Microsoft Azure API Management Reviews

We have been using this solution to protect our APIs and to decouple our APIs between the host versus the outside world. It operates as a gateway pattern in front of the APIs.

We use this solution for API rate limiting and for its security features against DDoS.

The scalability of this solution could be improved. The volume which the API Management task service can handle needs to be improved. Cost wise, this solution could be optimized.

This is a stable solution.

This is not a scalable solution. 

The customer service and support for this solution is average. They have not been able to provide a solution to some of the challenges we have faced. 

Neutral

The initial setup is not complex as this is a PaaS-based solution.

This is an expensive solution. 

I would advise others to evaluate their volumes, nonfunctional requirements, and just check whether the NFR performance metrics of API Management has been met. Otherwise, better take a trade-off between, because we have gone through the hard path, tried everything using it, and then we have moved from API Management to Apigee.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. 

The basic tier is pretty good. 

It's publicly available API Management.

The price is pretty reasonable for us. 

We need better integration with VNet. 

It would be nice to not only configure it through the interface but also with an ARM template or something like that. Maybe it's possible, but it's not that easy to find.

It took us time to get used to the interface. Now that we run it, it's a little bit hard to have a testing environment and the production environment and keep it synced. If you can do that through a script, that would be far easier. However, there was a time thing on our side. We couldn't get it done, and in the end, we just set it up manually.

The licensing tiers can be misleading. 

It would be ideal if there was a way to add monetization into the mix so that we could more easily sell our APIs.

I started using the solution about three years ago, and I use it now and again on a few projects. 

We didn't have a previous solution.

I wasn't directly involved with the implementation, and I'm not sure how long it took to deploy the product. 

Some of my colleagues implemented the solution. We did it ourselves using the documentation provided by Microsoft. 

We are using a basic tier. 

For the things we do, it's reasonable in terms of cost. You can implement it in the developer solutions. That's basically more or less free. But if you implement VNET in it there, you can only upgrade it if you use premium, and premium is so expensive. That's just no fun. That was a little bit annoying since you think you have a good solution in your development environment, and then you are in production and need a premium tier to have the same configuration. We had to reconfigure some stuff.

We also looked at Apigee, and Apigee has some integrated features, however, Apigee was very complex to get started with. Apart from that, we are a Microsoft company, and we're on the Microsoft stack. It was more logical to keep everything in Azure. That's why we chose Azure API Management.

We use Azure and it suits our case pretty well. It could be better, but we might also have to learn more. Currently, I would rate it at an eight out of ten for our use case. We might also want to use it in the future to sell subscriptions, which is not possible out of the box. You can configure subscriptions, yet you still have to do the whole selling and measuring and things like that. That's not fully integrated.

My primary use case is for Logic Apps events as well as for API Management functions provided by Azure. We are implementation partners and I'm a business architect.

I like the API management functions.

In terms of the flexibility of API Management, it's quite a complex solution when compared with Apigee. If they could come up with an easy way of enhancing, that would be a great help, particularly for those consulting.

I've been using this solution for two years. 

The solution is stable. 

We deployed a Kubernetes instance so that we can scale.

The technical support is great, they help us out whenever we need it.

Positive

From previous experience, I know that Apigee is more flexible than Azure API.

The initial setup is not so straightforward and really depends on the landscape. If a customer has different business streams such as credit cards, debit cards, payment accounts and credit accounts it can be more complicated. Things have improved recently. Previously, a deployment could have taken up to 18 months.  We can now do a similar implementation in around six to eight months. 

There are a lot of competitors in the market that provide the same kind of services but I think cost-wise and resource-wise, Microsoft is ahead and I recommend this product to our customers. That said, there are some functions we don't currently have. It's okay for a mid-size organization but for larger-scale deployments, it's lacking in some areas. As a result, I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

I use API Management for all of our AKS clusters.

API Management's price could be lower.

I've been using API Management for a year.

API Management is stable.

API Management is scalable based on the load.

API Management does not take long to deploy.

We used an in-house team.

I would rate API Management nine out of ten.

We're a bank, so one of our primary use cases for API Management is integrating our API with third parties that provide financial policies. Sometimes they want to use our services, like payment and customer inquiry, so we give them access to the API gateway. 

Azure API Management allows you to control who has access to your API gateways and assign permission levels to third parties if you want integration with third-party solutions. That has a couple of advantages. Those third parties can directly access your API directly, and you can set limits. It can also configure authentication on other API managers.

An API gateway is like a platform, and your API provides access to the resources in your environment, so this gateway is an intermediary between you and third parties. It's also the interface between your internal applications. For example, if you have a mobile app and internet banking, they can all be copied in the same API through that gateway. So, that was basically the use cases we have. So, we have almost all the API's behind the gateway.

I like API Management's sandbox feature. It's an environment where you can test out the API before putting it into production and connecting it to a live environment.

The hybrid part could be improved because API Management is entirely cloud-based, but some of our resources are on-prem, so formatting is an issue. Our goal is dual implementation. 

There's always room for improvement in terms of the user interface. Generally speaking, technology evolves, so any service provider needs to make their product as user-friendly as possible. In the next couple of years, we'll see more non-tech people handling tech solutions. The solution should be more accessible, so people can use it to create things without being very tech-savvy.

We've been using Azure API Management for about three years.

API Management is stable.

API Management is scalable. The licensing is structured so that you save more at a higher scale. The only limit to the scale is how much you're willing to pay. 

We have an enterprise support contract for Microsoft, and we don't have problems with them. 

We used IBM ESB before Azure API Management, and we're using both now. ESB isn't the same as API Management from a technology perspective. They have distinct functions, but they can do similar things. You can view an API on IBM ESB, but you can view and expose API on Azure API Management. They solve similar problems but are not exactly the same.

Deploying API Management is somewhat tricky depending on your level of technical knowledge. The first time we used it in production, we had it for a couple of months. The first month was an evaluation period, so we had it in a test environment to get a feel for how it works and possible complications. However, you could deploy it in a couple of weeks if you wanted. 

You only need about two to manage it, including one admin. It's more like a platform-as-a-service, so we don't need to do the normal maintenance we do on an on-prem platform. 

We deployed API Management in-house.

I can't disclose how much we pay monthly, but the pricing for Azure API Management is available online. It's pay as you go. The subscription packages have room for different scales. It's calculated by the number of apps or computers you use. You do not have to use the enterprise subscription. These subscriptions have different pricing, so you can find one to meet your needs for scalability.

I rate Azure API Management nine out of 10. Your choice of technology is based on your needs, budget, and C suite. Azure API Management is a good product, but there are some other good services, like Azure Connect, Google APG, and a couple of others. It depends on your needs.

Using a cloud solution has advantages because the client can immediately use the product. Another strong reason we use Azure API Management is that we heavily use Microsoft products in our organization, so Azure is a natural choice.

I like API Management's ability to do hybrid cloud stuff.

Some of the DevOps stuff could be easier to work with. The migration paths are a little complicated, and moving code around could be more seamless. There should be less manual migration when several teams work together to publish code to the DevOps. 

For example, if you and I are working on the same application, and there are conflicts, you should be able to resolve those conflicts more easily. It shows you the conflicts, and you have to fix them yourself. Better conflict resolution with software migration is what I recommend.

I've been working with Azure API Management for maybe five years in total.

Azure API Management is relatively stable.

Azure is a pay-as-you-go model. You build out your virtual environment and pay a monthly price depending on CPU cores, storage, etc.

I rate Azure API Management nine out of 10. I prefer Microsoft products to the others out there because Microsoft has always catered to software developers as opposed to Amazon or Google, which do a lot of other things. Microsoft has always had the best development toolsets, and it's better for application developers.

I work with an enterprise and they needed to manage lots of APIs. They needed to manage information and they use this product to meet their needs.

The policies on offer are the most valuable aspect of the solution. 

The solution is reliable and very stable. 

I don't really have anything in mind at the moment in terms of areas of improvement. It does what we need it to do for the most part.

Technical support could be more helpful and responsive. They are quite slow. 

The documentation around the solution is lacking. Users will need to do a lot of digging and googling in order to get the answers they need. 

The premium version is very expensive. 

I've been using the solution for about two years now. It hasn't been too long at this point. 

The solution was stable. We didn't have issues with bugs or glitches. It didn't crash or freeze. it was pretty reliable and the performance was pretty good. 

Technical support was a bit slow, actually. We did engage technical support once or twice and it took quite a bit of time for them to come back to us. By the time they'd come back, we'd kind of solved the problem ourselves. They weren't overly helpful.

I'm just a developer, so I didn't really get involved in the pricing. Therefore, I can't speak to the exact costs of the agreements involved in terms of licensing. That said, I do know that we used the developer license just to try things out. My understanding is that the premium version is quite expensive.

I'm a customer and an end-user. My company does not have a special business relationship with Microsoft.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

While technical support and documentation are lacking, I would still recommend the product to others. 

I primarily utilize the platform for integrations, monitoring, and process automation within our business workflows.

The solution's configuration capabilities are the most effective features for enhancing API security.

The product's navigation feature needs enhancement. 

I have been working with the platform for approximately three to four years.

I rate the solution's scalability around eight or nine.

The support services are good. However, they could be improved. 

Positive

The deployment process is not overly difficult. However, each API integration presents interface connectivity and parameters, which can introduce challenges.

The time required for deployment varies depending on the integration interface in question.

I rate the solution's pricing between three and four, as it could be more competitive.

The platform's insights improve over time, allowing us to monitor system health and receive notifications for updates.

We integrate it with Dynamics and other business tools, which enhances our data analysis and reporting capabilities. It facilitates better insights and easier data manipulation, although I rely on my team for detailed analytics.

I recommend the platform, particularly for organizations that require API utilization and integration, as it has proven to be effective in our experience.

Overall, I rate it an eight out of ten.