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IBM DataPower Gateway Reviews

Vendor: IBM
4.2 out of 5
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What is IBM DataPower Gateway?

IBM DataPower Gateway is a robust, secure next-generation enterprise-grade single multichannel API gateway that supplies dynamic access, integration, control, and outstanding security. The solution is available in a broad range of workload capabilities, including application programming interface (API), service oriented architecture (SOA), B2B, cloud, web, and mobile. These dynamic capabilities ensure users are able to quickly increase the reach of an organization's critical IT resources to new channels, which will provide shareholders, team members, and clients with safe, secure access at all times.

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IBM DataPower Gateway is the #2 ranked solution in top SOA Application Gateways, #6 ranked solution in top Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) solutions, #12 ranked solution in top Application Infrastructure solutions, and #12 ranked solution in top API Management solutions. PeerSpot users give IBM DataPower Gateway an average rating of 8.4 out of 10. IBM DataPower Gateway is most commonly compared to Microsoft Azure API Management: IBM DataPower Gateway vs Microsoft Azure API Management. IBM DataPower Gateway is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 73% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 29% of all views.
Buyer's Guide
IBM DataPower Gateway
August 2025
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IBM DataPower Gateway mindshare

Product category:
SOA Application Gateways
As of August 2025, the mindshare of IBM DataPower Gateway in the SOA Application Gateways category stands at 20.0%, up from 9.0% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
SOA Application Gateways Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM DataPower Gateway20.0%
Actional Intermediary26.7%
Expressway Service Gateway19.2%
Other34.099999999999994%
SOA Application Gateways

PeerResearch reports based on IBM DataPower Gateway reviews

TypeTitleDate
ProductReviews, tips, and advice from real usersAug 28, 2025Download
Suggested products
TitleRatingMindshareRecommending
Microsoft Azure API Management3.9N/A91%82 interviewsAdd to research
Apigee4.1N/A92%89 interviewsAdd to research
 
 
Key learnings from peers

Valuable Features

IBM DataPower Gateway's valuable features include high-speed, stability, robust security, and seamless integration capabilities. Users appreciate its API management, protocol handling, and transformation options, alongside strong security measures addressing diverse threats. It provides tools for monitoring, auditing, and logging, supporting compliance needs. The appliance is easy to use with minimal development requirements, offering enhancements and reliability. Its multi-protocol gateway efficiently exposes services and supports wide-ranging systems, ensuring secure, fast processing within enterprise environments.
  • "I like the API Gateway feature."
  • "I like the API Gateway feature."
  • "If you have an API application in your organization that you want to make safe and secure, in addition to your existing WAF or load balancer, this product comes with all those capabilities:"

Room for Improvement

IBM DataPower Gateway is costly and challenging to master. Training resources are insufficient and firmware upgrades risk failure. Complexity hinders new users and maintenance processes are burdensome. Integration capabilities need expansion and user interfaces could be more intuitive. Scripting, customization, and JSON support require improvement. Issues with clustering, traceability, and API management exist. The platform's design is difficult for entry-level developers. Database integration needs enhancement and some prefer additional backup options.
  • "In terms of OEM support, it is poor. If I raise a CBRT one, as per the SLA, they should respond in one hour, however, sometimes it takes four or five hours to respond."
  • "The DCDR process should be less complex."
  • "Small and medium-sized companies might look for cloud-hosted applications due to the cost."

Pricing

IBM DataPower Gateway is perceived as expensive, with costs varying based on customer relations and other IBM offerings in use. Licensing is notably costly, with options for perpetual or PVU-based licenses, affecting additional feature costs. The solution requires significant investment, especially for the appliance version and additional professional services. While seen as a worthwhile investment for enterprises, smaller organizations find it less accessible compared to cheaper market alternatives. High availability needs further increase the overall expense.
  • "The product is expensive."
  • "The solution has a return on investment but is a little expensive."
  • "It is an expensive solution."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily utilize IBM DataPower Gateway for integration and security needs in large enterprises like banks and airlines. It is used for API management, data security, compliance, transaction handling, and protection against security threats. Users deploy it for enterprise service bus functions, token validation, and enhancing user experience. It supports high-speed integrations, ensures compliance with regulations, and supports both cloud and on-premise environments. DataPower facilitates seamless connectivity with backend systems and manages external service exposure.

Service and Support

IBM DataPower Gateway customer service and support receive mixed feedback. Many find technical support knowledgeable and responsive, though assistance quality depends on the relationship and ticket severity. Some mention high costs for consulting and delays in response. Global support is accessible, yet availability varies by region, with some noting challenges in initial interactions. Users in Israel report slower support. Local presence in Turkey eases access. Common criticisms include stability issues and the impersonal nature of interactions.

Deployment

IBM DataPower Gateway's initial setup is mostly straightforward, benefiting from good documentation. For appliances, it requires simple installation steps; network configuration may take a day at most. Software installation also follows a similar timeline. Some consider it complex, needing experienced personnel, especially for container deployment and integration. While cloud setups present more challenges, support can ease them, taking anywhere from hours to a few days depending on customization and environment complexity.

Scalability

IBM DataPower Gateway is known for scalability, supporting enterprise needs with capabilities for horizontal and vertical growth. Organizations can easily expand usage by adding appliances. Large organizations benefit most from its high throughput, though smaller firms may face challenges due to cost. While flexible in virtual environments, physical setups can be more complex to scale. Some users find scaling complicated compared to other technologies, but it is generally rated highly for scalability.

Stability

IBM DataPower Gateway is praised for its stability, with many banking and finance companies relying on it for robust security. While components may occasionally fail, deploying in clusters addresses redundancy needs. Users experience minimal downtime, even with heavy transaction loads. Both physical and virtual appliances are stable, with performance being highly rated. Users report no stability issues, and the product is considered reliable with high ratings for stability.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
Download our IBM DataPower Gateway Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
By visitors reading reviews
Company SizeCount
Small Business184
Midsize Enterprise133
Large Enterprise879
By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Retailer
5%
Healthcare Company
5%
Energy/Utilities Company
4%
Real Estate/Law Firm
3%
University
2%
Comms Service Provider
2%
Educational Organization
2%
Transportation Company
2%
Legal Firm
1%
Media Company
1%
Consumer Goods Company
1%
Construction Company
1%
Performing Arts
1%
Wholesaler/Distributor
1%
Non Profit
1%
Hospitality Company
1%
Wellness & Fitness Company
1%
Outsourcing Company
1%
Recreational Facilities/Services Company
1%

Compare IBM DataPower Gateway with alternative products

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Learn more about IBM DataPower Gateway

DataPower Gateway is very flexible and is widely available in virtual, cloud, traditional, physical, Docker, and Linux form factors.

IBM DataPower Gateway Features

IBM DataPower Gateway has many value-added features. Some of these features are included below:

  • Control: The solution provides decision point authorization and authentication for all standards, including Lightweight Direct Access Protocol (LDAP) and Open Authorization (OAuth), which allow for better access control across an organization’s entire network.
  • DataPower dashboard: The dashboard is specifically designed to enhance performance and determine problematic processes. The solution provides intuitive real-time performance transparency to diagnose operational and performance anomalies and offer repair and restoration recommendations.
  • Enhanced messaging: Users are able to easily mediate messaging and protocols by incorporating the best of today’s traditional and modern application standards.
  • Integration: IBM DataPower Gateway offers super fast mainframe connectivity, database connectivity, transport protocol bridging, content-based routing, and any-to-any message transformation, ensuring secure and immediate connect service.

IBM DataPower Gateway Benefits

IBM DataPower Gateway provides many benefits. Some of those benefits include:

  • Flexibility: The solution is easy to use and configure and provides for a pleasant, intuitive overall user experience. The solution can immediately be used out of the box, which makes overall process management simple.
  • Protection: The solution provides sturdy continuous service protection and application performance using robust powerful routing and traffic control.
  • Security: The solution’s enterprise-grade De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) ready gateway enables users to enforce the desired runtime application security across all messaging protocols.
  • Profitability: The solution’s design ensures significant reduction of development costs in addition to the streamlining of overall operations. Users are able to achieve reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and experience a near-immediate ROI.

Reviews from Real Users

“My company has a good impression of IBM DataPower Gateway. What I like about it is that because it's an appliance, it's a turnkey solution that's very fast and out of the box. Another valuable feature of IBM DataPower Gateway is that it's easy to integrate with other products.”- Bálint T., Solution Manager at Intalion

“You don't have to have a separate DMC proxy because DataPower Gateway is an appliance and will take care of a lot of security features. These include data validations, encryption, as well as XML or any type of scripting or security threats that are present. From a security point of view, being an appliance in the DMC zone, IBM DataPower Gateway will take care of the entire security angle for the infrastructure.” - Sathyan K., Founder/Director at perfTech Solutions Pvt Ltd

IBM DataPower Gateway was previously known as WebSphere DataPower, IBM DataPower, IBM WebSphere DataPower.

IBM DataPower Gateway customers

RBL Bank, Availity

Related questions

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Product Categories

Product Categories
SOA Application Gateways
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
Application Infrastructure
API Management

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IBM DataPower Gateway Reviews Summary
Author infoRatingReview Summary
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions4.0I primarily use IBM DataPower Gateway in the banking sector, appreciating its unique API Gateway features, but find the DCDR process complex and costly. Improvements are needed in AI efficiency, monitoring, and automated backup solutions for diverse customer needs.
Co-Founder at tenekit4.0I use IBM DataPower Gateway primarily as a security appliance for web services and data transformation. Its security features and flexibility in supporting various protocols are valuable, though it can be complex and not very user-friendly in SSL key management.
Senior Systems Consultant at Saudi Telecom Company4.5IBM DataPower Gateway facilitates the integration of our backend services with applications and CRM systems, providing a unified customer view. Its ability to connect diverse systems is valuable, though it lacks integration with Postgres and SQL databases, only supporting Oracle.
Integration Specialist - Solution Architect at LTIMindtree4.0I use IBM DataPower Gateway to secure APIs with its valuable AAA policies and security features. Despite the high cost of data appliances, the investment is worth it. I deploy the product on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for enhanced security.
Senior Integration Architect at a retailer with 10,001+ employees4.5No summary available
Solution Manager at Intalion4.5No summary available
Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees3.5No summary available
Founder, Director at perfTech Solutions Pvt Ltd5.0I use IBM DataPower Gateway primarily for banks to provide robust security and threat detection. It saves time and money by consolidating security features, though pricing flexibility could improve. Despite numerous competitors, its simplicity and enterprise-level features stand out.