# IBM API Connect vs Zuplo

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Zuplo

| Attribute | IBM API Connect | Zuplo |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 47.8 (40% (low)) | 67.9 (73% (medium)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | An agentic AI-powered API management solution that empowers developers to build and manage APIs more efficiently, with AI-agents assisting in securely scaling API infrastructure across hybrid environments. | Zuplo is a unified gateway for APIs and AI with a programmable policy engine for models and agents. Provides authentication, rate limiting, spend caps, and audit capabilities across API, LLM, and MCP calls. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","monetization":true,"observability":true,"developer_portal":true}` | `{"mtls":true,"hosting":"cloud","oauth_oidc":true,"monetization":true,"observability":true,"rate_limiting":true,"graphql_gateway":true,"developer_portal":true,"plugin_ecosystem":"limited","request_transformation":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 7 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Claude Code"},{"name":"Cursor"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"Codex"},{"name":"Windsurf"},{"name":"ChatGPT"},{"name":"Stripe"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | - | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Pay-as-You-Go","summary":"Usage-based SaaS pricing on AWS","features":["Multi-tenant","1 instance","Unlimited API calls","30 days analytics retention","24x7x365 support","99.9% SLA"],"commitment":"monthly","description":"Usage-based pricing, no upfront costs, cancel at any time, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls":"Unlimited","analytics_retention":"30 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard Tier (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for standard multi-tenant deployment","features":["Multi-tenant","1 instance","100,000+ API calls/year","90 days analytics retention","24x7x365 support","Up to 99.95% SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, multi-tenant, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"100,000+","analytics_retention":"90 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Premium Tier (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for premium single-tenant deployment","features":["Single-tenant","1-3 instances","100M+ API calls/year","Custom analytics retention","24x7x365 support","Up to 99.95% SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, single-tenant gateway with advanced capabilities, hosted on AWS","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"100M+","analytics_retention":"Custom"}},{"free":false,"name":"Reserved Instance (SaaS)","summary":"Annual SaaS commitment for reserved instance","features":["Single-tenant","Customer-determined instances","120M+ API calls/year","Custom analytics retention","Customer-determined support","Customer-determined SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Annual SaaS subscription, single-tenant with greater isolation and availability, hosted on IBM Cloud","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"api_calls_annual":"120M+","analytics_retention":"Custom"}},{"free":false,"name":"Software (Self-Managed)","summary":"Annual self-managed software subscription","features":["On-premises/hybrid/multi-cloud deployment","Customer-determined instances","Customer-determined API call volume","Customer-determined analytics retention","Installation and deployment assistance","Customer-determined SLA"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Self-managed deployment on premises, hybrid cloud, or multi-cloud with IBM Software Subscription & Support, renewed annually","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Pay-as-you-go usage-based, SaaS subscriptions (Standard, Premium, Reserved), or self-managed software. 30-day free trial.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/products/api-connect/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:52:09.835Z","freeTrialDays":30,"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Starter","summary":"Free forever for ≤100K requests/month, no credit card required","features":["100K requests/month","1 day of analytics, live logs & traces","Up to 2 developer seats","GitOps with GitHub","MCP Gateway","AI Gateway","Developer Portal"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Individuals evaluating Zuplo or shipping a side project","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"requests":"100K/month","analytics_retention":"1 day"}},{"free":false,"name":"Builder","summary":"$25/month + $100 per 100K requests over included amount","features":["Custom domains","10 custom environments","1000 API consumers & keys","7 days analytics retention","1 day log & trace history","2 developer seats included","MCP Gateway","AI Gateway","Developer Portal","GitHub integration"],"minSeats":1,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":100000,"unit":"requests"},"kind":"metered","amount":100,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Solo entrepreneurs & hobbyists going live","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"environments":"10","custom_domains":"2","consumers_and_api_keys":"1000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"From $1,000/month annual contract with SLA guarantee and full enterprise features","features":["Custom volume discounts available","SSO + RBAC","Audit logs","99.5% SLA baseline (up to 99.999%)","Unlimited custom domains","Unlimited developer seats","GitOps with GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, Azure DevOps","30 day analytics retention (custom available)","Unlimited log & trace history","MCP Gateway (unlimited MCP users/servers)","AI Gateway (custom teams)","Developer Portal"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1000,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Teams, scaling APIs & mission-critical workloads","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"environments":"None","custom_domains":"None"}}],"summary":"Free tier for ≤100K requests/month. Builder at $25/month with metered usage. Enterprise from $1,000/month with custom pricing available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://zuplo.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T12:06:13.330Z","startingPrice":{"amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | no |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.9 | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |

## Capabilities (API Gateways)

| Capability | IBM API Connect | Zuplo |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud only |
| Kubernetes-native | - | - |
| **Traffic** |  |  |
| Rate limiting | - | ✓ |
| Request/response transformation | - | ✓ |
| **Security** |  |  |
| OAuth2 / OIDC / JWT | - | ✓ |
| Mutual TLS | - | ✓ |
| **Protocols** |  |  |
| GraphQL gateway | - | ✓ |
| gRPC support | - | - |
| **Delivery** |  |  |
| Developer portal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monetization | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| Plugin ecosystem | - | Limited |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Observability | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:00:06.203Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*