What's the Best Embedded iPaaS for 2023?

The embedded iPaaS market in 2023 includes around 30 vendors that provide an embedded iPaaS (embedded integration platform).

With so many different embedded iPaaS solutions, how should you find the best embedded iPaaS to help you build and manage integrations to your customers' other apps?

Based on our experience working with many B2B SaaS companies on their integration projects, we recommend five factors for evaluating embedded iPaaS solutions.

5 factors for evaluating embedded iPaaS solutions

• Is the vendor's focus on embedded iPaaS? Or is the embedded iPaaS just one of several products it has brought to market?
• Does the platform support a good dev experience? Does it have an API and CLI, let you write code when needed, and work with existing tools and processes? Does it have good docs?
• Can you build the specific integrations you need? In addition to a low-code designer and API connectors, does the platform handle complex integrations and allow you to code robust custom connectors?
• Does the platform allow you to deploy and manage integrations at scale? Is its infrastructure scalable? Does it enable non-devs to troubleshoot and support integrations?
• Does the platform provide a great user experience for your customers? Can they configure, activate, and troubleshoot their own integrations? Can they use an embedded designer to build their own integrations with your product?

Now, let's look at several popular embedded iPaaS solutions and see how they stack up.

Prismatic

We'll start with our own. You won't be surprised we think it's a spot-on solution for most B2B SaaS teams. But we strongly encourage you not to take our word for it. Go check out customer reviews and compare our product to other solutions on G2.

Focus: Since its founding, Prismatic has focused solely on the embedded iPaaS market. Its embedded integration platform was built from scratch for B2B SaaS companies that need to create native integrations to their customers' other apps.

Dev Experience: Devs have access to a development API and CLI, and the platform plays well with existing processes for versioning and managing integration code. Prismatic includes a fully integrated dev environment that can be used to write and deploy custom TypeScript code as part of your integrations, and its dev experience for coding custom components is second to none.

Specific Integrations: Prismatic has a low-code designer with a library of API connectors and other pre-built components to enable integration functionality. It supports coding full-fledged custom components and dropping code into integrations. Users report strong satisfaction with the flexibility this gives them to build complex integrations and those connecting to vertical-specific apps.

Deploy and Manage: Prismatic supports building configurable integrations that can be deployed to many customers. Its management environment is more comprehensive than most and gives non-devs a full view of customers' integrations and tools like logging to support them.

User Experience: Prismatic's embedded integration marketplace allows customers to self-activate, configure, monitor, and troubleshoot their integrations without leaving your app. It also includes an embedded designer enabling enterprise customers to build their own integrations from within your product.

Tray.io

Focus: Tray.io was founded in 2012 as an enterprise iPaaS, enabling business users to automate internal workflows. This product remains Tray's primary focus today. The company introduced Tray Embedded in 2020 by adding features to its existing enterprise iPaaS. Tray Embedded seems to be losing its early market traction, and users report it contains many "workarounds" due to its origins as an enterprise iPaaS. Recently, Tray switched to offering its embedded iPaaS as an add-on bundle for its Enterprise iPaaS package. Customers now need to purchase both the enterprise iPaaS and embedded iPaaS if they only need the embedded iPaaS.

Dev Experience: Tray Embedded does not have a CLI, and while it does have an API, only a subset of its functionality is available. Devs report difficulty understanding which parts of Tray's docs apply to its enterprise iPaaS, embedded iPaaS, or both.

Specific Integrations: Tray offers a large library of app connectors and a drag-and-drop integration designer, enabling SaaS teams to build integrations to hundreds of common It fares less well with non-standard. It allows users to generate HTTP-only low-code custom connectors but not coding full-fledged custom connectors or including your own code in integrations.

Deploy and Manage: Tray is missing some key capabilities for managing customers' integrations at scale. For example, it does not have granular versioning control of integrations and their connectors, making it difficult to roll out an updated version of an integration across your customer base.

User Experience: Tray provides an integration marketplace that can be embedded within your SaaS product and a config wizard to drive the customer experience for setting up integrations. However, it does not enable your customers to build their own integrations or offer self-service support tools such as logging and alerting.

Workato

Focus: Like Tray.io, Workato started in the early 2010s as an enterprise iPaaS providing workflow automation to businesses. It brought its embedded iPaaS to market in 2019 under the name Workato OEM by adding functionality to its existing platform. Today, Workato Embedded remains a secondary focus.

Dev Experience: Workato offers an SDK for building custom connectors but is limited to a white-listed subset of Ruby. Its sales and onboarding processes tend to be heavy for developers, who must contact sales to start a trial and go through a slow implementation. Its pricing tends to be inaccessible for smaller/younger SaaS teams.

Specific Integrations: Workato provides a high-quality integration designer and over 1,000 application connectors. While its custom component SDK could be more dev-friendly, it does allow building custom components. Overall, Workato enables building a wide variety of integrations, from simple to advanced.

Deploy and Manage: Workato allows for the entire platform to be embedded in your SaaS product rather than embedding just the marketplace or the integrations. As a result, your customers can see everything (connectors, builders, and recipes) that your teams work with.

User Experience: Workato's embedded experience has been used as the foundation for relatively large-scale integration marketplaces. Large or sophisticated customers can design and build their own integrations.

Paragon

Focus: Since shortly after it started, Paragon has focused on the B2B SaaS integration market. Many of its customers are B2B SaaS startups that need a handful of integrations to common apps.

Dev Experience: Paragon does provide functionality for building custom connectors to REST APIs. At the same time, your devs cannot stream logs, access the platform via a CLI, or incorporate code into your current dev processes.

Specific Integrations: Paragon has a small but growing number of connectors to common SaaS apps. In addition, it allows your devs to build lightweight connectors to public APIs. It tends to fall short when it comes to complex or industry-specific integrations.

Deploy and Manage: Paragon provides an integration marketplace that lets your teams display both Paragon integrations and custom in-house integrations.

User Experience: Your customers can select and activate integrations listed in the marketplace, filling out user credentials, field mappings, and other config options. It does not offer an embedded integration builder.

Cyclr

Focus: Cyclr began as a general-purpose integration and automation product, but quickly pivoted to be a platform for B2B SaaS companies to build integrations for their customers. Since then, the company has primarily focused on the embedded iPaaS market. Recently, it also rolled out ConnectorEngine.com to sell a version of Cyclr that is built for the marketing services segment.

Dev Experience: Cyclr brings a lot of connectors to the table (and they'll build additional connectors), but they expect your teams to create everything with no-code/low-code tools. They do not allow your devs to write detailed code and otherwise interact with the platform via a development API or CLI.

Specific Integrations: Cyclr relies heavily on its 400+ connectors for integrations. It abstracts/automates things such as auth, paging, and monitoring for those connectors. It also provides a low-code process for your team to convert endpoints for a new API into a basic API connector.

Deploy and Manage: Deployments are performed through the embedded marketplace. Cyclr includes a console for you to manage the marketplace and integrations.

User Experience: Cyclr includes an embedded, white-labeled marketplace. Your customers can self-activate integrations, but do not have logging or alerting tools to keep them current with integration statuses.

Frequently asked questions about embedded iPaaS

Question: What's the difference between an embedded iPaaS and an enterprise iPaaS?

Answer: An embedded iPaaS is a purpose-built platform software companies use to create native product integrations for their customers. An enterprise iPaaS is a general-purpose platform used by businesses to create integrations for internal use.

Question: What's the difference between an embedded iPaaS and a unified API?

Answer: An embedded iPaaS is a set of tools that enables a software company to quickly build reusable, configurable integrations to any app in any software category and deliver them to its customers as a seamless part of its app. A unified API, on the other hand, connects several APIs in a common, typically horizontal, software category, such as HRIS, to a single API to simplify the integration process.

Question: Is there a recommended process for choosing an embedded iPaaS?

Answer: Yes. 1) involve the right stakeholders; 2) confirm that the solution meets your high-level requirements; 3) get a demo; 4) perform a realistic POC; 5) verify the solutions' ability to handle real-world complexity; 6) confirm the platform's extensibility and custom connector support; and 7) ensure that the solution fits your tools and processes. For more details, check out our post on How to Choose an Embedded iPaaS for Your SaaS.

Question: Where can I learn more about embedded iPaaS?

Answer: Our What is Embedded iPaaS post is an excellent place to start.

How do I get independent comparisons of embedded iPaaS solutions?

G2 is a trusted business software review site with over 2 million verified user reviews that help buyers compare solutions and find the best fit for them. G2's quarterly Grid® Reports identify top products in each software category based on which products have the most satisfied customers and largest market presence.

To help determine the best embedded iPaaS for your needs, view all the embedded iPaaS solutions in G2's Embedded Integration Platform category or download G2's latest Grid® Report for Embedded Integration Platforms for an in-depth look at top-rated solutions.

There's nothing like working with the platform

Our analysis is no substitute for seeing those platforms in action. Once you've created a short list of embedded iPaaS solutions that best meet your requirements, it's time to set up some demos.

Schedule a demo if you'd like to see Prismatic's embedded iPaaS in action. We'll provide one tailored to your specific integration goals and pain points.

Related blog posts

• How to Choose an Embedded iPaaS for Your SaaS
• Have You Outgrown Zapier for Your B2B SaaS Product's Integrations?
• Workato vs Prismatic for Embedded iPaaS?
• Tray.io vs Prismatic for Embedded iPaaS?