# IBM HATS Alternative for Screen APIs

Source: https://wndsoftware.com/compare-hats

### An IBM HATS alternative, built around your workflow.

Turn a host workflow into an API, give employees a clearer screen, or add regression coverage. Choose the outcome first, then compare what your team will build and maintain.

WND Terminal sample screen. Modern view and REST flows are separate ways to reuse host screens.
WND Terminal is an alternative to evaluate alongside IBM HATS when the goal is a usable terminal interface or reviewed screen workflows exposed as APIs. Existing HATS customizations and integrations need a migration plan; feature overlap does not establish project compatibility.

WND Terminal Desktop: $69 per user per year; Enterprise: $75. Both have a 100-user minimum; additional products are quoted separately. A proof of value takes two to four weeks. Compare your current vendor quote and migration work in the [savings calculator](https://wndsoftware.com/savings-calculator). Review updated October 23, 2026.


### What are you trying to modernize?

A HATS evaluation often begins with a screen and ends with a larger question: do you need a custom web application, an endpoint for another system, or a better way for employees to use the application they already have? Write that outcome down before comparing products. It determines the work you will own after the first demonstration.

IBM describes HATS as a way to transform terminal applications into web and rich-client interfaces and SOAP or REST services without rewriting the host application. It offers rendering, screen customization and flow-editing tools. [IBM’s HATS product overview](https://www.ibm.com/products/host-access-transformation-services).

On a small screen, swipe the table to read all columns.


| Your goal | IBM HATS approach | WND Terminal approach |
| --- | --- | --- |
| An easier screen | Default rendering and customized widgets. | [Modern view](https://wndsoftware.com/modern-view) infers a labelled form from the live screen; IT can supply layouts. |
| A reusable service | Screen flows exposed as SOAP or REST services. | Reviewed `.wndflow` procedures exposed through the gateway’s REST API, with OpenAPI 3.1 and Swagger 2.0 contracts. |
| A deployment | Web, portal and rich-client application options. | Native terminal apps or your own browser gateway, with separate flows for integrations. |

The HATS column summarizes IBM’s [published capabilities](https://www.ibm.com/products/host-access-transformation-services). WND Terminal details are in [Flow APIs](https://wndsoftware.com/docs/flow-apis) and [deployment choices](https://wndsoftware.com/everywhere). This is a comparison of approaches, not a promise that an existing HATS project imports unchanged.


### Make one screen workflow useful to another system.

Start with a lookup your integration team already understands: customer status, an order balance or a shipment result. Define the input, the fields you want back and the business condition that means the request failed. A WND Terminal flow follows the host screens and returns typed outputs. The host application keeps the same transaction and authorization model.

The gateway distinguishes a completed result from work awaiting approval. A successful run returns 200; queued or approval-dependent work can return 202 with a run URL; a business failure returns 422. Capacity refusals return 503 with Retry-After. The calling application must handle those outcomes explicitly.

Fresh sessions are the default. A pooled flow deliberately names a reset procedure that returns the session to its starting screen. Review the actual [request and response example](https://wndsoftware.com/automation#integration), then choose the session behavior your workflow needs. The endpoint belongs on your gateway; it is not a WND Software-hosted service.


### Evaluate the work you will keep.

- Inventory the existing project List the screens, custom presentation, macros, authentication, callers and failure paths. Decide which behavior must remain and which can change. Plan to recreate and validate the needed behavior in the chosen product’s own formats.
- Choose one end-to-end result Agree the request, output fields, permissions and acceptance criteria with the application owner. Include a missing-record case and an unavailable-host case, not only the successful lookup.
- Include the release team [WND Test](https://wndsoftware.com/docs/testing) provides screen assertions and CI reports. Replay-only suites are free and use current 3270 recordings; host-connected 3270 and 5250 runs require their entitlement. [Watch the existing report walkthrough](https://wndsoftware.com/automation#short-walkthrough).

If the immediate job is giving staff a more usable screen, [watch Modern view](https://wndsoftware.com/modern-view#short-walkthrough) and try the [fictional browser sample](https://wndsoftware.com/demo#launch). The public sample demonstrates terminal workflows, Modern view and Capture; it does not expose a live integration endpoint or run a model.


### Compare the complete deployment quote.

WND Terminal Desktop and Enterprise base subscriptions are $69 and $75 per user per year, billed annually, with a 100-user minimum. Screen flows as APIs, host-connected testing and Screen tables have separate entitlements and quotes. Include gateway operation, model hosting if selected, project conversion and ongoing ownership in your business case. No IBM price or savings percentage is assumed here.

A [free two-to-four-week proof of value](https://wndsoftware.com/proof-of-value) uses your systems and agreed workflows. If a contract renewal sets the deadline, build the [dated renewal plan](https://wndsoftware.com/renewal-planner) first. For an engineer starting independently on a work computer, use the [30-day team trial](https://wndsoftware.com/try).

Reviewed October 18, 2026. IBM and HATS are trademarks of IBM. WND Software is not affiliated with or endorsed by IBM.


### Questions


#### Does WND Terminal import an existing HATS project unchanged?

Plan to recreate and validate the required presentation, flow and integration behavior in WND Terminal’s own formats. Evaluate the actual project before committing to a migration.


#### Does WND Terminal provide the same SOAP service contract as HATS?

WND Terminal Screen flows as APIs exposes REST with OpenAPI 3.1 and Swagger 2.0 descriptions. Assess any existing SOAP callers separately; do not assume their contract carries across.


#### Can a developer start without a mainframe connection?

Yes. The public browser sample uses fictional workflows, and replay-only WND Test suites use recordings without a host or license. A real integration proof needs your own gateway, policy and host access.


### How should we evaluate WND Terminal against IBM HATS?

Start with the exact host protocol, deployment and workflows covered by your current product. Have a user complete sign-on, an ordinary transaction, a rejected entry and cancellation with the familiar keys. Test printing, file transfer and actual automation separately where used. For browser delivery, include gateway and identity administration in the comparison; for an application-modernization project, include the required interface work. A successful connection alone does not establish an equivalent replacement.

Check [WND Terminal’s supported profiles and limits](https://wndsoftware.com/supported-systems), [current plan scope and pricing](https://wndsoftware.com/pricing), and the [migration evaluation steps](https://wndsoftware.com/switch).