8 Best Swagger Alternatives

Swagger is an open-source framework that simplifies the design, documentation, and implementation of RESTful APIs. However, there are several reasons why one might want to look for Swagger alternatives. For example, Swagger may not meet all of your specific needs, or you may prefer a different interface or pricing model.

Top 8 Swagger Alternatives Comparison

Here is a comparison table of the 8 best Swagger alternatives:

Top1 Apidog

Apidog is a powerful open-source API documentation tool that can be considered the best  Swagger alternative. It provides a user-friendly interface for designing, documenting, and visualizing RESTful APIs.

The Key Feature of Apidog

Here are some features that make Apidog stand out:

• Interactive Documentation: Apidog generates interactive and visually appealing API documentation. It allows developers and users to explore endpoints, request and response payloads, and test API endpoints directly from the documentation.
• Easy-to-use Interface: Apidog offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface for designing and documenting APIs. It manages API versions.
• Markdown Support: Apidog supports writing API documentation in Markdown format, making it easier to create well-structured and readable documentation. Markdown allows you to add formatting, headers, code blocks, and other elements to enhance the documentation.
• Mock Server: Apidog allows you to create mock servers based on API definitions. This feature is helpful during the API development phase as it enables frontend and backend teams to work concurrently. Mock servers can simulate API responses, aiding in testing and development.
• API Testing: With Apidog, you can test your API endpoints directly from the documentation. It provides an integrated testing environment where you can send requests, view responses, and validate API behavior.
• Visual API Design: Apidog offers a visual API design editor that allows you to design APIs by dragging and dropping components. This visual approach simplifies the process of creating API schemas and defining endpoints.

• Collaboration and Versioning: Apidog supports collaboration among team members. It provides versioning capabilities, allowing you to manage different versions of your API documentation and keep track of changes.

Pricing

Apidog is currently offered as a free solution with no limit to team size, and you can experience all the features of the professional version for free.

Top 2 Postman

Postman is a popular tool that serves as a viable alternative to Swagger for API development, testing, and documentation. While Swagger focuses primarily on API documentation, Postman offers a broader range of features that encompass the entire API lifecycle. Here are some key features of Postman:

The key features of Postman:

• Automated testing: Postman allows you to create, run, and automate tests for your APIs, making it much faster and more efficient to detect and solve issues.
• Collaboration: Postman offers team collaboration features, allowing you to share collections, tests, and environments with your team members, making it easier to work together on API development.
• Integration: Postman integrates with various CI/CD tools, making it easier to integrate API testing into your development workflow.
• Mock servers: Postman provides a mock server feature, allowing you to simulate endpoints for testing purposes.
• Documentation: Postman provides documentation features, allowing you to easily generate and publish API documentation.

Postman Pricing

Postman offers both free and paid plans. The free plan includes most of the basic features. The basic plan increased to $14 per user per month.

Top 3 Apigee

Apigee is another popular alternative to Swagger. Apigee is a full-featured API platform that allows you to design, secure, analyze, and scale your APIs.

The key features of Apigee

Here are some of the features that Apigee offers:

• API design and modeling tools: Apigee offers a visual interface for designing APIs using OpenAPI specifications.
• API documentation: Apigee provides tools for generating rich API documentation, making it easier for developers to understand how to use your APIs.
• API security: Apigee offers a range of security features, including OAuth2 authentication, threat protection, and role-based access control.
• API analytics: Apigee provides detailed analytics and performance metrics for your APIs, allowing you to monitor usage patterns, identify errors, and optimize performance.
• Developer portal: Apigee offers a customizable developer portal that allows developers to discover and test your APIs.

Pricing

Apigee offers a range of plans to suit different needs, including a free trial plan, a standard plan with basic features, and an enterprise plan with advanced features and support.

Top 4 Stoplight

Stoplight is a notable alternative to Swagger. It is a comprehensive API design, documentation, and governance platform.

The Features of Stoplight:

Stoplight offers a range of features that make it a strong contender:

• API Design: Stoplight provides an intuitive interface for designing APIs, allowing you to create and manage API specifications using the OpenAPI Specification (OAS) or RAML.
• Documentation Generation: With Stoplight, you can automatically generate interactive and visually appealing API documentation from your API specifications. This helps developers and users easily understand and explore your API.
• Code Generation: Stoplight offers code generation capabilities, generating client SDKs and server stubs in various programming languages based on your API specifications.
• Governance and Security: Stoplight includes features for API governance, such as access control, usage policies, and API analytics. This helps enforce best practices and maintain security standards.

Pricing

Stoplight offers an open-source version called Stoplight Studio, allowing you to utilize many of its features while hosting and managing your API documentation internally.

Top 5 Cyclr

Cyclr is a robust integration platform that provides an alternative to Swagger for API integration and automation. While Cyclr doesn't directly focus on API documentation as Swagger does, it offers a comprehensive set of features for building, managing, and automating API integrations and workflows, making it a viable alternative.

The Main Features of Cyclr

• Visual Workflow Builder: Cyclr provides a user-friendly visual interface for designing and building workflows, allowing you to connect APIs and applications through a drag-and-drop interface.
• Pre-built Connectors: Cyclr offers a library of pre-built connectors for popular services, enabling you to easily integrate with a wide range of APIs without the need for custom coding.
• Data Mapping and Transformation: Cyclr allows you to map and transform data between different APIs and applications, ensuring compatibility and seamless communication between systems.
• Error Handling and Retry Mechanisms: Cyclr includes robust error handling capabilities, allowing you to handle exceptions and failures in API requests. It also provides retry mechanisms to automatically retry failed requests.

Pricing

Cyclr offers flexible pricing plans based on your specific requirements. It is recommended to visit the Cyclr website.

Top 6 ReadMe.io

ReadMe.io is a popular platform that provides an alternative to Swagger for API documentation and developer portals. It offers a comprehensive set of features designed to help you create interactive and user-friendly API documentation.

The Main Features of ReadMe.io

Here are some key features of ReadMe.io:

• Interactive Documentation: ReadMe.io allows you to create interactive API documentation with features like code snippets, try-it-out functionality, and API explorers, making it easier for developers to understand and test your APIs.
• Markdown Support: ReadMe.io supports writing documentation in Markdown, a lightweight markup language that is easy to read and write. Markdown enables you to format and structure your documentation with headings, code blocks, tables, and more.
• API Explorer: ReadMe.io provides an API explorer that allows users to interact with your API directly from the documentation. They can make requests, view responses, and experiment with different parameters and payloads.
• Customization and Branding: ReadMe.io allows you to customize the look and feel of your API documentation to match your brand. You can add your logo, colors, and custom styling to create a cohesive developer experience.
• Analytics and Usage Metrics: ReadMe.io provides analytics and usage metrics to help you track API usage, monitor user engagement, and gain insights into how developers are interacting with your API documentation.

Pricing

ReadMe.io offers different pricing plans based on the size of your team, API usage, and additional features required. ReadMe.io offers a Startup pricing plan at $99 per project per month.

Top 7 MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is a robust alternative to Swagger that provides a comprehensive set of tools for API development, integration, and management. It offers features such as API design, documentation, testing, security, and analytics, making it a powerful choice for organizations looking for an end-to-end API solution.

The Features of the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

The most important features of the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform are:

• API Design: Anypoint Platform provides a visual API designer with a drag-and-drop interface and reusable components for designing APIs.
• API Documentation: It offers comprehensive documentation capabilities to create interactive and user-friendly API documentation.
• API Testing: Anypoint Platform enables testing of APIs at different stages, from individual endpoints to end-to-end integration tests.
• Security and Governance: It includes features for securing APIs, managing access controls, and enforcing policies for maintaining API integrity and compliance.

Pricing

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform offers different pricing options based on the specific needs and requirements of your organization.

Top 8 Workato

Workato is a powerful integration and automation platform that enables businesses to connect and automate workflows between various applications and systems. It offers a wide range of features designed to streamline processes and increase productivity.

The Main Features of Workato

Here are some key features of Workato:

• Workflow Automation: Workato allows you to automate complex workflows by seamlessly integrating different applications, databases, and systems. It offers a visual interface to design and deploy automated workflows without the need for extensive coding.
• Data Mapping and Transformation: With Workato, you can easily map and transform data between different systems, ensuring data consistency and accuracy across your entire ecosystem.
• Intelligent Bots: Workato enables the creation of intelligent bots that can perform tasks such as data entry, notifications, and data validation. These bots help automate repetitive and mundane tasks, freeing up time for more strategic work.

Conclusion

Here are the top 8 Swagger alternative tools in 2023, each offering different key features. For example, Postman is well-suited for API testing. Among them, Apidog stands out as the best all-around Swagger alternative tool, providing rich functionality and being completely free. It is highly recommended that you to give it a try.