I use to describe the integrations are not that standard, and it's not easy to find people who are familiar with this approach."
"The micro integrator should be improved. There is room for enhancement considering alternative integration components."
"The server is very specific and it is very difficult to get experience with it."
"The configuration of the product is not an easy task for everyone."
"You cannot include the validation of XPath."
"If I have to buy software, then it becomes expensive for me."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think the price is very high. If you use TIBCO BW, the license is for the CPU usage, then the IPS, and support. I also think the license for the product is a one-time expense."
"Plan your licensing model (cloud or on-premises or hybrid) that will allow seamless integration with new partners."
"This product is expensive, but it does offer value for money."
"The pricing must be improved."
"The price of the Mule ESB commercial version is expensive. However, they have a free community version."
"Mule ESB is a costly solution. We pay approximately $80,000 annually for the system. The cost of the number of instances, annual subscription, and cloud hosting services are expensive."
"Mule ESB is an expensive solution."
"Most of the challenges that I had with this solution were for smaller customers. There is not a good licensing model or pricing model. It is more expensive than other solutions, and that's the downside of MuleSoft. I had to be creative to be able to sell it to the business, but we did. This is something they have to work on because for large companies, it's affordable, but for small and medium businesses, it's very hard to sell."
"I rate the product price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The solution costs about 20,000 or 30,000 euros per year, per instance."
"The cost is better than IBM Cloud Pak."
"It is a low-cost solution."
"The pricing of WSO2 Enterprise Integrator for enterprise subscriptions can be considered expensive, especially from the perspective of someone who prefers open-source software."
"The open-source, unsupported version is available free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise39
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

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 MuleSoft Anypoint Platform on cloud / on-premises and hybrid modes and on PCE/RTF ...
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 the best fit for our organization. Ultimately we decided to choose IBM Integratio...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mule ESB?
In terms of costing, I consider it 50-50; I would not say it's 100% cost-effective because the platform itself is a little costly. We are trying to improve how efficiently we make our ecosystem. It...
What needs improvement with WSO2 Enterprise Integrator?
Something that could be improved in WSO2 Enterprise Integrator is that the problem is not a lack of capability or functionalities. The problem is that it is a very complex environment. To put your ...
What is your primary use case for WSO2 Enterprise Integrator?
A typical use case for WSO2 Enterprise Integrator is when I am in an interoperability environment with healthcare facilities and I have to put together a lot of applications that share some HL7 mes...
What advice do you have for others considering WSO2 Enterprise Integrator?
For simpler tasks or simpler use cases, we avoid using WSO2 Enterprise Integrator because it is quite complex. So it is easier to manage some more simple solutions than that. WSO2 Enterprise Integr...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ube, PacificComp, University of Witwatersrand, Justice Systems, Camelot
West
Find out what your peers are saying about Mule ESB vs. WSO2 Enterprise Integrator and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,438 professionals have used our research since 2012.