The Forrester Wave™: Integration Platforms As A Service, Q3 2023

Integration Platforms As A Service Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

Key features and pros and cons of top Integration Platforms As A Service products:

Microsoft - Leaders

Pros:

Strong developer experience backed by Azure cloud
Solid UX, particularly for testing and debugging with VS Code step debugger, test mocks, and ability to debug from localhost
Greatest number of hosting regions plus option for isolated environments
Stateful jobs with automatic retry of individual failed steps
Strong product adoption growth with support from partner service integrators

Cons:

Thin on templates and vertical accelerators despite large connector library
Reference customers would like to see better pricing and cost structure
Logic Apps runtimes can be hosted in any network, but some components like Service Bus only run on Azure cloud

MuleSoft - Leaders

Pros:

Strong API creation capabilities with API designer and deep integration between iPaaS and API management
End-to-end visualizer of how integrations interact with each other via APIs and their health
Good guided experience with Flow Designer and even better with Composer
Strong option for API-led integration strategy
Strongest service partnerships in this evaluation

Cons:

High cost for starting small and metering based on core voltage rather than consumption
Composer is immature with limited number of connectors
Reference customers would like to see usage-based price structure
Basic data integration limited to transformation and batch loading

Software AG - Leaders

Pros:

Ease of use and guided integration for citizen integrators and pros
Strong testing and debugging tools including step debugger, test mocks from recording job runs, and automated testing framework
End-to-end monitoring visualizing flow of transactions across integrations and operational health
Large number of connectors and advanced B2B offering for EDI, partner management, and managed file transfer
Good choice for B2B, citizen integration, and modernization of monolithic architectures

Cons:

Provides fewer hosting regions than most others evaluated
Reference customers would like to see improved DevOps support

Workato - Leaders

Pros:

High-end ease of use focusing on democratization and citizen development
Massive library of connectors and templates
AI-driven process that easily guides users through integration creation
Very fine-grained access permissions assigned to individual objects
Excellent choice for democratization of business process automation and fusion teams

Cons:

Self-hosting limited to secure agent that shunts data to Workato's cloud for processing
Lacks out-of-the-box support for EDI or other B2B-specific features
Reference customers would like to see improved error handling and lower cost
Wide array of hosting regions but limited self-hosting options

Boomi - Strong Performers

Pros:

Strong guided integration processes with suggestions for next steps and data mappings
Good overall ease of use
Supports creating productizable templates configurable for reuse
Broad support for various integration styles
Reference customers praise price predictability and value for cost

Cons:

Asynchronous integration limited to internal broker; external broker Boomi Event Streams not generally available at evaluation time
Reference customers would like improvements in technical support despite positive account management
Some integration capabilities still maturing

IBM - Strong Performers

Pros:

AI-led guided integration including AI to suggest next steps, data mappings, and generate entire flows using NLP
Strong testing and debugging capabilities with step debugger, test mock generation, and test generation via NLP
Asynchronous integration supported with IBM MQ and Apache Kafka
Reference customers praise time to value and reliability

Cons:

Provides fewer hosting regions than most others evaluated
Access permissions are coarse-grained and assigned per tenant rather than per asset
Operational monitoring dashboards not as robust as most vendors
Reference customers would like to see lower cost

Oracle - Strong Performers

Pros:

Broader-than-typical range of hosting regions as cloud hyperscaler
Library of templates with focus on business automation
Multiple broker types for asynchronous integration including Apache Kafka
Good choice for Oracle Fusion Applications or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure focus

Cons:

No option to keep integration data-in-motion in customer's data center; all runtimes hosted in Oracle cloud
Lags competition for guided experience to build integrations
Reference customers dislike upgrade challenges due to feature parity issues between versions

TIBCO Software - Strong Performers

Pros:

Broad integration styles with strengths in APIs, data integration, asynchronous messaging, and B2B integration
Good security posture with easy-to-find disclosure link and frequent vulnerability reviews
Volume-based pricing flexibly applied to any service as consumed
Reference customers praise high value for price and predictable cost

Cons:

Fewer templates and automation features than most vendors
UX is inconsistent across products
Some key B2B capabilities only available self-hosted outside TIBCO's cloud
Reference customers would like unified control plane with deep monitoring

Celigo - Contenders

Pros:

Ease of use targets citizen integrators while supporting IT users
Large library of business-oriented templates and packaged integration processes
AI to categorize runtime errors and automatically resolve them when possible
Strong focus on adoption with dedicated CSM support

Cons:

Large enterprise gaps: operational data cannot export to external monitoring tools, lacks webhooks for service management
Lacks message broker
API publishing limited to REST without portal
Reference customers would like improvements to logging

Jitterbit - Contenders

Pros:

Good ease of use accessible to citizen integrators
Focus on EDI with partner management and templates for common EDI players
OEM-embedded support through customizable marketplace, white labeling, and embed-specific pricing
Reference customers praise ease of use and excellent customer support

Cons:

Many connectors currently only supported in self-hosted deployments, not in Jitterbit's cloud
Internal message broker labeled beta at time of evaluation
Reference customers would like more prebuilt connectors and templates
Cloud-focused buyers should verify connector availability

SAP - Contenders

Pros:

Thousands of templates primarily centered around SAP applications
Integration Advisor guides architects through selecting best-fit technologies and integration styles
Good security posture with frequent audits and security certifications
Free SAP-to-SAP messages make it preferred choice for SAP-centric buyers

Cons:

Business Process Model and Notation-based UX less intuitive than most others
Self-hosted runtime in beta release at evaluation time
Best suited for SAP ecosystem rather than general purpose integration
SAP declined to participate in full evaluation process

SnapLogic - Contenders

Pros:

Good ease of use via integration wizards with live data preview and schema IntelliSense
Advanced features available but hidden by default for approachable UX
Reference customers praise customer support and product design partnership

Cons:

B2B integration minimal with limited EDI support and no trading partner management
Asynchronous integrations only via connectors to third-party message brokers
Access permissions are coarse-grained
Pricing metered by CPU core voltage and memory rather than value consumption

Tray.io - Contenders

Pros:

Very large library of connectors and low-code means of creating custom connectors
Intuitive UX overall
Tray Embedded provides strong features for SaaS vendors needing integration capability
Reference customers praise ease of use and responsiveness to needs

Cons:

Thin on automatic advice and guided integration
No self-hosted capability beyond VPN or VPC peering to Tray's cloud
No support for EDI or API publishing beyond webhook listeners
Reference customers would like more fine-grained permissions for governance

Informatica - Challengers

Pros:

Top-notch data integration capabilities with ETL, data lineage, governance, quality, and PII detection
B2B integration well supported via EDI, managed file transfer, and partner management
More hosting regions than most vendors
Good choice for positioning integration under broader data management strategy

Cons:

Limited connectivity with fewer connectors than most vendors
UX focuses on data with minimal features for guided integration, testing, or debugging
Pricing metered in compute hours per instance, not aligned with value delivered
Informatica declined to participate in full evaluation process

SEEBURGER - Challengers

Pros:

Greatest strength in B2B integration with self-service partner onboarding, EDI mappings, and managed file transfer
Very fine-grained access permissions for governing platform access
Industry accelerators and support beyond integration with e-invoicing and IoT
Reference customers praise partnership and price predictability

Cons:

Older-style UX increases learning curve
Limited feature support for use cases beyond B2B and IoT
Partner ecosystem for service integrators not as robust as most vendors
Reference customers would like improvements to help desk support

FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2023?

A: Microsoft, MuleSoft, Software AG, Workato

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

A: Leaders in the Forrester Wave demonstrate strong current offerings and strategies. They have the highest scores across current offering and strategy dimensions. Leaders typically show strong vision for the market, robust product capabilities across evaluation criteria, healthy innovation practices, comprehensive roadmaps, strong partner ecosystems, and effective adoption strategies. In this iPaaS evaluation, Leaders excel at enabling modern application architectures, supporting automation strategies, and democratizing integration for both technical and citizen developers.

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

A: https://www.forrester.com/policies/forrester-wave-methodology/

Report:

Top Vendor Products for Integration Platforms As A Service in 2023

Integration Platforms As A Service Vendor Product Comparisons 2023

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FAQs

Q: Which vendors are Leaders in 2023?

Q: What does "Leader" mean in Forrester Wave terms?

Q: How do I interpret a Forrester Wave?

Reference