IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition · The permanent record of this edition. The unqualified address always carries the latest edition.
Index Developer platform API management › Enterprise September 2026 Edition

API management for enterprise buyers

Asked as “API management platform”, and as “API lifecycle and developer portal tool”, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
Contested
29% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for an enterprise B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Apigee29%20%59accepted challenger
02MuleSoft Anypoint Platform29%26%58criticized challenger
03Kong Gateway16%19%64accepted challenger
04Azure API Management12%19%53accepted challenger
05IBM API Connect2%7%27accepted challenger
06Tyk2%23%22accepted challenger
07Gravitee2%17%12accepted challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09Amazon API Gateway0%47%45criticized challenger
08WSO2 API Manager0%19%16accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01Apigee29%
02MuleSoft Anypoint Platform29%
03Kong Gateway16%
04Azure API Management12%
05IBM API Connect2%
06Tyk2%
07Gravitee2%
08WSO2 API Manager0%
09Amazon API Gateway0%

02What they warned about

Three of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Amazon API Gateway
47%
21 of 45 labels negative · 11 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“criticized for throttling limits, cold starts, and weak analytics/governance outside AWS ecosystems... When to avoid: Multi-cloud, on-prem/hybrid” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
26%
15 of 58 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“it comes with significant drawbacks that warrant extreme caution unless your enterprise is already deeply embedded in the Salesforce ecosystem” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Azure API Management
19%
10 of 53 labels negative · 9 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“it struggles with **multi-gateway federation** across non-Azure environments” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Kong Gateway
19%
12 of 64 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 5 hard negative
“Open-Source or Lightweight Gateways Without Enterprise Backing (e.g., Solo Kong Community Edition, NGINX as Primary API Manager)... When to avoid:” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

64 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 859 links across 197 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Zuplo34 answers · 50 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Integrate.io30 answers · 32 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Swagger30 answers · 30 citations · 9 models
28 answers · 34 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
24 answers · 24 citations · 10 models
vendor site · DigitalAPI22 answers · 37 citations · 9 models
19 answers · 34 citations · 10 models
15 answers · 15 citations · 7 models
14 answers · 23 citations · 7 models
vendor site · Tyk14 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
14 answers · 16 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best API management platform for an enterprise B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which API lifecycle and developer portal tool would you recommend to a large B2B company with thousands of employees?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise-grade API management platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best API management platform for a large company that needs predictable total cost across thousands of users?”Scale-constrained“We are a 5,000 person company with SSO, SOC 2 and procurement review requirements evaluating a API management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which API management platforms should a large enterprise avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Two alternativesBoomi Integration, Cleo Integration Cloud
no first choiceChangedApigee
Four alternativesAzure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Azure API Management
One alternativeMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
no first choicenothing named
GPT-5.4 miniMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Three alternativesApigee, Azure API Management, WSO2 API Manager
against: Amazon API Gateway
MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformHeld
One alternativeKong Gateway
Apigee
Four alternativesAzure API Management, Gravitee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform / API Manager
Apigee
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, Google Cloud API Gateway
no first choiceagainst: Azure API Management, Boomi
Gemini 3.5 FlashKong Gateway
Four alternativesApigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
ApigeeChanged
Three alternativesKong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Redocly
Apigee, Kong Gateway
Six alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Gravitee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
Tyk
Two alternativesAzure API Management, WSO2 API Manager
against: Apigee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Kong Gateway
Two alternativesApigee, Tyk
against: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apache APISIX, Apigee, Axway, Azure API Management, Broadcom/CA API Gateway, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
Perplexity SonarMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway
MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformHeld
Three alternativesAzure API Management, IBM API Connect, Swagger
no first choiceAzure API Management, Kong Gateway
One alternativeApigee
against: Amazon API Gateway
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Gravitee, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
Grok 4.1 FastApigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Four alternativesAxway, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway
ApigeeChanged
Three alternativesIBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
against: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management
Apigee, IBM API Connect
Four alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Azure API Management
Two alternativesMuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Zuplo
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Gravitee, Kong Gateway, Tyk
Apigee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Zuplo
Two alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apinizer, Kong Gateway, NGINX, Postman, WSO2 API Manager
Mistral SmallMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Two alternativesIBM API Connect, Kong Gateway
MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformHeld
Two alternativesApigee, Kong Gateway
Apigee
Five alternativesAzure API Management, Gravitee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, SwaggerHub
Apigee
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, Kong Enterprise + Mesh, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Postmanagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway
DeepSeek V4 FlashApigee
Two alternativesKong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformChanged
Three alternativesApigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway
Apigee
Seven alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
Kong Gateway, Red Hat 3scale
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Apigee, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Apigee, Kong Gateway
Four alternativesGravitee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
against: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceAmplify API Management, Azure API Management, SwaggerChangedZuplo
Six alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, IBM API Connect, Integrate.io, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Three alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Apigee, Kong Gateway
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Qwen 3.7 FlashApigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Four alternativesAxway, Azure API Management, Boomi, Kong Gateway
against: Amazon API Gateway
ApigeeChanged
Three alternativesDigitalAPI, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Apigee
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
Azure API Management
One alternativeMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Kimi K2MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Three alternativesApigee, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway
ApigeeChanged
One alternativeKong Gateway
against: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Apigee
Five alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, IBM API Connect, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Kong Gateway
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
no first choiceagainst: Apigee, Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Oracle API Gateway, TIBCO Mashery, Tyk, WSO2 API Manager
GLM 4.7 FlashXApigee
Six alternativesAmazon API Gateway, Axway Amplify API Management, Azure API Management, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, Tyk
MuleSoft Anypoint PlatformChanged
Four alternativesApigee, Azure API Management, DigitalAPI, Kong Gateway
no first choiceApigee
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Amazon API Gateway, Kong Gateway, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
no first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, Envoy Gateway, Kong Gateway, NGINX, Postman, Traefik, Tyk
MiniMax M2.5Apigee, Azure API ManagementKong GatewayChanged
One alternativeAzure API Management
against: Postman
no first choiceGraviteeagainst: Apigee, Kong Gatewayno first choiceagainst: Amazon API Gateway, Apigee, IBM API Connect, MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, SAP BTP API Management
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:56yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:09yes48 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 12:32yes2626 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:44yes205 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:42yes3114 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:37yes118 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:45yes1016 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:48yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:53no039 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:22yes1431 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:58yes24105 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:34yes525 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:08no03 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:52yes46 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:07yes825 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:06yes206 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:07yes3419 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:55yes55 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 13:46yes1917 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:49yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:39yes1075 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:37yes1055 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:22yes1423 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:15yes544 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:02yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:40yes511 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:31yes1831 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:14yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:32yes2416 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:03yes1314 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 09:33yes1819 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:06yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:33no047 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 14:01yes1435 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 14:11yes25121 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 14:04yes939 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:48yes1512 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:59yes47 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:27yes1424 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:45yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:50yes4021 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 13:42yes56 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:44yes2460 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:42yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:05yes8118 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:35yes1025 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 11:22yes1276 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:35yes1547 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 09:29yes1812 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:12no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:53no017 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:52yes2012 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:24yes1715 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 09:38no010 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:31yes2829 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:15yes55 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:34yes539 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:27yes1533 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:12yes1547 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 09:42no066 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:06yes05 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:38yes47 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:18yes1721 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 09:32yes208 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:28yes2313 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:18yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:33yes2520 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 13:01yes510 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:58yes2040 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 12:43yes3055 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:23yes2489 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:31yes2149 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
AWS read as Amazon API Gateway
Azure read as Azure API Management
IBM read as IBM API Connect
Kong read as Kong Gateway
Kong (Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong (OSS) read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise (Kong Inc.) read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise (Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise (Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
Kong Enterprise (and Kong Konnect) read as Kong Gateway
MuleSoft read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft (Anypoint) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft (Salesforce) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft (by Salesforce) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
MuleSoft (owned by Salesforce) read as MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
WSO2 read as WSO2 API Manager
Unresolved, counted raw
Amplify API Management
Apiable
Axway Amplify API Management
Boomi Integration
Broadcom/CA API Gateway
Cleo Integration Cloud
Envoy Gateway
Kong Enterprise + Mesh
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform / API Manager
Oracle API Gateway
SAP BTP API Management
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
← API gatewaysCI/CD →