8 Best API Management Tools for 2023 (Free)

API Management is essential for businesses that want to manage their APIs efficiently. With so many API Management Tools available, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. In this post, we'll introduce you to some of the best API Management Tools in the market, such as Apidog, SwaggerHub, Apigee, Postman, and more, highlighting their features and limitations.

If you are looking to manage your APIs effectively and deliver exceptional customer experiences, keep reading to learn about the best API management tools available.

What are API Management Tools?

API Management Tools are software applications designed to assist businesses in creating, publishing, and managing their APIs. These tools simplify API Management, making it easier to secure, analyze, and monitor APIs while ensuring they perform optimally. They facilitate the building, testing, deployment, and documentation of APIs, enabling businesses to better manage the end-to-end lifecycle of APIs, and they have become increasingly important in the digital age.

This is where API Management Tools come in handy, providing features for designing, deploying, securing, and monitoring APIs, simplifying API management, and making it more efficient and effective. These tools offer a comprehensive suite of features to address these challenges and provide analytics to understand API usage. Let's explore these tools and see how they transform API management.

Key Features of an Effective API Management Tools

To make an informed decision when choosing an API Management Tool for your business, effective tools should offer:

• Robust Security Measures, including API keys, authentication and authorization protocols, rate limiting, and encryption to protect APIs from threats and attacks.
• Integration Capabilities, with support for various API protocols, easy integration with existing infrastructure, and the ability to integrate with other APIs seamlessly.
• In-Depth Analytics about API usage, performance, and errors to identify popular APIs, diagnose performance issues, and understand how to improve APIs.
• User-Friendly Developer Portal for facilitating developer engagement and fostering an API ecosystem, providing access to documentation, and an environment for experimentation with APIs.
• Lifecycle Management for handling the full lifecycle of an API, including version control, testing environment, and a deprecation policy for retiring APIs in a controlled manner.

Best API Management Tools Comparison

API management tools play a crucial role in software development by enabling teams to design, test, and deploy APIs. Here we delve into the detailed analysis of four prominent tools in the market: Apidog, SwaggerHub, Postman, and Apigee.

Apidog: Free API Management Tool

Apidog operates as a comprehensive suite for API management, providing a unified platform for many tasks. Developers use Apidog primarily to design, implement, test, and refine APIs. The tool simplifies creating complex APIs by providing a clear, user-friendly interface where developers can define API endpoints, input parameters, and expected responses.

Moreover, Apidog's debugging capabilities make it easier for developers to identify and rectify issues in real time, while its data mocking feature allows developers to simulate various scenarios without needing to construct extensive testing environments.

Highlight Features of Apidog:

1. API Design: Apidog adheres to OpenAPI 3.0 and JSON Schema specifications, providing a visual document management capability.
2. API Debugging: With capabilities similar to Postman, it offers more effective and practical solutions.
3. API Use Case Management: It efficiently defines and runs use cases during API debugging.
4. Database Operation: Apidog supports reading database data for use as an API request parameter or to verify the success of an API request.
5. API Automated Testing: It supports API collection testing, allowing quick creation of test collections.
6. Code Generation: Apidog generates front-end and back-end code based on the API and data model specifications.
7. Team Collaboration: Apidog is designed for team collaboration. It synchronizes real-time updates on the API cloud and supports team/project/member permission management.

SwaggerHub

SwaggerHub is fundamentally a key documentation tool for APIs. Its main function is to provide a collaborative environment where developers can define API structures, create documentation, and generate client SDKs using OpenAPI specifications. Developers use SwaggerHub to develop API definitions collaboratively, with the tool providing an intuitive, real-time interface for defining APIs, describing their functionalities, and setting up their endpoints.

Main  Features of SwaggerHub:

1. Easy Integration: It seamlessly integrates with Bitbucket, Github, and other tools.
2. API Documentation: SwaggerHub supports documenting APIs using Swagger 2.0 or OpenAPI specifications.
3. Version Control: It allows for the iteration through multiple versions of a definition privately before making a version publicly available.
4. Code Auto-generation: SwaggerHub reduces effort in defining clients with its auto-generated code capability.

Limitations:

1. Limited Testing: SwaggerHub needs to gain the ability to write test cases as Postman does.
2. Limited Configuration: It doesn't support configuring and integrating different environment variables with third-party software.
3. Limited Examples per Endpoint: Under the Swagger 2.0 standards, you can only provide one example for each endpoint, limiting its usefulness for complex scenarios.

Postman

Postman operates as an API client, offering developers a feature-rich environment for testing API endpoints. Developers use Postman to send requests to API endpoints and view the responses. It supports HTTP requests like GET, POST, DELETE, and PUT. It also has built-in features for setting up various parameters, headers, and body data. Postman's most notable feature is its ability to automate the process of API testing. Developers can write scripts to automate tests, which can be executed in bulk, saving time and effort in manual testing.

Key Features of Postman:

1. Collaboration: Postman allows teams to work together on APIs.
2. Monitoring and Testing: Postman enables users to monitor and test APIs.
3. Mock Servers: Postman provides a feature to simulate API responses for testing.

Limitations:

1. User Interface: Some users find the interface less intuitive than expected.
2. Feature Complexity: The wealth of features in Postman can sometimes be overwhelming for new users.
3. Collection Runner Limitation: Postman users contend that the free and basic plan's 25-run limit could be more reasonable, prompting calls for Postman to reconsider its changes.

How to Fix Postman Collection Limits for Free

There are several methods to fix Postman Collection Runner restrictions. However, creating your collection with Apidog has no limits and is free.

Apidog BlogKim Haewon

Apigee

Apigee, now part of Google Cloud, is a full-featured API platform that empowers businesses to design, secure, and scale APIs and microservices. It's a robust platform that enables developers to connect with any service, irrespective of how it's built. Apigee aims to streamline the creation of APIs and services by providing a comprehensive, user-friendly interface where developers can configure API endpoints, input variables, and expected outputs. Apigee also boasts features for traffic management, in-depth analytics, and improved developer productivity. Built with a cloud-native perspective, Apigee is highly compatible with modern architectures, including microservices, containers, and cloud-native applications.

Core Features:

1. API Design and Deployment: Apigee offers comprehensive API design, deployment, and revision features.
2. Environments: Apigee supports environment groups and provides flexibility in serving topology.
3. Security: With robust security features, including OAuth policies and managed Keystores/Truststores, Apigee ensures the secure handling of APIs.
4. Policies and Roles: Apigee lets users define and manage policies and permissions via the Google Cloud console's IAM service.

Limitations:

1. Developer Platform: Some users have expressed challenges with the external developer platform.
2. Lack of iPaaS: Unlike MuleSoft, Apigee lacks an Integrated Platform as a Service (iPaaS), which could provide out-of-the-box connectors and make implementation easier.
3. Limited Customization: Apigee is considered more of an entry-level solution with limited customization options.
4. Limited Caching Capabilities: The platform's caching capabilities are somewhat limited, particularly for developer-oriented capabilities.

MuleSoft

MuleSoft is a leading open-source API Management Tool that enables businesses to quickly integrate disparate systems, data, and devices through APIs. It provides features such as API designer, gateway, and analytics for enhanced API Management.

Key Features:

1. Easy integration with legacy systems, SaaS applications, and other services.
2. CloudHub platform offers built-in device management, deployment, and centralized API management.
3. Advanced API analytics to monitor key performance metrics and business outcomes.
4. Policy enforcement and advanced security capabilities to protect APIs from threats and attacks.
5. Pre-built connector library for seamless integration with popular systems and platforms.

Limitations:

1. Cost: MuleSoft is an enterprise-level solution, and its pricing may make it prohibitive for smaller businesses and startups.
2. Complexity: Like other comprehensive solutions, MuleSoft may have a learning curve and require significant technical expertise to deploy and customize.
3. Integration: MuleSoft requires integration with various platforms, which may require additional configuration and development skills.
4. Documentation: Users may find the documentation challenging to navigate due to its depth and complexity.

Kong

An open-source API Management Tool that offers a scalable platform for managing APIs, microservices, and service-oriented architecture (SOA). It offers features such as API gateway, microservices management, and analytics for advanced API Management.

1. Easily deployed API gateway for a secure and scalable platform.
2. Open-source environment, allowing for flexibility in customization and deployment.
3. Simplified management for integrations with microservices and third-party services.
4. Robust analytics and monitoring features for optimal API performance.
5. Cloud-native architecture for easy integration with various cloud platforms.

Limitations:

1. Knowledge: Some of the features offered by Kong may require significant knowledge of custom scripting languages for customization and optimization.
2. Open-Source: The open-source nature of Kong may make it difficult for those without technical experience to navigate and deploy.
3. Learning Curve: Users not familiar with working with APIs may take a while to grasp Kong's various functionalities and architecture.
4. Complexity: Similar to Apigee and IBM API Connect, Kong has complex functionalities and may prove difficult to customize due to its complexity.

AWS API Gateway

A cloud-based API Management Tool that provides businesses with a scalable and flexible platform to manage APIs effectively. It offers features such as API deployment, security, and monitoring for efficient API Management.

Limitations:

1. Limited support: AWS API Gateway only supports REST APIs, and SOAP APIs require additional configuration.
2. Governance: AWS API Gateway lacks governance features and may require additional tools for large-scale API management.
3. Cost: Users may experience hidden costs with high traffic APIs, and API Gateway can become costly for larger organizations.
4. Customization: Customization may be limited due to AWS's platform-first approach and requirements.

WSO2

A popular open-source API Management Tool that provides a complete platform for designing, publishing, and managing APIs. It offers features such as API manager, analytics, and security for effective API Management.

Key Features:

1. Full lifecycle API management, including design, creation, deployment, and monitoring.
2. Multiple deployment options, including on-premises, cloud, or hybrid.
3. Multiple format support, including REST, SOAP, and GraphQL.
4. Developer portal with documentation and sandbox for experimenting with APIs.
5. Advanced security features such as OAuth2, key authentication, and rate limiting.

Limitations:

1. Needs a learning curve: As with most comprehensive solutions, WSO2's extensive features may require a learning curve and technical expertise to deploy and customize.
2. Complexity: Customisation of features may require a better understanding of the enterprise-level software.
3. Large user base required: Smaller businesses may not require the expansive capabilities offered by WSO2, making it cost-ineffective.

We've seen how the top tools compare in terms of key features. Let's now look at one of these top API management platforms, Apidog. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to leverage Apidog for managing your APIs

How to Use Apidog for Management?

Setting Up Your Workspace

The first step in using Apidog is to set up your workspace. It involves creating a new project and inviting your team members to join.

Designing Your API

Apidog provides a user-friendly visual interface for designing APIs. You can create a new API by specifying its endpoints, methods, request parameters, and response models. Apidog supports OpenAPI 3.0 and JSON Schema specifications, which allow you to define your API in a language-agnostic manner.

Debugging Your API

Apidog offers robust debugging capabilities. You can define test cases and run them directly within the platform. It provides a convenient way to identify and fix issues early in development.

Mocking Data

Apidog's integrated Mock.js rule engine allows you to create mock data for testing purposes. It is particularly useful when testing your API without setting up a full-fledged database.

Testing Your API

With Apidog's automated testing feature, you can create a collection of APIs and run tests on them collectively. This saves time and ensures thorough testing of all your APIs.

Conclusion

The significance of API management tools in today's interconnected digital ecosystem cannot be overstated. As businesses strive to streamline their processes, improve customer experiences, and stay competitive, tools like Apidog, SwaggerHub, Postman, and Apigee, each with unique features and capabilities, can be the driving force behind achieving these goals.

Choosing the right API management tool involves understanding your business goals, assessing your needs, and ensuring the tool aligns with your workflow. Remember, your ultimate aim is to enhance the value you deliver to your customers and stakeholders. Therefore, the ideal API management tool should empower you, not hinder you, on this journey.