Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, businesses are looking for new ways to increase efficiency to maximize productivity and save costs.
A major source of inefficiency is found in a company’s data and information. More specifically, a lack of data cohesion across disparate systems and departments.
The estimated cost for companies that don’t have a handle on their data is between 15%–25% of revenue.
Despite this risk, 89% of businesses still say they’re struggling with data and systems integration — something iPaaS vendors can help with.
This article will run through the top iPaaS vendors who can help your business integrate multiple systems to speed up your workflows and transform how your information flows between applications!
The top iPaaS solutions on the market
If you’d like to dive straight in, jump directly to the best iPaaS tools:
- n8n
- Dell Boomi
- IBM Cloud
- Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS)
- Workato
- TIBCO Cloud
- Oracle Integration Cloud
- Zapier
- Outfunnel
- Mulesoft
- Jitterbit
What is iPaaS?
An iPaaS (integration platform as a service) is a platform that lets you integrate multiple disparate tools and services in one place. So, let’s say you need to integrate your old legacy customer database with a new CRM and add an invoicing solution on top. An iPaaS will help you do just that.
👉 Learn more on how to get started with CRM automation (with 3 no-code workflow ideas).
iPaaS makes it easier to automate business processes and share information across applications without needing to develop one-off integrations.
Why do we need iPaaS?
Most business-critical processes don’t occur in silos — they span various applications and departments. As such, it’s critical your business has a way of managing and facilitating the flow of complex information throughout your business.
Without a robust workflow automation tool, you risk data silos slowing your business down through information loss, manual errors, and bottlenecks.
But it’s not just about mitigating risk. An iPaaS provides your business with the automated foundation to respond to opportunities proactively and at speed.
What is iPaaS vs PaaS?
Compared to a comprehensive iPaaS solution, PaaS (platform as a service) focuses on just one part of a development project — not an entire project or infrastructure.
If your business has a pool of experienced developers who can build integrations, then PaaS might be adequate for you.
However, if you don’t have a dedicated team of coders but need to connect different applications at speed, then choose an iPaaS solution from our list.
iPaaS types
Generally speaking, there are four main types of iPaaS to look out for depending on your company’s technical maturity and ambitions:
Simple automation iPaaS
As the name suggests, these platforms are designed with simplicity in mind. They offer an intuitive and user-friendly way to connect applications via seamless workflows.
True iPaaS
These solutions require more technical experience, but for developers, true iPaaS provides them with an easy way to develop APIs and app integrations with a low-code interface.
Hybrid ESB/ iPaaS
This type of iPaaS tool can perform all the tasks of the above two platforms but also caters to ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) cases. Typically, ESBs aren’t designed to work with cloud integration — which is where the iPaaS comes in.
Industry-specific iPaaS
As you can probably guess, these iPaaS solutions are tailored to offer specific app integrations and support unique industry requirements. It can also help in the compliance of complex industry protocols.
5 key must-have features of iPaaS software
Before we get into the vendor list, here’s a rundown of the five key features you should look for when choosing an iPaaS.
Integration marketplace
Each iPaaS platform has its own collection of pre-built applications and connectors. By studying each vendor’s marketplace, you can see which vendor has the capabilities to handle your existing systems.
Ability to build your own integrations
In some instances, you need more than a simple out-of-the-box integration. For more complex workflows and unique processes, you may need a tool that lets you build integrations within the app using a low-code solution. In this case, an open-source iPaas can help you do that.
Configuration and customization
Rather than build a new integration, you might just want to make adjustments to a default application to match your brand — which is where customization comes in. Look out for a platform that lets you alter the functionality of an application, sync granular data e.g., a specific field in a CRM tool, and extract and transfer data.
Flexible deployment options
You should have the ability to deploy your workflows in whatever arena you deem necessary, be it the cloud, on-premise, or a mix of both.
Data security
Your chosen iPaaS platform will handle large volumes of your information and potentially sensitive data. So be sure to do your homework and check a vendor’s certifications and security features before handing over your data.
The top 11 iPaaS vendors
Now you’ve got an understanding of why IpaaS matters in today’s business landscape and what to look out for, let’s look at the best iPaaS software options.
n8n
Best for: embedded iPaaS
Overview: n8n is a free, source-available, and self-hostable embedded iPaaS tool that lets you connect anything to everything with native integrations. Its versatile core nodes allow custom configuration, and you can represent complex logic in your workflows to suit your business needs — code or no-code.
Key features
- Easy data manipulation, including test data
- Custom JS code step
- Can be hosted on your servers
Pricing: Free self-hosted and desktop options and cloud packages start at €20 per month for 5,000 workflow executions.
Dell Boomi
Best for: iPaaS solution for enterprise integration
Overview: Dell Boomi is an integration platform that connects your applications and automates your workflows with its comprehensive library of application and technology integrators.
Key features:
- Drag and drop UI
- Data flow recommendations
- Pre-built integration connectors across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid
Pricing: Starting at $50/month.
IBM Cloud
Best for: iPaaS with AI-powered automation capabilities
Overview: IBM Cloud is a hybrid integration platform that applies the functionality of closed-loop AI automation to support multiple styles of integration in a single, unified experience.
Key features:
- Integrated API authoring experience
- Visual debugging and automated test generation
- Closed-loop AI automation functionality
Pricing: Starting at $934/month.
Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS)
Best for: event-driven and service-oriented application integration
Overview: IICS is a cloud-based data integration platform that provides business data integration, application integration, and API management between cloud and local applications through its iPaaS.
Key features:
- Integrate any application, whether it’s on-premises or SaaS
- Drag-and-drop API creation
- 50K+ high-performance, metadata-aware connections
Pricing: No prices are publicly available, so you’ll need to contact Sales for a quote.
Workato
Best for: iPaaS with cloud services and on-premises tools
Overview: Workato is a workflow automation tool that enables business and IT teams to build integrations with the help of its pre-built connectors, ready-to-use recipes, and fully cloud-native architecture.
Key features:
- Mix of API-based and UI-based automation
- Incorporate business events and systems actions into workflows
- 500,000+ ready-to-use recipes for common business processes
Pricing: No prices are publicly available, so you’ll need to get a quote from Workato.
TIBCO Cloud
Best for: API-led and event-driven integration
Overview: The TIBCO Cloud™ Integration enterprise iPaaS solution offers self-service integration capabilities that empower teams to quickly and easily connect information assets no matter where they are.
Key features:
- API management capabilities for digital transformation initiatives
- Embedded marketplace containing pre-packaged integration offerings
- Model-driven development within an Eclipse environment
Pricing: Starting from $400/month (with a free trial available).
Oracle Integration Cloud
Best for: iPaaS with predefined adapters
Overview: Oracle Cloud integration services connect any application and data source to automate end-to-end processes and centralize management through pre-built adapters and low-code customization.
Key features:
- Intuitive visual application builder for web and mobile development
- Oracle Golden Gate provides real-time data integration and replication
- Embedded best-practice integrations and easy to use recipes
Pricing: Choose from several different pricing options, including pay-as-you-go plans starting at $0.6452/message.
Zapier
Best for: simple automation iPaaS
Overview: Zapier is an iPaas platform designed to help you build your own app integrations and automate customized processes with its no-code Zap editor.
Key features:
- Create a private, custom connection to any web app with an API
- Webhooks let you receive data from any service and send requests to any URL
- Transfer by Zapier makes it easy to move data in bulk
Pricing: Along with a free plan, pricing starts at €20.35/750 tasks/month for the Starter plan. The more tasks you add to your plan, the more the price increases.
Outfunnel
Best for: sales and marketing connector
Overview: The Outfunnel marketing automation platform lets you connect sales and marketing apps and keep customer data in sync across your sales and marketing tools.
Key features:
- Set up campaigns once and they run automatically based on CRM data changes
- Record web visits, source/medium and landing page details in the CRM
- Create custom ad audiences and sync new leads to your CRM automatically
Pricing: Starting at $6/month for the Lite plan.
Mulesoft
Best for: iPaaS, part of the Salesforce family since 2018
Overview: Mulesoft provides an integration platform that enables business teams to access data typically governed through IT via its no-code, out-of-the-box connectivity options.
Key features:
- Pre-built assets provided by the MuleSoft ecosystem
- Plug your enterprise integrations into CI/CD pipelines
- Deploy to virtually any environment and implement modern architectures
Pricing: You’ll need to contact the Mulesoft sales team to get a quote.
Jitterbit
Best for: low-code iPaaS
Overview: With the Jitterbit low-code automation platform, you can connect systems and processes with pre-built, easy-to-implement connectors, recipes, and templates.
Key features:
- Infuse any application with AI, such as real-time language translation
- Guided experience via drag-and-drop configuration
- Design APIs with connectors for enterprise apps with the API platform
Pricing: Contact Jitterbit to get a quote depending on your requirements.
Wrapping up our iPaaS vendors’ comparison
If your business has high-growth ambitions, an iPaaS is simply a no-brainer in today’s highly-automated world.
The opportunity cost of not having an iPaaS platform is too great to gamble on. Because without a way to standardize how all your different applications are integrated, you risk manual errors, lost time, and wasted resources.
With so many options on the market, you might wonder how to choose the right platform for your business.
Earlier, we listed the must-have features to look out for, including having out-of-the-box integrations, but with the ability to customize and build for more complex processes.
It’s clear that this type of flexibility is paramount when choosing between iPaaS vendors. n8n, for example, provides an embedded iPaaS so you can build configurable integrations to suit YOUR needs. As well the HTTP node, n8n’s function node lets you insert code if needed and its core nodes configure data — self-host or cloud.
What’s next?
Want to see the ways you can integrate different applications from across your organization?
With n8n, you can connect to any system—through an integration marketplace or by writing your own integration if needed. Here are just three examples of how businesses are using n8n to reduce data silos, improve organizational transparency, and scale at speed.
