Integration platforms are the superglue that hold together today's complex IT ecosystems. As you connect more apps, systems and cloud services, you need an integration platform that scales up with your growing needs.

In this article we compare MuleSoft and Boomi, two of the largest integration platform as a service (iPaaS) vendors found in the market today.

What is MuleSoft

MuleSoft is a major player in the integration platform as a service (iPaaS) market focused on an API-led integration strategy. Acquired by Salesforce in 2018, MuleSoft is best known for its Anypoint Platform, which offers broad capabilities for API management and integration.

For ITSM professionals, MuleSoft's value lies in its ability to create a cohesive yet flexible integration network via its Anypoint Platform. Working like an enterprise service bus (ESB), Anypoint allows you to design, deploy, and manage APIs and integrations in a unified manner, supporting both SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) and microservices environments. 

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In recent years, MuleSoft has expanded its focus into process automation, offering robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent document processing (IDP) functionality. These areas bring MuleSoft’s service offering closer to broad, intelligent automation platforms like Workato and UiPath but away from an integration service vendor.

What is Boomi

Boomi is a popular iPaaS solution that provides a user-friendly, low-code environment for integrating diverse applications, managing APIs, automating workflows, and synchronizing data across on-premises and cloud systems. 

Boomi was originally founded in 2000 with a focus on on-premise data integrations. With over 20,000 customers worldwide, Boomi now has a broad service offering, including B2B/EDI management and real-time event processing. 

Boomi was acquired by Dell Technologies Inc. in 2010 and divested in 2021. Today, Boomi is owned by Francisco Partners and TPG Capital. 

MuleSoft vs. Boomi Integration Platform Comparison

Let’s go through how MuleSoft and Boomi compare in five common integration scenarios: API management, data integration, B2B/EDI integration, application integration and system integration.

API Management

MuleSoft's Anypoint Platform is built for API management. It provides an API Designer for creating RAML or OAS specifications, allowing you to define your API contract before implementation. An API Manager lets you set policies and monitor usage, giving you control over your API's behavior and performance. An API Portal offers documentation and interactive testing capabilities. Overall, MuleSoft gives you one of the most comprehensive solutions for managing API integrations.

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Boomi integrates API management within its iPaaS offering. The platform includes API Lifecycle (management) tools to oversee your APIs from creation to retirement. Boomi's API Proxy allows you to securely expose your APIs, while API Analytics gives insights into usage patterns. 

Data Integration

MuleSoft approaches data integration through its own DataWeave data language, which allows for complex data manipulations. The AnyPoint platform supports batch processing for handling large volumes of data, and works with various data formats including XML, JSON, and CSV. The platform also has a large number of ETL/ELT features to support data integrations. 

Boomi also features a number of data integration solutions. The platform includes pre-built connectors for databases and applications. Its visual mapping interface allows for simplified data transformations. The Master Data Hub supports data synchronization across multiple systems. 

B2B/EDI Integration

MuleSoft supports B2B integrations through EDI message parsing and generation capabilities. It includes support for the AS2 protocol, commonly used in B2B communications. In addition, AnyPoint includes Partner Manager features to handle external data integrations and different data standards of partners.

Boomi also provides comprehensive B2B/EDI capabilities, supporting multiple EDI standards such as X12 and EDIFACT. Its Trading Partner tools allow for detailed configuration of communication preferences. EDI mapping tools facilitate the transformation between EDI formats and internal data structures. 

Application Integration

MuleSoft supports application integration through Anypoint Connectors for popular SaaS and on-premises applications. For custom applications, it offers a connector SDK. AnyPoint’s Flow Designer provides a visual environment for creating integration flows between different applications. 

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Boomi enables application integration through its library of AtomSphere connectors. Its low-code development environment allows for the creation of integration processes. Boomi also offers Integration Packs for common integration patterns, accelerating development. 

System integration

As MuleSoft is owned by Salesforce, you can guarantee that they have deep ERP and CRM system integration capabilities. MuleSoft supports various system integration patterns, including real-time, batch, and event-driven architectures.

Boomi's Integration Packs provide templates for common integration scenarios. The platform supports both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground integrations, with the Atom runtime enabling processing close to data sources.

Factors to consider when comparing MuleSoft and Boomi

On the surface of it there are not many differences between MuleSoft and Boomi. Here are some additional factors to consider.

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• Scalability and performance:
  Both MuleSoft and Boomi have a track record of large deployments. While MuleSoft uses a clustered architecture for enterprise-scale deployments, Boomi opts for a lightweight, distributed Atom runtime, allowing for more efficient local processing.
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• Monitoring:
  MuleSoft provides Anypoint Monitoring with customizable dashboards for oversight, while Boomi integrates monitoring capabilities directly into its AtomSphere platform.
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• Security and compliance:
  Both MuleSoft and Boomi have extensive security functionality. MuleSoft offers Anypoint VPCs for isolated network environments. Boomi emphasizes on-premises deployment options for handling sensitive data.
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• Community and ecosystem:
  MuleSoft's ecosystem is generally larger and more established, reflecting its longer presence in the enterprise market.

Why choose MuleSoft?

MuleSoft may be a good option for you if you’re consolidating your enterprise tech stack around Salesforce. It can handle most cloud-based integration patterns and a broad range of pre-built connectors to and from Salesforce apps.
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MuleSoft highlights:

• API creation and integration capabilities.
• Supports automation with a large template library and RPA access.
• Wide capabilities in composite service integration.

Why choose Boomi?

Boomi can be an option for you if you have a large number of different legacy and cloud-based systems you need to integrate through an ESB-type set-up. While it lacks low-code or testing functionality found in other iPaaS solutions, it has a large library of pre-built connectors.
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Boomi highlights:

• Large library of pre-built connectors
• Hybrid deployment across cloud, on-premises, and edge integrations​
• Customer training program with over 30,000 certified individuals

ONEiO as an Alternative to MuleSoft and Boomi

If you’re not sure if MuleSoft or Boomi is the best option for your integration needs, you may consider a third alternative, ONEiO.
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ONEiO gives you a streamlined, no-code integration service that stands out for several reasons:

Effortless integrations as a service

While MuleSoft and Boomi have some low- and no-code functionality, ONEiO is the first integration platform that offers end-to-end integrations as a service. This is especially valuable in case you don’t plan to hire a full team of system integrators to maintain your integration ecosystem.

Integration automation beyond pre-built connectors

ONEiO supports a wide range of endpoint types and data formats, including JSON, XML, CSV, and plain text. It provides robust mechanisms for both push (using webhooks and REST/SOAP) and pull (via API, SFTP, SQL) data processing. This flexibility ensures that ONEiO can handle various integration scenarios with ease.

Security and compliance

ONEiO offers strong security features, including encrypted credentials and support for multiple authentication standards (Basic Authentication, Token, API Key, OAuth, etc.). It also allows connections to internal networks and supports reverse proxies or whitelisting. The platform is built on AWS and ensures high availability and GDPR compliance.

Business logic and data orchestration

ONEiO provides a no-code editor for creating business logic, transforming, and translating data. It supports various transformation options like regular expressions, case transformations, and date formatting. The platform’s rule robot automates rule creation based on common use cases, making it easy to adjust or add new rules without disrupting existing integrations.

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When to choose ONEiO? 

ONEiO is especially well suited for seamless ITSM integration across internal and externally managed IT services. It offers a turnkey solution for the complex integration needs of both global enterprises and IT service providers.

ONEiO highlights:

• ONEAi artificial intelligence model trained specifically for IT service integration.
• Faster time-to-value. Typical integrations take 2 weeks from idea to production.
• 100% satisfaction guarantee based on proven enterprise-grade integration service.

Bottom line on MuleSoft vs Boomi

Both MuleSoft and Boomi are among the most popular iPaaS solutions on the market today. While they both have ideal use-cases, they may not be suitable for all integration needs of today’s complex enterprise IT services landscape.

ONEiO offers a powerful, user-friendly alternative. Its no-code platform, flexible integration capabilities, robust security, comprehensive monitoring, and scalability make it a compelling choice for organizations seeking to simplify their integration processes while maintaining high standards of performance and reliability.