What users are saying about
59 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.9 out of 100
Based on 59 reviews and ratings
14 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.6 out of 100
Based on 14 reviews and ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Apache Kafka
Despite the disadvantages I list, I really believe that Kafka is the right choice whenever you need a queueing or message broker system. Kafka is way too battle-tested and scales too well to ever not consider it. The only exception is if your use case requires many, many small topics. Also, Kafka doesn't support delay queues out of the box and so you will need to "hack" it through special code on the consumer side.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Internet Company, 201-500 employeesIBM API Connect
We are using micro service architecture where each function is carried by a RESTful API. We deploy the backend to the cloud and got endpoint of the backend. We do not want to open the endpoint to the public and that is where API gateway comes to play. IBM API gateway is a great choice for that part.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Insurance Company, 10,001+ employeesFeature Rating Comparison
API Management
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.6
API access control
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.8
Rate limits and usage policies
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.6
API usage data
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.8
API user onboarding
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
8.8
API versioning
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.6
Usage billing and payments
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.6
API monitoring and logging
Apache Kafka
—
IBM API Connect
9.8
Pros
Apache Kafka
- Apache Kafka is able to handle a large number of I/Os (writes) using 3-4 cheap servers.
- It scales very well over large workloads and can handle extreme-scale deployments (eg. Linkedin with 300 billion user events each day).
- The same Kafka setup can be used as a messaging bus, storage system or a log aggregator making it easy to maintain as one system feeding multiple applications.

Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology
Airlines/Aviation Company, 51-200 employeesIBM API Connect
- The best part is that it is a one-stop solution for hosting all the APIs and keep on increasing as the new ones are added. It has been the leader in our Digital transformation and the features of security, interoperability and accommodating all types of clients based on various technologies has been the greatest asset for us.
- The creation of new API is fairly simple and doesn't require much [of a] learning curve. Once you have created the new API, you can publish it as well to the specific audience and they can try to interact with that API with the required security parameters to get to the actual service back-end.
- The installation is quite straightforward and the product is ready to go. The deployment of the artefacts from environment to the other or code promotion is relatively simple as compared to other older products.
- The Gateway used here is IBM Datapower which is one of the most secure, reliable, highly available, fast and can integrate with almost any front-end or back-end.
Senior Team Lead
Wipro LimitedInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Cons
Apache Kafka
- Still a bit inmature, some clients have required recoding in the last few versions
- New feaures coming very fast, several upgrades a year may be required
- Not many commercial companies provide support
Global Technology Centre - Middleware
ProdubanFinancial Services, 10,001+ employees
IBM API Connect
- Currently they use 2 portals one for Test and one for Prod. They should merge them now
- We wanted some relation between SSL & the application / organisation created in API connect. I believe it’s now part of API connect V6
Vice President & Head Technology COE -Open Banking, FinTech, CRM, Wealth Management, HR & Finance
RBL BankBanking, 5001-10,000 employees
Likelihood to Renew
Apache Kafka
Apache Kafka 9.0
Based on 1 answer
Kafka is quickly becoming core product of the organization, indeed it is replacing older messaging systems. No better alternatives found yet
Global Technology Centre - Middleware
ProdubanFinancial Services, 10,001+ employees
IBM API Connect
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Apache Kafka
Apache Kafka 8.8
Based on 6 answers
We are using the Apache open source version of Kafka. The community is a good place to ask questions. and we can get most of our problems resolved there.

Verified User
Strategist in Information Technology
Package/Freight Delivery Company, 10,001+ employeesIBM API Connect
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Apache Kafka
I would only use RabbitMQ over Kafka when you need to have delay queues or tons of small topics/queues around.I don't know too much about Pulsar - currently evaluating it - but it's supposed to have the same or better throughput while allowing for tons of queues. Stay tuned - I might update this review after we finish evaluating Pulsar. It's much less battle-tested though.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Internet Company, 201-500 employeesIBM API Connect
As we have already have deep work relationship with IBM, when it comes to API gateway, we start looking at the API service IBM provides. And that is when we found out IBM API connect. It is very reliable and convenient tool to manage our API. It works with our cloud agnostic strategy.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Insurance Company, 10,001+ employeesReturn on Investment
Apache Kafka
- Positive impact on ROI since now we can use one large deployment of Apache Kafka that can be used for multiple scenarios ( storage systems, log aggregate, messaging queue ).
- It is open-source so there are no licenses or subscription fees reducing the cost of deployment.
- Data can now be ingested and analyzed in real-time making it easy to fine-tune the customer experience and decision making for internal IT.

Verified User
Analyst in Information Technology
Airlines/Aviation Company, 51-200 employeesIBM API Connect
- IBM API Connect has been very beneficial for our business because it has increased the productivity and collaboration to a great extent. All the team members are aware of the method they need to follow to develop new API and check internally if there is already an API existing to replicate that functionality. So, reusability has increased significantly after this and saved us a lot of effort and time.
- The work of the IT Security has lessened because now we don't need to submit IP white-listing requests to them of each new API being developed. If that client is allowed to hit 1 service, he is allowed to hit other services as well as long as he has the proper SSL certs and auth tokens or any other method of authentication used in the service.
- The code promotion and deployment of artefacts has been really smooth and without issues. So, that is a big plus if you consider production deployment going swiftly and hassle-free.
Senior Team Lead
Wipro LimitedInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Pricing Details
Apache Kafka
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
IBM API Connect
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No