Top 10 iPaaS solutions: the best ones to cover your integration needs

If you’re considering a cloud-based integration solution to support your organisational needs, you’re in the right place. We’ve compiled the top 10 iPaaS technologies on the market today, and one of them might just be what you’re looking for. 

In this article, we will explore the following points:

What is an iPaaS?

An iPaaS connects different IT systems within an organisation, establishing and moderating a seamless flow of data between them. It utilises a lightweight architecture that allows applications and other digital resources—legacy and modern systems alike—to interact with each other despite variations in their preferred data formats. 

By linking disparate applications and data sources, an iPaaS saves the time that employees spend on accessing them. This speeds up some of their repetitive tasks (like data entry) and helps them focus their efforts on more purposeful, engaging tasks. Ultimately, this leads to a productive workforce—and a much more productive business in the long run, too. 

The characteristics of an iPaaS

An iPaaS technology must possess certain features to be categorised as such. A few of their common characteristics are as follows: 

• An iPaaS is a cloud-based technology. 
• It eases the process of testing, versioning, deployment, and maintenance of integrations and APIs. Robust iPaaS technologies provide automatic version control for APIs that allows enterprises to stick to an older version or upgrade to a newer one. 
• It comes with integration tooling that end users can utilise to implement their own use cases. For instance, powerful pre-built data connectors for both SaaS and on-prem applications.  
• It eases the creation of custom connectors in situations where the pre-built connectors aren’t viable. 
• It must include tools that promote operational monitoring for a range of areas: failures, run history, resource usage, latency, and performance. This includes monitoring via dashboards that depict information visually.
• It offers support for protocols such as HTTP and FTP, data formats such as XML and JSON, and enterprise integration data standards like HL7. 
• It supports security mechanisms like password protection, single sign-on, data encryption, and so on.  
• Another one of the common characteristics of an iPaaS technology is that it leverages an intuitive graphical user interface. This encourages a low code or no code approach to designing and deploying integration workflows and APIs. 
• An iPaaS should be distributed by a committed vendor who regularly oversees updates and modifications to their product. 

The tools in our top 10 iPaaS list possess these basic qualities. But they also go a step further and bring their own unique capabilities to the table. 

What to look for in an iPaaS

Keeping the above-mentioned defining traits in mind, we can narrow down your search for the best iPaaS to four key areas. We will evaluate our top 10 iPaaS solutions against these areas to markedly demonstrate their benefits. 

User friendliness 

Unless you’re creating a highly customised integration that requires special attention and coding, the iPaaS must allow seamless integrations through the use of low code and no code interfaces. 

Pre-built integrations and connectors

Especially if you’re a small or medium-sized business, it may be difficult to procure the right in-house expertise to build tailor-made integrations of high complexity. Thus, an iPaaS that offers a strong collection of templated connectors and integrations is a great place to start.

Tools to manage APIs

API management is a feature that comes with certain iPaaS technologies. Some vendors also offer API management toolkits as an add-on to the iPaaS platform. This provision allows users to build, deploy, and analyse APIs to ensure their efficiency and security.

Robust security measures

Since iPaaS technologies are dealing with your organisation’s mission-critical data, it is pertinent that they fulfil your expectations regarding security and regulatory compliance.  

Pricing

Some iPaaS platforms are free while others come at a high cost. In our top 10 iPaaS picks, we’ve attempted to cover a variety of different price points so that you can choose one based on your budget. 

10 best iPaaS solutions available right now

While there are innumerable iPaaS platforms to choose from, our picks for the top 10 iPaaS solutions could springboard your technology selection efforts.  

1. Boomi

An established name in the iPaaS sphere, Boomi’s platform offers a faster alternative to intricate heavyweight suites and to point solutions that seem quick and lightweight on the surface, but may be insufficient in the long run. 

• User friendliness: Boomi is a low-code iPaaS platform hosted in the cloud. It exponentially reduces integration time; what could take months becomes a job for a few days or hours with this technology.  
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: Boomi’s pre-built connectors allow you to easily integrate with third-party applications, establishing an uninterrupted channel of communication. 
• Tools to manage APIs: Boomi supports the full API lifecycle. It helps the user seamlessly manage and expose real-time integrations through APIs.  
• Robust security measures: Boomi’s data centre incorporates a high level of security. The platform itself has undergone various certifications from their partners. Other protective measures include scanning files uploaded to the platform for viruses, producing certificates for communication protocols, and storing data behind a firewall on the customer’s server.
• Pricing: has a transparent range of pricing models that cater to different needs, budgets, and markets.

2. Workato

Workato is a pioneering platform in integration and automation. It utilises machine learning to accelerate the execution of automation—as fast as ten times the speed of traditional iPaaS solutions. 

• User friendliness: Workato is one of the most user-friendly iPaaS platforms on the market. Absolutely no coding is required to operate Workato. 
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: Workato is a hub for 100+ ‘recipes’; these are automated workflows that connect different applications together. They perform an action at the occurrence of a triggering event. 
• Tools to manage APIs: it comes with an API platform that lets publishers fully control the usage of their APIs.   
• Robust security measures: Workato is dedicated to preserving the confidentiality of customer information by using best-in-class technologies and practices. For instance, the iPaaS enables robust key management features and double-encrypts transaction data (with a global key and a customer-specific key).   
• Pricing: if your company has a relatively clear picture of its present and future consumption patterns, Workato’s consumption-based model will be a positive criteria to consider.

3. Microsoft (Azure)

Azure Integration Services is the bundle of components that form Microsoft’s iPaaS. This entry in our top 10 iPaaS list helps companies dodge the bullet of building integrations from scratch. Through its catalogue of high-powered cloud services, the iPaaS facilitates the creation and deployment of integration flows for a diverse range of companies and use cases. 

• User friendliness: the Azure Portal provides a user-friendly GUI that supports the quick assembly and deployment of integrations.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: Azure Logic Apps—one of the iPaaS components—provides workflows that can perform pre-written operations and actions on data, integrating all your different systems into one.
• Tools to manage APIs: Azure API Management is a part of the iPaaS. It helps expose backend functionalities through APIs to be used by internal and external developers.
• Robust security measures: Azure Integration Services adheres to Microsoft’s cybersecurity methodologies—a multi-level security approach for all your data and resources (cloud-native or on-premises).
• Pricing: it follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means users need only pay for what they consume. This is particularly useful for companies who are familiar with their own consumption patterns, and ultimately makes room for more budgetary flexibility and control.

If you need help choosing the best iPaaS platform for you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us

4. MuleSoft (Anypoint Platform)

An enterprise-grade iPaaS to create a network of your business’s most-used applications. This iPaaS can offer solutions for a variety of industries and scenarios. 

• User friendliness: The MuleSoft Composer (a lightweight version of the Anypoint Platform) is a no-code integration environment. 
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: with its repository of 100+ connectors, the task of integrating systems becomes much faster. The number of integration projects that can be done at a time also increases.
• Tools to manage APIs: provides a wide range of pre-packaged assets and connectors that suit integration projects requiring rapid implementation.
• Robust security measures: apart from the standard security protocols, the Anypoint Platform offers automated security at different levels of the API lifecycle.
• Pricing: MuleSoft operates on subscription tiers (Gold, Platinum, and Titanium), but for specific pricing information, you can request quotations. This makes it an ideal fit for large-scale organisations.

5. Oracle Integration

The Oracle Integration Cloud Service is an iPaaS solution that provides high quality integration capabilities to speed up your digital-business processes. It’s the perfect tool for your organisation to progress towards a future-ready digital infrastructure. 

• User friendliness: it provides a drag-and-drop interface for coupling SaaS apps together.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: provides a library of off-the-shelf connectors that can integrate applications residing in the cloud and on-premises.
• Tools to manage APIs: The Oracle API Manager is an addition to Oracle’s iPaaS portfolio. It facilitates building APIs and exposing the functionalities of backend systems with more ease.
• Robust security measures: Oracle employs a variety of technical security protocols, including encryption key management, sanitisation of electronic storage media, confidentiality controls, and so on.
• Pricing: presents many pricing options, including a pay-as-you-go structure.

6. SAP Integration Suite

The SAP Integration Suite is one of the best on the market for its first-class application, process, data, and enterprise integration characteristics. 

•  User friendliness: The Integration Suite UI is divided into three sections: Discover, Design, and Monitor. This makes it easier and clearer to handle your custom and pre-defined integration flows.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: it offers thousands of any-to-any pre-built connectors. This helps link third-party applications as well as SAP applications seamlessly.
• Tools to manage APIs: SAP API Management provides all the capabilities needed for efficient API publishing, analytics, and testing.
• Robust security measures: it ensures that the integration components communicate through a secure communication channel. It also protects the storage location of messages. Further message-level security is achieved through encryption and digital signatures.
• Pricing: offers a standard tier of pricing (measured per tenant/ month) and a custom quote depending on your enterprise’s needs.

7. IBM (App Connect)

App Connect, IBM’s iPaaS offering, is a SaaS integration product that rapidly connects applications and sources of data irrespective of where they reside. 

• User friendliness: offers a no-code interface with AI-powered features.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: it provides pre-packaged templates that can also be tailored to specific business needs.
• Tools to manage APIs: App Connect has many features in place to build and deploy complex APIs.
• Robust security measures: IBM considers a broad range of factors that could affect data security (human, artificial, and natural), and addresses these concerns through methods like assigning access rights, logging and monitoring, and so on.
• Pricing: App Connect has a free basic package which can be upgraded later. This makes it a great fit for small to medium-sized companies.

8. TIBCO Cloud

This pick for our top 10 iPaaS compilation prioritises agility and architectural flexibility by offering a solid range of pre-written templates that can be worked into any kind of business logic. 

• User friendliness: it offers no-code process automation capabilities and a visual user interface for creating integrations. However, it works well for people with at least some coding experience.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: offers 200+ connectors and app adapters that helps companies design a business logic according to their requirements.
• Tools to manage APIs: TIBCO Cloud API Management—while a separate entity from its iPaaS offering—can work along with the integration capabilities to create and manage powerful APIs.
• Robust security measures: TIBCO’s security management system contains capabilities such as identity and access management, VPN support, application endpoint security, and much more.
• Pricing: offers subscription tiers and custom pricing options (in the case of a hybrid plan). Best suited for larger companies.

9. Celigo

Celigo is a holistic iPaaS that empowers teams without any coding or technical knowledge to integrate their cloud applications painlessly. 

• User friendliness: a no-code, visual environment for implementing integration flows.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: the Celigo Integration Marketplace provides universal connectors that can combine with more than 10,000 applications.
• Tools to manage APIs: it comes with an API management facility that helps create, deploy, and expose your APIs.
• Robust security measures: its core application data is stored in a database of high availability. Data backups are produced daily to avoid any faults.
• Pricing: Celigo is a good choice for smaller businesses that would like an iPaaS for starters, since it provides a free version of its product.

10. Zapier

Zapier simplifies integration to its most efficient form. It is an amazing option for small businesses and freelancers to design their business operations as secure application integrations.

• User friendliness: without any coding, Zapier can automate business dataflows for 5000+ web-based applications.
• Pre-built integrations and connectors: Zapier contains many pre-configured automated workflows (or ‘Zaps’) that can be used to realise common business use cases. You can also build Zaps from scratch that perform a certain action when triggered.
• Tools to manage APIs: While Zapier does not provide a tool for API Management, it does offer other related features such as the ability to add API key authentication to your APIs.
• Robust security measures: Zapier has many security best practices in place such as change management, vulnerability management, monitoring, and encryption.
• Pricing: it has a free option which can be upgraded to more advanced tiers. However, the upgrades are relatively inexpensive, which makes it one of our top 10 iPaaS list’s cheapest choices.

Conclusion

The goal of this article was to point you towards selecting the iPaaS technology that suits you best. This will help you bridge the gaps between all the disparate systems and unconnected data within your company. As a result, your teams can successfully renounce working in silos, a step that could greatly enhance your operations. 

Here at Chakray, we are seeking to constantly innovate in the field of integration technologies. Through our attempts to reimagine this field, we have developed the expertise to guide those who are aiming to start an integration project of any scale. If that’s what you’re looking for, feel free to get in touch; we’re here to help.