Top API Management Tools: Comparison Guide

As API security becomes more complex, effective API management becomes more critical. Compare the top enterprise APIM platforms to find the best fit for your business.
Top API Management Tools: Comparison Guide

Over the years, businesses have increasingly relied on APIs to automate internal processes, and many have even turned to monetizing their APIs. But while the addition of new APIs creates opportunities for innovation and revenue growth, they can also introduce serious security risks if not managed effectively.

An API management platform mitigates these risks by supporting the entire API lifecycle from creation to retirement, allowing users to scale, secure and monitor all of their APIs in one place — a must-have tool for enterprises that might rely on hundreds, or even thousands, of APIs.

In this guide, we’ll compare five of the top enterprise-level API management tools on the market in 2025. We’ll explore the security features they offer to address common API vulnerabilities, as well as how they utilize emerging technologies like generative AI to automate different processes throughout the API lifecycle.

What to Look for in an API Management Platform

At the most basic level, API management platforms consist of three main components:

  • An API gateway that handles request routing, rate limiting, authentication and traffic management.
  • A management plane that provides tools for configuring, deploying, securing and analyzing APIs.
  • A developer portal for publishing API documentation, onboarding developers and managing access.

Together, these components create an ecosystem for designing, documenting, testing, securing, governing and monitoring APIs.

So what makes one platform’s developer portal better than another? What features should you look for in an API gateway? Your answer largely depends on your specific business needs. Let’s break down some common pain points and the API management features that best address them:

If you’re struggling with: You need a platform that:
Slow performance or inconsistent API response times Includes real-time monitoring to identify bottlenecks, along with smart traffic routing features like rate limiting
A lack of visibility into how your APIs are used Offers API logging and API usage analytics through a visual dashboard
Third-party developer onboarding Uses role-based access controls to manage access to a developer portal/user permissions
Managing multiple APIs across teams or environments Provides centralized governance so that all APIs are managed in a single platform by a single team
Consistently enforcing security policies Supports standardized, token-based authentication methods like OAuth 2.0

API Management Tools at a Glance

Jitterbit Best for teams needing a full integration platform that extends beyond API management
Azure Best for teams already invested in Microsoft and Azure ecosystems
DreamFactory Best for fast, automated REST API generation with built-in access control
Postman Best for distributed teams needing a collaborative API workflow
Kong Konnect Best for teams that want full control and customization of their API stack

Enterprise API Management Platforms to Consider

1. Jitterbit API Manager

Jitterbit API Manager is part of the Harmony platform, which also includes Jitterbit iPaaS, App Builder and EDI — making it ideal for complex, hybrid environments that demand flexible, integration-driven API management.

Key Security & Governance Features:

  • Basic Auth, API Keys, OAuth 2.0 and more
  • API-level rate limiting via dedicated security profiles
  • Private API gateways
  • Support for trusted IP ranges and domain restrictions
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)

check icon Pros:

  • AI-assistant simplifies API development using NLP
  • Modern, user-friendly interface
  • Part of a complete enterprise platform with low-code API integration capabilities

x icon Cons:

  • Not a standalone API management solution—only available as part of Jitterbit’s full iPaaS suite

Best for:

Organizations looking for a complete automation solution that goes beyond API management to provide a full-featured integration platform.

2. Azure API Management

Backed by Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, Azure APIM is one of the most powerful and well-known API management tools in the current market. However, it’s also one of the most difficult to master.

Key Security & Governance Features:

  • Authentication via OAuth2, JWT, or Azure Active Directory (AD)
  • Support for inbound private endpoints
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)

check icon Pros:

  • UI for analytics and monitoring is simple and easy to use
  • Platform’s popularity means that there are many community resources/support articles available
  • Easy to integrate with other Microsoft services

x icon Cons:

  • Steep learning curve can lead to long deployment times for enterprise users
  • Some users report unreliable performance when making large requests

Best for:

Organizations with Microsoft products already heavily integrated in their existing workflows/experience with Azure products.

3. DreamFactory

With a strong focus on API creation, DreamFactory is popular with front-end developers looking for an automatic REST API generation tool.

Key Security & Governance Features:

  • Authorization through OAuth, AD, LDAP, OpenID, Okta, AuthO and SAML
  • Supports API limits at user, role, instance and endpoint levels
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)

check icon Pros:

  • User-friendly API generation that doesn’t require technical expertise
  • Highly granular access controls
  • Offers a free, open-source version for users to try basic platform features (note: free version does not support MySQL)

x icon Cons:

  • Lacks support for stored procedures, which can limit use cases involving complex database logic

Best for:

Organizations looking for fast, automated REST API generation with strong access control, especially for prototyping or front-end-heavy applications.

4. Postman

With a paid enterprise version as well as a free version for simpler use cases, Postman’s manual API testing features make it popular with developers. In this comparison guide, we’ll be looking at the enterprise version of the Postman API Platform..

Key Security & Governance Features:

  • BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) encryption
  • Ability to create custom API governance rules for different workspaces
  • Support for private API networks

check icon Pros:

  • User-friendly UI and tools for categorizing projects/support for multiple environments makes it easy for devs to stay organized
  • Allows users to easily execute legacy APIs
  • Comprehensive manual API testing tools for developers — automated testing features are also included, but most users prefer using Postman for manual testing

x icon Cons:

  • Enterprise users report occasional performance issues when working with large collections
  • Limited support for SOAP APIs

Best for:

Organizations with distributed development teams that would benefit from a highly collaborative API management environment.

5. Kong Konnect

Unlike other API management tools that are ready to use out of the box, Kong Konnect uses a plugin-based architecture where everything from rate limiting to authentication is handled through manually configured and enabled plugins.

Key Security & Governance Features:

  • Built-in basic authentication
  • Ability to set up single sign-on (SSO) access through Okta with OpenID Connect and SAML
  • Manage authorization with teams and roles (RBAC)

check icon Pros:

  • AI Gateway makes it easy to integrate apps with LLMs and manage them through a single API
  • Open-source API design tool allows developers to collaborate easily
  • Modular, plugin-based architecture allows users to only select the features they need, resulting in a more lightweight architecture

x icon Cons:

  • Having to choose and configure plug-ins for every feature requires more setup, and may result in essential plug-ins being overlooked
  • Some users dislike the way the platform treats different versions of the same API as separate entities, which can make managing projects with many small version updates tedious

Best for:

Organizations that know exactly what they need from an API management tool and want to customize every aspect.

Conclusion

Projected to grow at 24.9% CAGR through 2032 and reach beyond a $20 billion market by 2030, the API management market shows no signs of slowing down. With APIs at the forefront of digital transformation, choosing the right management platform for your organization has never been more important.

Research is a great first step, but the best way to decide on an API management platform for your business is to actually see it in action. How does it handle real-world traffic? How intuitive is the developer experience? Does it align with your team’s workflows?

To see if Jitterbit API Manager could be the right fit for you, schedule a free demo with our product experts—or, explore other ways the low-code Jitterbit Harmony platform can help with enterprise-level automation.

Have questions? We are here to help.

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