I used it on-premises to secure the BUS, the integration layer. It helped us to comply with the GDPR, and, in Brazil, LGPD. It helped us to be compliant with the local regulations, local law as well.
Cybersecurity Professional Services Consultant at a security firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Great for controlling and testing usage and very stable
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability of the solution is good."
- "The solution was very stable, we had no issues with it in that sense, it didn't crash or freeze and there were no bugs or glitches."
- "The product should be more adapted to the DevOps process."
- "The customization of the solution isn't as straightforward as we would like it to be."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable aspects were mainly the XML Firewall and the access management as well as the IAM in DataPower which we used to control and test the usage.
The scalability of the solution is good.
The solution has been quite stable over the years.
What needs improvement?
The customization of the solution isn't as straightforward as we would like it to be. There should be more integration capabilities and it should be much easier to integrate other products.
The product should be more adapted to the DevOps process.
The product was very sensitive to heat. The hardware had a hard time if it wasn't cool enough.
The initial setup is quite difficult. You need to be well-trained in the solution in order to understand the process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution over the past five or six years or so. It's been a while. However, we actually stopped using it about five or six months ago, in November of last year.
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IBM DataPower Gateway
May 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution was very stable. We had no issues with it in that sense. It didn't crash or freeze and there were no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We found the scalability to be quite good. If a company needs to expand the product, it can do so.
We had about 30 developers and 1,000 end users on the solution.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is pretty good, once you get past the initial interaction phase. They are quite helpful and responsive. We're quite satisfied with their level of support.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty complex. It's not exactly straightforward. To develop and deploy the integration, it's necessary to have two professionals for the integration, which is a bit complicated.
I can't recall how long the deployment process took, as, by the time I arrived at the organization, the implementation had already happened. I mostly dealt with integrations.
What other advice do I have?
I worked with the solution at my previous company. I'm not sure which version of the solution we were using.
I'd advise companies considering the solution to ensure they have some well-trained professionals to administrate the product. However, it is quite easy to architect the solution.
I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
CTO at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Robust, good tools that make it easy to work with and install
Pros and Cons
- "What I like most is the stability."
- "The two biggest issues of this solution are the complexity and the maintenance procedures."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for exposing services to our partners.
What is most valuable?
What I like most is the stability.
What needs improvement?
There is quite a lot that needs improvement. It's a very complex product and it takes time to get to control it and to know it. It's all about gaining knowledge in it.
Also, the maintenance procedure of the physical machines and physical appliances is quite complicated, and there are some issues with it. Sometimes, when we deal with the maintenance process because the machine isn't booting, it comes down to working with support in the middle of the night.
The two biggest issues of this solution are the complexity and the maintenance procedures.
In the next release, I would like to see it easier to deeply, easier automated processes, easier maintenance, easier control, better monitoring, and I would like the information or knowledge documentation to be more accessible.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with IBM DataPower Gateway for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its stability is one of the best features.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a pretty low load. We have not had to scale it.
We have quite a few users in our organizations.
We don't have plans to increase usage in DataPower, only with IBM API Connect.
How are customer service and technical support?
We don't have local support, we are in Isreal and it takes longer.
Technical support needs improvement. It is not always easy to connect with them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are also using IBM API Connect.
The differences are the portal and standards.
DataPower is a bit easier to work with. Also the analytics.
It has a set of tools that make life easier when it comes to developing APIs.
How was the initial setup?
It's very straightforward. It has no automation and no modern tools to make it possible to develop quickly and to deploy it quickly. It's pretty much old-school.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is very expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Other options were considered, but approximately three years ago, I reconsidered and decided to proceed with IBM.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend working on the physical appliance and not the virtual one. Consider the licensing aspect, and try to evaluate it three to five years ahead.
Also, look closely at the competition as there are now quite a few good competitors, and make sure the features suit you best.
I would rate IBM DataPower Gateway an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
IBM DataPower Gateway
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about IBM DataPower Gateway. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
899,125 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Middleware Applications Specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Good control over incoming messages, with a helpful knowledge center and user community
Pros and Cons
- "It can look for the various security threats, productions, payload scanning, and perform routing based on the content type."
- "I recommend this solution; it is a good security application and it incorporates integrations and the latest security controls that are available in the market."
- "Some pre-packaged connectors for integration with various applications, such as SaaS offerings, would be a useful addition."
What is our primary use case?
We are using it for reinforcing data security policies, routing, and doing B2B transactions. There's more B2B as well as the ESB, the enterprise service bus.
What is most valuable?
This is a Gateway application provided by IBM. You have a lot of controls over the messages coming in, and how you can ensure these conform to your standards.
It can look for the various security threats, productions, payload scanning, and perform routing based on the content type.
You have various business to business integrations and mappings.
What needs improvement?
It would be great if the CI/CI and DevOps components were part of this offering.
Having some pre-packaged proposals or integration solutions would be helpful, like many of the iPass providers are now supplying.
Some pre-packaged connectors for integration with various applications, such as SaaS offerings, would be a useful addition.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with the IBM DataPower Gateway for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
With respect to scalability, the new IDG X2 appliances come with a lot of power inside these appliances so you won't have any issues. It comes with a 24-core machine, which should be powerful enough for your workloads.
We are using the on-premises, hardware application, so scalability comes at a cost. It means that you will need to install another application and another appliance.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have been in contact with technical support and they are pretty quick. IBM has the proper support portals. The knowledge center and user community are up to date.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. It is well-documented in the IBM Knowledge Center.
Deployment takes between two and three hours for each appliance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of this product varies from customer to customer and the relationship with IBM, including how many offerings from IBM are already being used.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend this solution. It is a good security application and it incorporates integrations and the latest security controls that are available in the market.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Executive Director at a tech company
Stable, good support, and is regularly enhanced with new features
Pros and Cons
- "I like all of the features in this product and it does what it's supposed to do."
- "The whole purpose of this product is to provide high speed and high performance."
- "Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement."
- "New users just starting with this product find it a little complex or difficult to use, compared to other products such as AWS."
What is our primary use case?
The whole purpose of this product is to provide high speed and high performance. From a security perspective, it takes care of everything including attacks such as cross-site scripting. Some of our services require that DataPower be implemented because of payment and other issues. To me, it's a must to have.
What is most valuable?
I like all of the features in this product and it does what it's supposed to do.
IBM is a good company and they keep working on it. The keep on enhancing it and make sure that new features are available when the legacy version goes away.
What needs improvement?
New users just starting with this product find it a little complex or difficult to use, compared to other products such as AWS. Making it more user-friendly would be an improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the IBM DataPower Gateway for about 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable product and it is a hard appliance, as opposed to software.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can scale it easily by adding on appliances as you like.
All of the people in the organization use it from administrators to end-users. All of the applications use it.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support is good, although it depends on your deal with IBM and the engagement that you have. Offering technical support is how companies like IBM and Oracle make money. When you pay more money and you're a big client, you are dealt with properly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another solution prior to this one.
How was the initial setup?
For me, the initial setup is easy. If there is any trouble then IBM support is always available.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
As things move more toward the cloud, things may change. People may rely less on DataPower versus cloud-based solutions such as AWS.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good product, although it depends on what country you are working in. My advice is to always seek out IBM support when you have a problem.
Overall, this is a good product, and if it were more user-friendly then it might be a perfect score.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Middleware Administrator at Pronteff IT Solutions
Good SQL injection features but it needs better scripting
Pros and Cons
- "The API Connect gateway service and the SQL injection feature is good."
- "Anybody can use it as their security device and as their multi-protocol handling device."
- "Scripting needs improvement. It's hard for our customers."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for API Connect for gateways and we use the backend as an MQ. I implement it for our clients.
What is most valuable?
The API Connect gateway service and the SQL injection features are good.
What needs improvement?
Scripting needs improvement. It's hard for our customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for the last two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. It's used daily for every backend server.
Our customers are primarily enterprise-sized. Our enterprise companies use this product.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't contacted their support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward as it's on-premise. Cloud is trickier than on-premise. But deploying the containers is difficult.
I did the deployment myself. It around one hour. If you want to do clustering it will take two to four hours.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
If you want additional features, you will need to pay more.
What other advice do I have?
It is a good solution. It's more expensive compared to competitors. IBM charges more for its products. Anybody can use it as their security device and as their multi-protocol handling device. It is compatible with IBM products.
I would rate it a seven out of ten.
In the next update, I would like to see better development features and more scripting options.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Independent Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Deals with multiple protocols, but "WTX" components are problematic
Pros and Cons
- "It's high-speed and it can be remotely administered via an API."
- "For me, its most valuable features include: the fact that it's high-speed, its ability to be remotely administered via an API, the fact that it can deal with multiple protocols, and it's very quick to make changes to the setup."
- "The components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail."
What is our primary use case?
It is used for simple integrations that require high speed, and you need to use it in a cluster if you want it to be highly available.
What is most valuable?
For me, its most valuable features include:
- the fact that it's high-speed
- its ability to be remotely administered via an API
- the fact that it can deal with multiple protocols
- it's very quick to make changes to the setup.
What needs improvement?
Care needs to be taken when applying firmware upgrades, as they often fail.
Also, the components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail. It's got some native capabilities and it's gotten some imported capabilities and you need to know the history of the product to understand the difference between the two. Most notable is the COBOL copybook handling, which is really straight out of WTX. It's poorly supported and often leads to failures.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with IBM WebSphere DataPower for about a decade.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Like all things, it does fail, but if it's in a cluster you can have continuous availability. If the cluster is set up properly, it has multiple network ports so you can have redundant network connections. If a component does fail — meaning one appliance can fail, and they have failed — it's unlikely that all of them will fail together. So a minimal configuration of two appliances in each of the two sites is a good idea. Or you could be using the virtual alternatives on a cloud in multiple zones or on multiple clouds.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's horizontally scalable.
When using it as a certain kind of pass-thru, I've measured it to 6,000 transactions per second. If you're using it in a request-reply pattern, that comes down to about 600. The 6,000 was the limit on the testing equipment. It wasn't the limit on the product.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is becoming rare because it's an old product.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used Message Broker from IBM, Oracle Service Bus, and TIBCO.
DataPower has the advantage in that it's more limited in capabilities than the other products, so it's harder to accidentally write applications as part of your integration. If you follow strict patterns then your business logic will stay in the applications and your integration logic will only be on the DataPower. Like all devices, you can actually go to extra effort to put application logic into the DataPower, but that just ruins the device for its intended purpose.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is simple; it's an appliance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
All the products I've used could be priced lower. Perhaps with the exception of something like SnapLogic, they are very expensive.
TIBCO is expensive. It is reliable but it takes longer to develop and deploy. I haven't had much experience with their new microgateways, which may, in fact, provide more value. Oracle is expensive and probably more fragile. Message Broker is quite expensive but quite reliable.
What other advice do I have?
If you've got it, you should use it. If you haven't got it, you probably should be looking at newer products such as SnapLogic.
It's a high-speed device. If you need an appliance on-premise, that would be the way to go. If you need to migrate something that's on-premise to the cloud, you could go to the virtual. If you're doing something new, you probably wouldn't touch it.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Partner, cyber security at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable, scalable, and easy to work with
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very easy to work with."
- "IBM is a huge organization in comparison to most of the competition, it has massive development and offers very high-quality products."
- "The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively."
What is our primary use case?
The product is a data-driven solution for big enterprise-level companies including airlines and banks. They use the solution primarily for customer data and gather feedback from the customers specifically. The solution is used for its user experience aspects.
What is most valuable?
The solution is thorough.
It's been tested quite well. It's very robust.
The solution is very easy to work with.
What needs improvement?
The solution is quite expensive. They should work to help make it more affordable for more companies. Right now, I wouldn't consider the price point to be very competitive.
The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is extremely stable. It has to be. It's purchased by a lot of banks and companies in the finance sector. They rely on a strong level of security in the products they use.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is definitely scalable. If a company needs to grow it bigger, they are able to do so quite easily. It's designed for large-scale users (users that are 1000+). It's mostly for IT departments to use, not regular end-users.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've been in touch with technical support many times. I find that they offer highly knowledgeable people. However, if a company needs to use their consultants, they are very expensive.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used other API solutions in the past. IBM is a huge organization in comparison to most of the competition. It has massive development and offers very high-quality products. Most others don't really compare.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite complex, but it's worth the effort because it works so well as a product.
What about the implementation team?
We worked with consultants to implement the system. The solution is very consultant-friendly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is quite expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I'd advise other companies that are implementing the solution to make a narrow scope and be very clear with their scope before starting projects.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Integration Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Scalable solution with efficient authentication features
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable."
- "Its support services could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to secure APIs for our microservices.
What is most valuable?
The solution has the best authentication features that we use before integrating it with third-party products. Also, it has efficient features for troubleshooting and API security.
What needs improvement?
It is challenging to find the right resources while dealing with system errors for the solution. Thus, its support could be better. Also, its UI could be more feasible.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for ten months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have five solution users in our organization. It has good scalability. We plan to increase its usage.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support team takes time to respond to the queries.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Apigee earlier.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Updated: May 2026
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