IBM API Connect vs. Mule ESB

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM API Connect
Score 8.9 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…
$83
per month
Mule ESB
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Mule ESB, from Mulesoft, is an open source middleware solution.N/A
Pricing
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
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 ConnectMule ESB
Considered Both Products
IBM API Connect

No answer on this topic

Mule ESB
Chose Mule ESB
Hands down, Mule is more cost-effective than Informatica, either on-prem or cloud, and the value only goes up form there. Reusability and ease of creation makes in-house training simple and the end result is we leverage Mule for much more than what we initially considered it …
Features
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
API Management
Comparison of API Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM API Connect
8.5
42 Ratings
3% above category average
Mule ESB
-
Ratings
API access control8.942 Ratings00 Ratings
Rate limits and usage policies8.737 Ratings00 Ratings
API usage data8.641 Ratings00 Ratings
API user onboarding8.742 Ratings00 Ratings
API versioning8.142 Ratings00 Ratings
Usage billing and payments7.732 Ratings00 Ratings
API monitoring and logging8.742 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
Small Businesses
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.4 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.4 out of 10
Anypoint Platform
Anypoint Platform
Score 8.1 out of 10
Enterprises
NGINX
NGINX
Score 9.4 out of 10
Anypoint Platform
Anypoint Platform
Score 8.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(41 ratings)
9.8
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(32 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM API ConnectMule ESB
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
Overall, it can be stated that IBM API Connect has many benefits and can easily manage complicated integrations. The platform performs best in large environments, especially where microservices and processing of multiple API dependencies are required. On average, we have processed thousands of API calls within a second with good response time.
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Salesforce
If you’re bringing anything into Salesforce you should just invest now into Mule, you will get your money’s worth and find a myriad of uses to build APIs between many other systems. Once you build a component you can easily reuse it as a building block to attach to another source/destination. This makes it easy to ramp up quickly and spread usage of Mule throughout your enterprise. A good value for medium to large companies, but probably cheaper to outsource your job to a consulting firm if you are smaller.
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Pros
IBM
  • API discovery feature is very helpful to allow us to scope the work required before diving into things.
  • The ability to set permissions and rulesets at a user level is essential to restrict access to specific datasets.
  • Ability for external users (those from outside our organisation) to leverage the API in more restrictive manner.
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Salesforce
  • It is best suited for Rest API development. Mule ESB uses RAML as an API descriptor which is less complex and easy to understand. RAML is an open standard majorly supported by Mulesoft. Once RAML is developed, it is very easy (a few clicks)to create flows corresponding to the resources defined in the RAML. One can also include JSON schema validation in RAML, and with the use of APIkit router, Mule ESB makes the request validation very easy (it's automatic basically.)
  • Mule ESB comes with a large spectrum of community and enterprise connectors. We have connectors for all the major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, SAP, etc. This enables Mule ESB to integrate with the other systems in a faster and more robust way. Mule ESB has many components to fulfill the requirements of each integration (for example batch processing, parallel processing, choice, etc.)
  • Mule API gateway is one of the best tools (modules) of Mulesoft's offering. It supports API governance and management very well. One can easily enforce policies on their APIs with API gateway. It enables some of the must-have features in an API solution (i.e. throttling, oAuth, access levels, etc.)
  • Implementing a CI/CD (DevOps) environment for Mule ESB is a very easy task. Mule majorly uses MAVEN as its build tool, which in turn makes it best suitable for CI/CD approach. Mule also provides MAVEN plugins for auto deployments to the servers. Mule also has a best Unit testing module which is MUnit. MUnit can be used for both Unit and Functional testing, and it is easy to write and generates coverage reports in various formats.
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Cons
IBM
  • Improvement can come in the interface of the tool, which is sometimes complex and requires a deep understanding of the tool.
  • Improving the different levels of access to the playroom could be helpful because product owners and developers need to see other information.
  • Publishing API and integration of API can be more straightforward.
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Salesforce
  • Make sure to not over-engineer shared components. It can complicate development
  • Create a roadmap for where you are going - if not, you may miss components
  • I suggest getting support, otherwise it could be a difficult learning curve
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Usability
IBM
I have given an 8 out of 10 rating because I believe multiple authentication security techniques, such as OAUTH, MTLS, JWK, etc., are supported out of the box for APIs. A single interface may be used for API development, automation, and administration, ensuring security and boosting productivity. Highly regarded compared to its rivals, indicating that it has provided good service over time. Although It takes a lot of time and effort to set up initially. However, once everything is set up, it is quite simple to administer, especially because there is only one interface to utilize. This makes it very straightforward to handle.
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
IBM
IBM API Connect and Apigee are both robust API management platforms. IBM API Connect was selected for its strong integration capabilities, hybrid cloud deployment options, and comprehensive analytics. It aligns well with organizations seeking flexibility and control over their API ecosystems, especially when dealing with complex integration scenarios across diverse environments.
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Salesforce
It doesn't have API . We have to go for another API manager. But in Mule, it has both API manager and ESB
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Return on Investment
IBM
  • Centralizing on an API management platform was imperative. Being able to support SOAP UIs as well as REST APIs was required. Because of the tooling, service inventory and provisioning can be managed - regardless of the pricing and cost structures are used.
  • Constructing plans that provide tiering options based on rate limits help in onboarding new consumers. The lesser cost in onboarding through an API gateway outweighs the cost of modifying/configuring an API to handle multiple clients.
  • Defining guidance and onboarding practices while rolling out the product also helps in the adoption, reference architecture, and governance that can save your company money.
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Salesforce
  • Overall a great tool for complex integrations
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ScreenShots

IBM API Connect Screenshots

Screenshot of API tests and insightsScreenshot of API Manager customization interfaceScreenshot of the API designer