BizTalk Alternative
iQBus: the BizTalk model, rebuilt for Azure.
BizTalk Server has reached the end of its product line, and its support has an end date. iQBus keeps the model your team knows and runs it on Azure, in your own tenant. It is built by the people who ran BizTalk in production for 20 years.
- Microsoft Solutions Partner, Cloud & AI Platforms
- iQBus on the Microsoft Marketplace
- Microsoft V-TSP for BizTalk Server
- 20 years running BizTalk in production
iQBus is an Azure-based alternative to Microsoft BizTalk Server, built by Cerebrum City. Microsoft has confirmed that BizTalk Server 2020 is the last and final version; mainstream support ends April 11, 2028 and extended support runs to April 2030. iQBus keeps the BizTalk constructs (schemas, maps, orchestrations, pipelines, adapters) and runs them serverless in your own Azure tenant, so typically 50–70% of existing artifacts carry forward instead of being rewritten. To talk it through with an integration architect, book a free 15-minute IT-to-IT consultation at (678) 203-0800.
Trusted in production by enterprise integration teams
A product line that has ended, and support that is running out.
There will be no BizTalk Server 2022 or later. Every BizTalk estate now has a known horizon, and the organizations that plan their next step early get to choose it.
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2020The final versionMicrosoft has confirmed BizTalk Server 2020 is the last and final version.
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2027BizTalk 2016 support endsExtended support for BizTalk Server 2016 ends January 11, 2027.
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2028Mainstream support endsApril 11, 2028 for BizTalk Server 2020. Non-security fixes stop being included.
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2030Extended support endsApril 2030. No more security updates for any BizTalk version.
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Security updates stop
BizTalk usually handles partner traffic at the edge of your network. After support ends, known vulnerabilities stay unpatched.
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Auditors notice
Running unsupported software becomes a finding in its own right, whether or not anything has gone wrong.
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The skills get scarce
Each year fewer engineers know BizTalk, and fewer of the people who built your integrations are still around to explain them.
Nothing switches off on those dates, and that is the trap: the platform keeps running while the risk and the cost of leaving keep growing. The time to evaluate your long-term integration strategy is while you still have room to do it properly.
Keep what works about BizTalk. Lose what made it heavy.
Most BizTalk replacements ask you to rebuild every integration on a different model. iQBus, our Azure-based alternative, was designed the other way around.
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Your work carries over
Schemas, maps, orchestrations and pipelines convert to their iQBus equivalents. Typically 50–70% of artifacts are carried forward.
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Your team already knows it
Ports, pipelines, maps, subscriptions: the same concepts, so there is no new integration paradigm to learn.
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It runs in your Azure tenant
Serverless, with no server farm to patch. Your messages and data never leave your environment.
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Changes go live on save
No Visual Studio builds, no redeployments, no host-instance restarts.
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You can see every message
Live tracking is built in, with one-click resume for anything that was suspended.
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AI stays in your tenant
The AI Accelerator drafts maps and pipeline components for your review, and runs inside your own Azure environment.
What iQBus does, at a glance.
Everything an enterprise integration platform has to cover, in seven areas.
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Enterprise integration
- Schemas, maps, orchestrations, pipelines and ports: the BizTalk model, kept
- XSD schemas carry over as they are; maps run on XSLT 3.0
- EDI, HL7 and FHIR integrations in production use today
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Connectivity
- Adapters for REST APIs, SFTP, file shares, Azure Blob Storage and SQL
- Azure Service Bus, MQ Series, SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft 365 mail
- AS2 for EDI trading partners, and an adapter library that grows every week
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Messaging
- Publish and subscribe routing on message type and promoted properties
- Configurable retries on every send port
- Suspended messages resume in one click from the tracking console
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Workflow automation
- Orchestrations become declarative itineraries
- Scheduled runs, and email alerts when a run fails
- AI Accelerator drafts maps, pipeline components and custom functions for review
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Scalability
- Serverless on Azure: scales with load, scales to zero when idle
- No server farm and no host instances to size or patch
- Configuration changes go live on save: no builds, no restarts
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Security
- Runs inside your own Azure tenant; messages and data never leave it
- Microsoft Entra ID sign-in and OAuth 2.1
- iQBus supports SOC 2 and HIPAA; iQBus Auditing records user and agent actions
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Azure infrastructure
- Built on Azure services and available through the Microsoft Marketplace
- Azure usage is billed to your own subscription
- Live message tracking built in, with no separate monitoring add-on
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Does it cover your estate?
Bring your adapter list and message formats. Fifteen minutes with an integration architect will tell you.
Book a Free 15-Minute IT-to-IT Consultation
How iQBus compares with other BizTalk alternatives.
iQBus is not the only route off BizTalk Server, and a fair evaluation looks at several. This table sets it beside six platforms we see on enterprise shortlists, based on what each vendor publishes.
Use the arrows, or scroll the table sideways, to see all seven platforms.
| Capability | iQBusCerebrum City | MuleSoftSalesforce | BoomiBoomi | WorkatoWorkato | Azure Logic AppsMicrosoft | TIBCOCloud Software Group | Oracle Service BusOracle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Enterprise service bus (ESB) on Azure | Integration and API platform (Anypoint) | Low-code integration platform (iPaaS) | Integration and automation platform (iPaaS) | Workflow integration service on Azure | Integration platform (BusinessWorks, Flogo) | Enterprise service bus (Oracle SOA Suite) |
| Where it runs | Inside your own Azure tenant | MuleSoft cloud (CloudHub) or your own infrastructure | Boomi cloud or your own infrastructure | Workato cloud, with on-premises agents | Inside your own Azure tenant | TIBCO cloud or your own infrastructure | Your own servers, or Oracle Cloud |
| Connectors | Core enterprise adapters (APIs, SFTP, SQL, SAP, Salesforce, MQ, Service Bus); new connectors every week | Hundreds of pre-built connectors | 1,000+ pre-built connectors | 1,200+ pre-built connectors | 1,400+ pre-built connectors | 300+ pre-built connectors | Oracle Integration Adapters |
| B2B and EDI | IncludedEDI with AS2, HL7 and FHIR | Separate productAnypoint Partner Manager | IncludedB2B/EDI Management | Add-onWorkato EDI, powered by Orderful | Separate resourceIntegration account: X12, EDIFACT, AS2 | Separate productBusinessConnect | Separate licenseOracle B2B |
| Message tracking | IncludedEvery message, with one-click resume of suspended runs | IncludedAnypoint Monitoring: logs, traces, alerts | IncludedProcess Reporting: execution history and logs | IncludedJob history for each recipe | IncludedRun history for each workflow; Azure Monitor across workflows | IncludedObservability dashboard in the Control Plane | IncludedMessage reporting in the Service Bus console |
| Infrastructure monitoring | IncludedDashboard for the Azure App Service plans and SQL databases it runs on | IncludedCPU and memory for CloudHub and Runtime Fabric apps | IncludedRuntime status in the Boomi platform | Managed by vendorWorkato runs the platform; usage dashboard for customers | IncludedAzure Monitor and Application Insights | IncludedData plane monitoring in the Control Plane | IncludedOracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control |
| AI and agents | IncludedAI Accelerator and MCP Server inside your tenant; choice of AI models | IncludedAgent Fabric and AI gateway policies | IncludedBoomi AI agents | By editionAgent Studio and pre-built MCP servers | IncludedAgentic workflows and MCP servers | Not stated | Not stated |
| Compliance | Supports SOC 2, ISO 27001, HITRUST and HIPAA; follows NIST SP 800-63B | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, FedRAMP | SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI DSS | SOC, HIPAA, ISO, PCI DSS (Azure) | SOC 2, ISO 27001 | Depends on where you host it |
| Coming from BizTalk | ConvertsSchemas, maps, orchestrations and pipelines convert; typically 50–70% of artifacts carry forward | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped on its own model | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped on its own model | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped on its own model | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped as workflows, assisted by the Logic Apps Migration Agent | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped on its own model | Rebuild requiredIntegrations are redeveloped on its own model |
| Published pricing | Starter: no license fee (you pay only your Azure). Grow: $250/month. Enterprise: from $500/month | From $2,000/month, billed annually | Pay-as-you-go: $99/month + $0.05 per message | Quote-based | Per execution, or per hosting plan | Quote-based | Per processor or per user license |
About this table. The information on MuleSoft, Boomi, Workato, Azure Logic Apps, TIBCO and Oracle Service Bus was taken from each vendor's own public website and documentation in November 2026. Products, packaging and prices change, so it may not reflect what they offer today. Please check with each vendor directly before you decide. “Not stated” means we did not find it on the vendor pages we reviewed, not that the product lacks it. This is a summary of published capabilities, not a ranking. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Assess what you have. Then move at your pace.
A transition to iQBus starts with understanding your current BizTalk environment, not with a cutover date. The iQBus Migration AI reads your existing schemas, maps and pipelines and converts them; an architect reviews every conversion before it goes live.
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1Assess
Inventory the estate
Applications, schemas, maps, orchestrations, pipelines, adapters and trading partners: what runs, how often, and who depends on it.
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2Map
Match each artifact
Every BizTalk artifact is matched to its iQBus equivalent. Typically 50–70% of artifacts are carried forward instead of rewritten.
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3Prove
Run both side by side
BizTalk and iQBus process the same traffic in parallel until the outputs match, message for message.
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4Move
Cut over in waves
Interfaces move in groups, lowest risk first. There is no single cutover date and no production outage.
Not ready to move yet? We also support and extend existing BizTalk estates, including versions already out of support, until you are.
Book a Free 15-Minute IT-to-IT ConsultationBuilt by people who ran BizTalk, not people who read about it.
Cerebrum City has delivered enterprise integration since 2007. iQBus is what two decades of running BizTalk Server in production taught us an integration platform should be.
Questions IT teams ask before they choose.
Have a different one? Book a free 15-minute IT-to-IT consultation.
What should a BizTalk alternative be able to do?
At minimum, what BizTalk does for you today: receive and send over the protocols your partners use, validate and transform messages, route them by content, run multi-step processes, and let operations see and resume what failed. A good alternative also removes what made BizTalk expensive to run: the server farm, the build and redeploy cycle, and the separate tracking tools. iQBus was designed against that list by people who ran BizTalk in production.
Is iQBus a Microsoft product?
No. iQBus is built by Cerebrum City, a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Cloud & AI Platforms, and it runs on Microsoft Azure inside your own tenant. It is available through the Microsoft Marketplace. It is an alternative for teams that want to keep the BizTalk model instead of rebuilding their integrations on a different one.
How much of our existing BizTalk work carries over to iQBus?
Typically 50–70% of artifacts are carried forward. XSD schemas move as they are, maps are converted to XSLT 3.0, and orchestrations and pipelines are converted to their iQBus equivalents and reviewed by an architect. The exact figure depends on how much custom code sits in your pipelines and orchestrations, which is one of the first things an assessment measures.
Can we keep BizTalk running while we evaluate an alternative?
Yes, and most teams should. BizTalk keeps processing messages while you evaluate, and during a transition BizTalk and iQBus run side by side. Cerebrum City also supports and extends existing BizTalk estates, including versions that are already out of support, so the evaluation does not have to be rushed.
What happens in the 15-minute IT-to-IT consultation?
You talk with an integration architect, not a salesperson. Tell us which BizTalk version you run, roughly how many interfaces and trading partners you have, and what worries you most. You leave with a straight answer on whether iQBus fits your estate and what a sensible next step would be. It is free and there is no obligation.
Book a Free 15-Minute IT-to-IT Consultation
Talk directly with our technical team about your BizTalk environment, integration challenges and options for moving forward with iQBus.
- An integration architect, not a salesperson
- Free, no obligation
- Reply within one business day
Or call (678) 203-0800
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