IBM API Connect vs. Layer7 API Management

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM API Connect
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
IBM API Connect is a scalable API solution that helps organizations implement a robust API strategy by creating, exposing, managing and monetizing an entire API ecosystem across multiple clouds. As businesses embrace their digital transformation journey, APIs become critical to unlock the value of business data and assets. With increasing adoption of APIs, consistency and governance are needed across the enterprise. API Connect aims to help businesses…N/A
Layer7 API Management
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Layer7 API Management (formerly CA API Management) from Broadcom company CA Technologies enables creation and management of API.N/A
Pricing
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
API Management
Comparison of API Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM API Connect
9.2
24 Ratings
12% above category average
Layer7 API Management
8.6
1 Ratings
5% above category average
API access control9.524 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Rate limits and usage policies9.719 Ratings10.01 Ratings
API usage data9.024 Ratings9.01 Ratings
API user onboarding9.324 Ratings7.01 Ratings
API versioning9.024 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Usage billing and payments8.817 Ratings7.01 Ratings
API monitoring and logging9.124 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Small Businesses
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(24 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(16 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM API ConnectLayer7 API Management
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
I love the IBM API Connect features, performance, and security level for all our business data. The workload balancing and integration with other third-party products are very simple. The data migration speed is beneficial, especially for time management, and creating process reports through IBM API Connect is incredible.
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Broadcom
Well suited for publishing internal services with very high security, protecting against attacks, and managing on-demand load. Also good for transform messages and SQL to Rest services. Not appropriate for business logic implementation.
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Pros
IBM
  • High security with multiple types of authentication so no need to worry about security.
  • API creation, automation and management all can be done form a single interface which guarantees security and increases efficiency.
  • Highly rated among it's competitors which proves it has given a good service over the years.
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Broadcom
  • SOAP to Rest / Rest to SOAP web services transformation.
  • Secure authorization and authetication (JWT, OpenIP Connect, OAuth, SAML and more). WASP Features as injection protection.
  • Easy rule writing without coding.
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Cons
IBM
  • The first thing challenge we faced with the product was that if you deploying it to a third party cloud, that was very challenging and we need IBM team help at every step of the way and as well all know IBM support doesn't come cheap. A reason for that is that there isn't enough documentation done on the subject from IBM side.
  • The upgrade process is not that seamless and involves a lot of hassles.
  • You really need to have our requirements sorted out clearly because it is not very easy to customize the UI according to your needs, So you need to involve IBM from the start and give them clear requirements and then work with them to achieve it.
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Broadcom
  • It would be nice to have an integration with services like Github for managing projects and versions.
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Usability
IBM
IBM API Connect may be less appropriate for small-scale projects with minimal API management requirements, where simpler and more cost-effective solutions suffice. Organizations lacking the necessary technical expertise or resources to harness its full potential may face implementation challenges. In static environments with infrequent API changes or limited developer engagement, the platform's comprehensive features may be excessive for the task at hand.
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Broadcom
The Layer7 API Management is a great solution, but, sometimes the documentation is not clear or has lack of examples.
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Support Rating
IBM
No answers on this topic
Broadcom
The support team is good and the response time is reasonable, but (there is always a but), when support inquiries are made by someone experienced, and the question is not trivial, it is boring and takes a long time to get the case escalated to the next level of support.
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Alternatives Considered
IBM
There are two main reasons for choosing IBM over others. 1) Pricing 2) The conversation during the sales stage. The team at IBM understood our requirements and acted as consultants instead of sales people. They genuinely focused on providing a solution to our pain points which reflected during the implementation and continued after go-live in the form of technical support
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Broadcom
We evaluated 3 tools and decided on Layer7 API Management because it had the shortest implementation times and fastest learning curve, without losing power of customization and scalability.
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Return on Investment
IBM
  • I consider IBM API Connect as a business capability enabler - the ROI level is practically secondary.
  • With this platform at the core, associated architectural framework and guardrails ensure that we can progress with distributed development and automation in autonomous teams - a key factor to deliver required time to market performance.
  • At this time, security and trust is key. A flexible yet secure API manager layer is necessary to ensure our relationships with partners and customers.
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Broadcom
  • Very fast implementation and is easy to learn & use.
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ScreenShots