What is the difference between an API and an SDK?

Before we dive into the differences between SDK and API documentation, let’s take moment to define SDK vs. API.

What is an SDK?

SDKs are software developer kits that contain libraries, resources, and pre-built functionalities, simplifying complex tasks and accelerating development. They enable developers to focus on unique features by providing solutions for common challenges.

An SDK is a “kit” because it includes a package of tools and resources developers can utilize. It typically includes:

• Libraries: Pre-built code modules that provide specific functionality and features for developers to integrate into their applications.
• Documentation: Detailed guides, reference materials, and tutorials effectively explain using the SDK and its various components.
• Sample code: Ready-made code snippets or sample applications demonstrating how to use the SDK in practice.
• Development tools: Additional software tools, such as debuggers, emulators, or code editors, assist developers during the development process.

SDKs provide a comprehensive solution with APIs, libraries, and tools. A business may use an SDK over an isolated API when integrating an entire platform or ecosystem. They simplify the integration and utilization of platform functionalities.

What is an API?

In contrast, an API (Application Programming Interface) is is a set of defined protocols and tools that allow separate software systems to communicate and interact. APIs define how various software components should interact, allowing them to exchange data and functionality seamlessly. APIs serve as bridges, facilitating interoperability and data exchange between different systems, regardless of their underlying architectures or programming languages. They offer a standardized way for developers to access specific features or data from external services, platforms, or systems.

A business may use an API instead of an SDK when extracting data from a specific service or system. By making API requests, you can retrieve and process the required data.

Also read: 6 Best API Documentation Tools for 2023

How are they different?

A critical difference between APIs and SDKs is that SDKs are programming-language-specific, whereas APIs are language-agnostic.

For example, Twilio provides server-side SDKs for numerous programming languages:

In contrast, APIs are designed to be language-agnostic, allowing different programming languages to interact with them.

By being language-specific, SDKs provide developers with tools, resources, and pre-built components tailored to a particular programming language.

How are SDKs and APIs related?

The relationship between APIs and SDKs can be understood as follows:

APIs within SDKs

Many SDKs include one or more APIs that allow developers to interact with the system or platform. These APIs define how developers can request and exchange data or services from the system. The SDK provides the tools and libraries to access these APIs seamlessly, simplifying the integration process.

For example, the Google Maps SDK provides developers the tools and resources to integrate interactive maps and geolocation services into their applications. Within the SDK, some APIs allow developers to embed maps, customize map markers, and enable location-based functionalities.

For example, the Maps API lets you create a map-based wearables app within the Maps SDK for Android.

SDKs Enhancing API Utilization

SDKs often go beyond just APIs by providing additional resources such as libraries, sample code, documentation, and tools that help developers effectively utilize the provided APIs. These resources guide developers in incorporating the APIs into their applications, enhancing the overall development experience.

For example, the Maps SDK mentioned previously provides “End-to-end tutorials and codelabs that demonstrate how to display maps with specific features”.

Streamlining Development

SDKs streamline the development process by offering a cohesive set of tools and resources that work together. Developers can leverage the APIs within the SDK to access specific functionalities while benefiting from the SDK’s overall structure, best practices, and guidance.

Platform-Specific Features

SDKs are often designed for specific platforms or frameworks, allowing developers to harness the native features and capabilities of that platform. The included APIs enable interaction with those features in a standardized manner.

In essence, APIs provide the communication layer that allows different software components to interact. SDKs bundle APIs along with tools and resources to aid developers in effectively using those APIs to build applications. This combination accelerates development, promotes consistency, and ensures developers can make the most of the available functionalities.

What topics does SDK documentation cover?

SDK documentation is a comprehensive set of written materials accompanying an SDK. It is a detailed guide for developers on effectively utilizing the SDK’s tools, libraries, and resources to build applications.

SDK documentation is essential for developers to understand the capabilities and integration points of the SDK, enabling them to leverage its features efficiently and effectively.

SDK Documentation Example: AWS Javascript SDK

The AWS SDK for JavaScript is a comprehensive toolkit provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that empowers developers to interact with AWS services using the JavaScript programming language. This SDK enables seamless integration of AWS functionalities into web applications running in a browser environment.

The SDK docs guide developers seeking to utilize AWS services in their browser-based applications.

Developers are presented with a step-by-step tutorial on using the AWS SDK for JavaScript in a browser environment. The guide outlines the prerequisites, including setting up an AWS account, creating an Identity and Access Management (IAM) user, and configuring the AWS SDK.

It then walks developers through creating a basic web application that interacts with AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon’s cloud storage solution.

The tutorial demonstrates how to configure the AWS SDK for JavaScript, initialize the necessary AWS service objects, and perform operations like uploading and retrieving files from an S3 bucket. The guide also highlights critical concepts like IAM credentials, error handling, and handling asynchronous operations in JavaScript.

How is SDK documentation different than API documentation?

SDK documentation and API documentation serve different purposes in the software development process.

API documentation provides information about how to use an Application Programming Interface (API). It aims to provide developers with the necessary information to interact with an API directly, usually at a lower level than SDK documentation.

On the other hand, SDK documentation provides developers with a comprehensive SDK guide. It aims to simplify the integration process and accelerates development by offering developers a higher-level view of building applications using the SDK’s components.

Here’s a summary table showing the differences:

Now, let’s dive more into these differences.

Difference #1: Scope and Detail

API Documentation

API documentation clearly explains how to use the API endpoints, including details about request and response formats, authentication methods, parameters, and possible error responses. It aims to guide developers in effectively integrating and utilizing the exposed functionalities.

For instance, the Twitter API documentation outlines the steps and required parameters for posting a tweet.

SDK Documentation

SDK documentation goes beyond API documentation by encompassing the entire development environment. It includes guides on setting up the SDK, using provided libraries, understanding code samples, and utilizing additional resources like plugins or tools. SDK documentation facilitates the overall application development process.

An example is the Google Maps JavaScript SDK documentation, which explains API endpoints and provides JavaScript code samples and usage scenarios for embedding maps in web applications.

Difference #2: Use Cases and Workflows

API Documentation

API documentation often focuses on specific use cases and demonstrates how to achieve common API tasks. It may provide examples of integrating payment gateways, accessing user data, or posting content to social media platforms.

For example, the Stripe API documentation explains creating a payment charge using various programming languages.

SDK Documentation

SDK documentation covers broader use cases and workflows beyond individual API requests. It guides developers through integrating multiple functionalities provided by the SDK to achieve complex application features.

The AWS SDK for JavaScript documentation offers guides on creating a web application that utilizes various AWS services like S3 for storage, DynamoDB for database, and Lambda for serverless functions.

Difference #3: Implementation and Code

API Documentation

API documentation generally emphasizes the technical details required to make API calls, providing code snippets for making requests and handling responses. It might include curl commands or HTTP libraries in multiple programming languages.

An example is the GitHub REST API documentation, which provides sample API requests using cURL and other languages.

SDK Documentation

SDK documentation delves into integrating SDK components into the application’s codebase. It offers detailed code examples for initializing the SDK, using provided classes and methods, and handling callbacks.

For instance, the Microsoft Azure SDK documentation provides code snippets in different programming languages for interacting with Azure services using the SDK.

Difference #4: Platform-Specific Features

API Documentation

API documentation focuses on providing a uniform interface for communication across various platforms and languages. It abstracts platform-specific complexities.

SDK Documentation

SDK documentation highlights platform-specific features and optimizations. It may include guidance on using platform-specific libraries, UI components, or capabilities.

For example, the Facebook Android SDK documentation provides instructions on integrating Facebook authentication and sharing features into Android applications.

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SDK Documentation best practices

Here’s a list of SDK documentation best practices:

• Getting Started Guides: Provide clear step-by-step setup guides to help developers quickly integrate the SDK into their projects.
• Installation Instructions: Incorporate information regarding installing the SDK’s libraries and dependencies, utilizing package managers such as npm or pip.
• Sample Applications: Offer complete sample applications demonstrating the use of various SDK features in real-world scenarios.
• Code Snippets: Provide concise code snippets showcasing how to initialize the SDK, use classes, and handle callbacks.
• Tutorials and Use Cases: Create tutorials that guide developers through everyday use cases and workflows using the SDK’s functionalities.
• Usage Patterns: Describe recommended patterns and best practices for effectively structuring code and utilizing SDK features.
• Platform-Specific Guidelines: Include instructions for platform-specific optimizations, libraries, or UI components when applicable.
• Integration with External Libraries: Explain how the SDK can be integrated with third-party libraries for enhanced functionality.
• Troubleshooting and FAQs: Address common issues, error handling, and frequently asked questions to assist developers in problem-solving.
• Sample Projects: Provide sample projects that showcase more advanced implementations and integrations with other services.
• Migration Guides: If there are SDK updates, offer migration guides to help developers smoothly transition between versions.
• Community and Support: Provide links to community forums, support channels, and resources where developers can seek assistance and share knowledge.
• Debugging and Logging: Offer guidance on debugging techniques, error logs, and how to diagnose issues within the SDK.
• Use of SDK Tools: Explain any tools or utilities bundled with the SDK that assist in development, testing, or deployment.
• Real-time Examples: Include real-world examples of applications that successfully utilize the SDK to achieve specific functionalities.
• Security Best Practices: Recommend implementing security measures when using the SDK, including authentication and data protection.
• Performance Optimization: Offer tips for optimizing application performance when utilizing the SDK’s functionalities.
• Release Notes: Keep developers informed about updates, enhancements, bug fixes, and new features in each SDK release.
• Feedback and Contribution: Encourage developers to provide feedback, report issues, and contribute to improving the SDK.
• Learning Resources: Point developers to relevant documentation, tutorials, and external resources that can help them learn more about the SDK and related technologies.

Wrapping Up

Understanding the nuances between SDK and API documentation is essential for harnessing the full potential of these tools in your development journey. While both are invaluable resources, SDK documentation offers a holistic approach, guiding you through the application development process.

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APIs can be both public and private, and you need a tool that supports both. You also need integrations with other documentation tooling and often the ability to work with OpenAPI which is a standard API specification. Some tools even generate your documentation automatically for you from OpenAPI, which saves significant time and effort.

Many teams choose Stoplight, which is an API design, development, and documentation platform. Its plethora of features makes it a viable choice for those who want to develop and document their own APIs with a tool that does most of the heavy lifting, creating much better developer experiences for their users.

What is Stoplight?

Stoplight is an API documentation tool that helps you develop quality APIs with a collaborative, API-first design. This means both technical and non-technical team members can work together to create highly reusable APIs that are documented to improve the developer experience.

You can drive your API adoption using Stoplight by offering developers instant mock servers, interactive documentation, tutorials, and code samples in many popular languages. Companies and organizations are using Stoplight to scale their API programs, share APIs, track changes, and manage dependencies.

Stoplight knows that their users work with multiple Git providers, which is why they provide integrations with platforms such as GitHub and GitLab, enabling you to work comfortably with repositories fitting into existing Git workflows. Teams can use Stoplight with the tools they already know to build highly efficient workflows.

What does Stoplight offer in API documentation?

Stoplight offers several features that empower development teams to design and document the best APIs for their end users.

OpenAPI-powered interactive documentation

Stoplight uses OpenAPI to power your documentation which is also interactive for developers who want to test your API. Developers can try out API endpoints from within the documentation, and documentation is always kept in sync. Developers who can test your documentation as they learn are much more likely to adopt your API.

Code samples

Stoplight helps you provide code samples for your developers in popular languages, such as Curl, Python, Ruby, and Java, to encourage the adoption of your API with ready-made examples that enable developers to try out your API. Code samples take much of the work out of the process of developers testing out your API.

Markdown editor

With Stoplight, you can use Markdown to create quickstart guides, tutorials, and reference documentation for content that is easily updated. Stoplight offers its own version of Markdown that you can use to include JSON Schema examples. Even if developers don’t know it, Markdown is simple to learn and easy to implement.

Hosting (private and public)

You can use the same workspace to host both your private and public APIs with granular roles and permissions, so you can control who has access to your documentation. Change and update access at any time, ensuring that only the right people can view or interact with your API documentation.

Customization

Stoplight offers customization options that you can use to brand your developer hub with versatile theming options, as well as hosting it on your own domain to make it easy to find for developers. Hubs that are in keeping with your own particular brand look more professional and trustworthy.

Search

A hub-wide deep search enables your developers to find the endpoints, reference documentation, and schemas that they need to ensure the API is fully working. Developers don’t need to trawl through masses of documentation when they can simply use the search.

Limitations of Stoplight as a Documentation Tool

Although Stoplight has many great features, it does have some serious limitations as a documentation tool.

No automated versioning and change tracking

When you want to track changes and navigate between different versions of your documentation, then Stoplight is extremely limited. It’s not easy to look back at previous versions and find out who made particular changes. This poses problems for teams that need to collaborate or revert to previous versions of their documentation.

No native features for Multilingual translation

If you want to publish your API documentation in multiple languages, you will find this impossible in Stoplight. Restricting your API to one language significantly limits your potential user base.

UI can be cumbersome to use

Several users have mentioned that they find the UI cumbersome and hard to learn when compared with similar tools. Clunky UI results in emails or calls to the support team that wastes time when you could be developing your API.

Problems pushing to GitHub

Some users give up pushing their documentation to GitHub because the integration doesn’t work properly. This is a serious limitation when integrations with Git providers are one of the reasons that API teams choose Stoplight.

Pricing becomes prohibitive with the more APIs you have

When you scale into the enterprise plan, the price for adding users and projects becomes prohibitive, pricing out smaller teams who may opt to use the free version of Stoplight.

6 Best Stoplight Alternatives to consider

1. Document360

If you want a tool for API documentation then look no further than Document360. Document360 has been developed so you can import your OpenAPI specification and automatically generate your documentation. Document360 is easy to learn and use so everyone can collaborate effectively on documenting their APIs, working quickly in Markdown to produce highly polished documentation.

It’s simple to create API documentation for internal and external users, resulting in a delightful developer experience. You can fully customize your API documentation to match your branding and develop your APIs in a way that best benefits your business.

Whenever your OpenAPI specification file changes, Document360 automatically updates your documentation so you can be sure you always have the latest version. You can also add custom pages like getting started, tutorials, and authentication, and the system will preserve your manual changes.

Document360 is able to translate articles into multiple languages by connecting to tools like Crowdin, enabling you to create multilingual documentation. When you choose Document360, you are able to offer a highly professional experience to your developer audience.

Schedule a demo with one of our experts to take a deeper dive into Document360

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2. SwaggerHub (OpenAPI)

Stoplight can actually be used in conjunction with SwaggerHub to design and document your APIs. It’s a single source of truth in collaboration with OpenAPI and AsyncAPI, enabling you to follow consistent design standards, since it has been developed by the team that originally founded OpenAPI as Swagger. SwaggerHub has been designed for teams that want lots of features such as collaborative editing and private hosting, as well as forking, comparing and merging. SwaggerHub also offers integrations with your favorite tools such as GitHub and BitBucket.

Also, check out our article on SwaggerHub Alternatives

3. Postman

Although Postman is the world’s leading API platform, it offers limited options for documentation when compared with a tool like Document360. Postman has many complex features that API development teams can use to develop, design and maintain their APIs. It’s the industry standard used by more than 25 million developers, and fully supports you throughout the entire API lifecycle. Postman can store and manage API specifications, documentation, workflow recipes, test cases and results, metrics, and everything else related to APIs, making this a full-fledged solution for developing APIs.

Also, check out our article on Postman Alternatives

4. ReadMe

ReadMe is directly aimed at helping you create interactive developer documentation for your API. They call their API documentation “hubs” that improve the developer experience tailored to the individual. Through the documentation, developers can make calls with your APIs and test out what’s possible in their preferred language. Extensive analytics enable you to understand usage patterns for your API and make data-driven decisions regarding development.

5. Slate

Slate is a static site generator for API documentation. Easy and simple to use, it creates clean and simple documentation inspired by the Stripe API docs, which have become an industry standard. Slate uses Markdown to write and publish API documentation so developers can use a language they are familiar with. You can create intelligent and responsive API documentation integrated with GitHub through hosting with GitHub pages.

6. Redocly

Redocly is a simple docs-as-code tool which allows you to document your API with the same tools that developers use to write their code. You are empowered to create beautiful API reference docs with three panels, try-it console, and generated code samples. Redocly integrates with all the most popular source control platforms so you can ensure that your documentation is always up-to-date with the latest version. You can use the themes and layouts that fit your brand and host your documentation on your own custom domain.

Wrapping Up

While Stoplight is certainly a popular tool for API documentation, smart users will certainly want to consider alternatives such as Document360. With straightforward pricing and simple workflows, Document360 takes the headache out of writing and publishing API docs. With documentation automatically generated from your specification file, you can reduce the time it takes to produce fully-functioning API documentation.

No API is complete without documentation to accompany it. APIs require specific features and workflows for you to provide the best possible developer experience, and encourage API adoption among your user base. Document360 can take you from a state of sub-par API documentation to content that delights and wows your users.

An intuitive knowledge base software to easily add your content and integrate it with any application. Give Document360 a try!

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What is an API?

An API (Application Program Interface) provides a method for connecting between different systems or software programs. An API provides users with access to a resource, such as a chunk of code or a module, which other systems can connect to in order to access functionality within a program or system.

API are used in almost all contexts in our daily lives, such as when using our mobile phone apps, when paying for something over the internet, when connecting to other devices or services, and when connecting to devices that are part of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Developers create APIs when they want to make software modules or code classes available to other developers for their use in their own programs. Companies provide APIs to other companies and users, to support access to services and functionality.

There are both internal API (i.e., used within a system by different software components to communicate with each other) and external or remote API (where different systems can connect to each other to request and consume resources). An API can also be classified based on its intended use:

• Public – these APIs are available to use by anyone with the skills to connect to them. Examples include Google Maps API and the Open AI Standard.
• Partner – these API are available to partner companies who want to integrate their services with another company. The access to the API is restricted, and will have security features to prevent unauthorized access.
• Private – these are internal API, used within an organisation or within a specific system, which are not exposed to external users or other developers.

The API may also be classified based on what it does:

• Simple – provides a single action; for example, in an API for a card payment system, enables you to create a card record.
• Composite – may combine several functionalities in a single API call; for example, in an API for a card payment system, enables you to create a card record, load the card with funds and activate the card.

APIs can also be classified based on whether they are a paid for service or free to use. Open source API are free to use without payment. Other APIs require the user to pay to access the service.

The terminology around APIs may be intimidating if you are not familiar with them.

Look out for words that are italicised, which indicate terms that you will commonly hear in the context of APIs. You should understand what they mean; for details, see the Glossary section at the end.

API Technology and Terminology

The APIs most of us are familiar with work over the open internet using HTTP as the communication protocol. In addition, the API uses a separate protocol or standard to facilitate the communication and encode the message. The two main types of API are SOAP and REST.

• SOAP is a common API used in legacy systems. It provides messages in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format. These API are used in many banking and financial systems.
• REST is a set of RESTful principles designed to enable modern API provided over the internet. It typically provides messages in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. It is now the most commonly used API, used by over 75% of API.

For more comparisons of the use of SOAP vs REST, check out this article.

The API connection will typically also be a secure (HTTPS) connection, using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security).

Modern API also provide additional security features to ensure that only authorized users can access the API resource. Examples include the use of special Oauth Bearer Tokens or encrypted API keys. A valid Token or Key must be attached to the API request. This is checked by the remote system before allowing access to the resource

Also, Check out our article on Internal vs External API and API lifecycle management.

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How do APIs work?

Developers of a program or system may decide to expose some functionality to external systems or users via API. In their code they make these API public, so that the program resource can be consumed by other applications or systems.

The remote or external system sends a request to an API endpoint (this is similar to a URL in format and identifies a specific location or resource); the API endpoint is also referred to as a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator).

The API request (or API call) must be to a correct API endpoint. It must be in the correct format and contain valid fields and permitted field values in order for the remote system to be able to recognise and process the request.

Typically, when connecting to an external system offered by a third party company, some form of security and user authentication will be in place to prevent unauthorised access to the resource. A username and password, security token or bearer token (access token) may need to be included in the request in order to authenticate the user and access the resources on the remote system.

The resource will enable the requester to do something, for example: get a piece of information about an account, update information in an account, post information to create a new account or delete an account. In API terminology the verbs GET, PUT, POST, UPDATE and DELETE are called HTTP methods and are used to indicate the type of action requested from the API endpoint resource.

If the remote system has any problems processing the message (for example, the user is not authorised to access the resource, the requested URI cannot be found or the content of the message is not in a valid format), it will return an error message (or throw an error).

If the request is valid, the remote system will typically return an OK response, together with the result of the request. This response message is referred to as the API response.

The system that requested the API resource is now able to process the response.

Example

Let us take closer look at a simple example of an API used by a mobile phone app for an accommodation booking service.

1. The user enters the location and dates of travel they are interested in, and other information, such as their budget, the number of travellers and specific room requirements.
2. The mobile app prepares the message content (the payload). The payload will include the message body (all the fields containing values) and a message header (containing information about the format of the message and other metadata such as any authorisation parameters).
3. The mobile app sends the API request to the API endpoint – a URI on a remote booking management system.
4. The remote system receives the request and first checks that the requester is authorised to access the service, the resource is available and the payload format is valid.
5. It looks in its database for available rooms that meet the details provided in the request. It returns this information to the requesting mobile app.
6. The mobile app receives the response and displays the results to the user.

See Figure 1. 

Figure 1: Example of an Accommodation Booking API

Why APIs are so valuable for Business today?

APIs are essential for businesses that want to grow. Below are some of the benefits:

• Simplify and expedite their market entry tactics
• Improve client interactions
• Increase operational agility and speed
• Create and seek new income, market, and distribution channels
• Develop new revenue streams or expand existing ones
• Increase the reach of your brand
• Improve efficiency and open innovation through external development

Wrapping Up

APIs are ubiquitous in our modern, interconnected world, and almost all the systems and applications you use will be using APIs in one form or another.

So, whatever industry you are working in, it is likely that at some point in your career you will need to be able to understand the API used by your organisation.

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An enterprise API strategy provides guidelines, policies, and best practices that govern API design, development, testing, and deployment internally and publicly. It covers several aspects of API management, including API design, API lifecycle management, security, versioning, governance, documentation, and the alignment of APIs with an organization’s overarching business goals.

What are the components of API Strategy?

Critical components of an enterprise API strategy may include the following.

Business Alignment

API initiatives need to be aligned with an organization’s overall business objectives. For example, businesses can use APIs to take advantage of new revenue streams, create an ecosystem for their products, and make internal processes more efficient.

API Design and Standards

Consistent API design protocols, patterns, and standards can ensure interoperability and simplicity across APIs within the organization.

Developer Engagement

APIs need a developer portal, clear documentation, sandbox environments, code samples, and other learning resources to promote developer adoption and retain customers.

Security

To maintain an API’s integrity, it must have robust security, including authentication, authorization, and encryption.

Analytics and Performance Optimization

API monitoring and analytics tools reveal insights into API usage, user behavior, and performance. You can use these insights to cater to user needs, anticipate and resolve bottlenecks, and improve scalability.

Why Do You Need an Enterprise API Strategy?

An enterprise API strategy is essential for the following reasons.

Enable Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is how data and analytics can improve your products and services. APIs are essential to digital transformation initiatives because they allow organizations to expose data through standard interfaces that facilitate third-party integration. An enterprise API strategy aligns APIs to a business’s digital transformation objectives.

Here’s how an API strategy supports digital transformation:

Systems Integration

Digital transformation requires integrating separate systems, data sources, and applications. The standardization brought by an enterprise API strategy ensures the seamless integration of services across an organization’s infrastructure. In addition, this provides that information exchange is happening across multiple business applications to achieve strategic objectives and tactical efficiencies.

Data-Driven Decision Making

APIs provide an opportunity to collect data on API usage, user behavior, and performance. An effective enterprise API strategy requires monitoring and analyzing data. Analytics reveals insights that can help organizations cater to customer preferences, act on market trends, and improve operational efficiency. In addition, based on API usage behavior, an organization can explore backward or forward business integration strategies for business growth.

Unlock Revenue Streams

APIs present an opportunity to take advantage of new revenue streams that expand a business’s existing product line.

An enterprise API strategy can include monetization models like API marketplaces, pricing based on usage, or payment plans.

Improve Efficiency and Agility

APIs increase operational efficiency because they allow for components developed by separate internal teams to communicate using a standard interface. Therefore, an enterprise API strategy can explore how APIs make internal processes more efficient.

Scalability and Flexibility

APIs make systems flexible and scalable to adapt to changing business requirements. In addition, APIs are modular, so you can change functionalities without disrupting an entire platform. Scalability and flexibility work hand and hand to make businesses more agile and efficient.

Enhanced Developer Productivity

If an API is well-defined and has clear documentation, onboarding developers and increasing their productivity is easier. Therefore, an enterprise API strategy focuses heavily on API design that ensures APIs are developer-friendly and provides clear documentation, language-specific SDKs, and testing sandboxes.

Customer-Centric Applications

Insights gained from customer data can let businesses create personalized customer experiences tailored for each user.

An effective enterprise API strategy is centered on exposing data that third parties can use to create customer-centric experiences and giving customers a platform to share their insights.

Expanded Service Offerings

In addition to traditional software products, APIs can expand a business’s reach by appealing to a broader range of customer needs.

Ready to take your API documentation to the next level? Book a demo with Document360 today!

Drive Collaboration and Integration

APIs should facilitate the integration of disparate systems and nurture collaboration with external users.

Internal and third-party developers should be able to easily integrate their applications if an organization’s APIs are interoperable, consumable, and documented well.

Here’s how an enterprise API strategy promotes collaboration and integration:

Seamless Data Exchange

APIs are standard interfaces that allow separate applications and server components to communicate with one another. APIs should be designed to simplify the exchange of data and facilitate the flow of data between systems.

Partner Integrations

Businesses can expand their businesses through partnerships with API users. To facilitate partner integrations, APIs should provide a secure way to interact with the API and clear documentation streamlining the process.

Ecosystem Development

An API strategy involves the creation of an ecosystem built around a business’s APIs. An ecosystem offers internal and third-party stakeholders the tools to develop applications and services. In addition, ecosystems are places of collaboration and knowledge sharing where developers and other stakeholders can interact and improve the API.

Agile Development and Iteration

The ‘separation of concerns’ of APIs allows them to fulfill a specific function that can be decoupled from the overall system.

By their nature, APIs are modular and can facilitate rapid development and iteration when coupled with an Agile workflow.

Integration of Legacy Systems

It’s possible to leverage the functionalities of legacy systems by exposing their data internally or to the public. Externally, they can benefit from public feedback and create new revenue streams. You can adapt legacy systems to integrate with modern ones. Modern systems can leverage their functionality in new ways.

Data Protection and Privacy

An enterprise API strategy should address and prioritize the protection of data transmission and privacy through encryption, data masking, and the use of tokens. In addition, API strategy must follow privacy regulations and guidelines and be monitored to ensure compliance.

API Gateway and Firewall

API gateways are the intermediaries between client applications and API servers that let businesses implement security policies, manage access control, and monitor API traffic. Firewalls provide an additional layer of security and protect against security breaches, malicious attacks, and vulnerabilities.

Rate Limiting and Throttling

Rate limiting and throttling prevent abuse, ensure fair use and protect against malicious attacks. Rate limiting ‘limits’ the number of API requests a client can send within a specified period to prevent excessive usage. Throttling controls the rate of API requests to prevent the system from overloading and ensures the API maintains the expected performance.

Developer and Partner Onboarding

API users should know proper security standards and best practices while using the API as early as the onboarding. Therefore, an enterprise API strategy includes a well-defined onboarding process.

Compliance and Governance

An enterprise API strategy ensures APIs comply with industry standards, policies, and regulations. It includes enforcing data governance, data exchange agreements, and compliance with regulations such as CCPA or GDPR. An API strategy should address intellectual property rights, the terms of use, licensing, and contractual and legal obligations.

Vulnerability Management

APIs must be tested for vulnerabilities, including regular security checks, code reviews, and penetration tests. Vulernatibility testing is essential to enterprise API strategy because it must be identified and addressed immediately. In addition, a proactive approach to security is required to keep up-to-date with changing security threats.

Optimize Performance and Monitoring

An enterprise API strategy should monitor API traffic and track API usage with analytics. Monitoring helps you identify bottlenecks and performance. Analytics allows you to make data-driven decisions based on insights gained from API usage.

Here’s how an API strategy optimizes API performance and monitoring:

Efficient API Design

When properly implemented, an enterprise API strategy focuses on designing APIs that perform up to agreed-upon standards. To do this, APIs must be lightweight, efficiently exchange data, and expose specific functionality through dedicated endpoints. In addition, efficient API design can reduce latency and improve response times, improving overall performance.

Also, check out our article on api design best practices

Caching and Response Optimization

Caching is essential so repetitive and resource-intensive operations are reduced. Therefore, part of the enterprise API strategy should allow clients to cache responses to decrease stress on the backend. In addition, compression and minification can minimize payload size and shorten response times.

Scalability and Load Balancing

Load balancing helps APIs scale as demand grows by distributing incoming requests over multiple servers. Load balancing ensures resource usage is optimized and prevents bottlenecks. Scalable architectures allow organizations to perform consistently, even during heavy traffic.

Performance Testing and Tuning

Performance testing is essential to enterprise API strategy to optimize and maintain performance as your API grows and stress increases due to higher usage. Performance testing includes load testing, stress testing, and benchmarking that can highlight bottlenecks and reveal ways to optimize API performance.

SLAs and Service Level Monitoring

Service level agreements help set commitment and performance expectations. Service level monitoring ensures the expectations set out by SLAs are fulfilled. Businesses can use metrics that measure if performance meets SLA requirements and identify improvement areas as part of their API strategy.

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How do you implement an API strategy?

While not comprehensive, here’s a high-level overview of implementing an API strategy.

Define Business Objectives

Write down your business objectives and the outcomes you want to achieve. Example goals include:

• • Improving operational efficiency
  • Fostering an innovation ecosystem
  • Enhancing customer experiences
  • Expanding your product offering

Your enterprise API strategy should align with your business objectives in your corporate strategy / IT strategy / Data Strategy.

Identify API Use Cases

Ask yourself, how can APIs add value to your business? APIs can make third-party integration more seamless, facilitate internal and external data exchange, and expose legacy functionality to the public. Determine the impact of each of these use cases and prioritize them accordingly.

Develop an API Governance Framework

An API governance framework can ensure your APIs are consistent, have adequate security, and comply with security policies.

An API governance framework defines the standards, policies, and processes that govern the entire API lifecycle and includes guidelines for authentication, API documentation, security, and rate limiting, to name a few.

Design and Develop APIs

Use best practices and industry standards to build APIs. APIs should be intuitive and target user needs. Determine an API style that fits your API’s use cases and provides the best developer experience. Examples include REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and SOAP. Experienced API developers should be involved before development in the design phase.

Implement an API Management Platform

An API management platform provides the tools needed to manage your API ecosystem. Standard features of the top platforms include an API gateway, lifecycle management, developer portal, analytics, security, and monetization management. It is crucial to test offerings from many vendors and choose the one that satisfies your needs.

Developer Engagement and Support

Developer portals provide developers with resources to consume your APIs. Essential aspects of a developer portal include documentation, SDKs, code samples, sandbox environments, and support channels. An engaging developer portal is an ecosystem for growth and facilitates innovation.

API Lifecycle Management

An API has a lifecycle in the same way as traditional software, starting with design and to sunsetting. Versioning APIs includes support for backward compatibility, API performance monitoring, and iterating on API design-based insights gained through analytics. You should establish a straightforward process for managing API updates and retirement and communicate with API consumers when things change.

Security and Compliance

Part of an enterprise API strategy is to implement to protect your APIs and the data they expose. Measures include authentication, authorization schemes, encryption, and alignment with data protection regulations. In addition, you should assess security vulnerabilities regularly and observe the latest security best practices.

Monitor, Analyze, and Iterate

Analyzing and monitoring API usage is integral to gaining insights that let you improve API performance, locate improvement areas, and use data insights to make informed business decisions. Your enterprise API strategy can adjust based on these insights over time. This iterative process increases your API’s value and effectiveness.

Foster Collaboration and Partnerships

In many ways, your API’s success relies on customers showcasing how they used your API to achieve a specific outcome. Through partnerships and collaborations, your customers can build applications that showcase the benefits of your APIs and how easy it is to use.

Wrapping Up

An enterprise API strategy allows organizations to promote internal and public collaboration, increase operational efficiency, and pursue additional revenue streams. In addition, it facilitates the creation of scalable systems and decreases the time to market for new services and products.

An enterprise API strategy is an approach to managing APIs throughout their entire lifecycle. It aligns with digital transformation, fosters innovation, increases operational efficiency, provides customized experiences, facilitates collaboration, protects data exchange, and ensures APIs meet agreed-upon standards. An enterprise API strategy aligns API initiatives with a business’s overall goals and creates an API ecosystem that fosters innovation and collaboration.

Remember, you must treat your enterprise API strategy as an ongoing initiative that changes based on analytics and user insights. Therefore, you must continually evaluate and adapt your strategy to ensure it stays aligned with your business needs and industry trends as they evolve.

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And in order to make your API accessible you need to document it with the appropriate tool. One such tool is Postman which has become a popular choice for API documentation, used by thousands of companies and millions of developers, but it is by no means the only solution out there. 

Not only do you need to make your documentation available to users, but it also needs to be machine-readable for applications that are using your API. It’s also desirable if your documentation can be generated automatically during the development of your API. 

What is Postman?

Postman is a tool for not only developing and testing APIs but also documenting them. It allows you to design and create your API throughout the lifecycle, giving developers the platform they need to collaborate with a team to develop an API. 

There is a free version of Postman available and you can access it either through the web or download the desktop app. The paid plans give your team more advanced options and flexibility in how they work. Postman also offers a public API hub where you can publish your API and also discover new APIs by other organizations and developers. 

What does Postman offer?

Store and manage API specifications

With Postman, you can store and manage API specifications all in one place in a centralized system. At a glance, you can view and update your API specifications and ensure they are accurate for your users. 

Documentation

We are primarily interested in Postman for the purpose of API documentation. Postman offers the capabilities to document your API with machine-readable documentation that is automatically kept up-to-date. Postman pulls your sample requests, headers, code snippets, and more to fill your documentation with dynamic examples and instructions. 

Workflow

Postman manages your workflows throughout your team or organization. For example, if working within a team you can maintain access control by assigning roles to workspace members. Version history stores all versions of your API so you can collaborate effectively and changes are never permanent. 

Test cases and results

You can store and manage your test cases and results so you can easily understand how your API is performing and see where you need to make changes. The Test Results tab allows you to view the results of your tests and you can look back on them at any time. You’ll want to run tests regularly to check your API is working as expected, any integrations are functioning reliably, and to confirm that recent updates haven’t broken any existing functionality. 

Metrics

In the Postman Enterprise plan, you can generate reports that tell you how your team uses Postman, which gives you insight into the state of your APIs. This includes tests, documentation and monitoring coverage. Your Reports dashboard allows you to search for an API by name and reports are generated periodically. 

Benefits of Postman in API Documentation

Using Postman offers several benefits for you and your team. 

Create API documentation automatically

Firstly, when building an API, Postman automatically generates API docs for any OpenAPI 2.0 or 3.0 definition with the ability to add even more detailed documentation. The API documentation includes complete API, path, and operation information, such as authentication methods, parameters, request bodies, response bodies and headers, and examples. This saves you time from having to add this information manually to your API documentation. 

Documentation is automatically updated

When you make changes to your API, the documentation is automatically updated by Postman. When you want to update your Schema documentation, you can edit the definition, save, and the docs are automatically updated. 

More information is added to the collection documentation

Collections in Postman are a group of saved requests that you might want to reuse, which save you time in searching for individual requests in your history. You can add more information to the collection documentation such as including comments to provide more context. 

Variable values for specific environments can be created and saved

When you use a set of related variables in an environment, you can refer to them in your descriptions and the initial value of the variable is automatically populated in the documentation. You can use these environments across different APIs which will be available to anyone who has access to the documentation. 

Documentation is published with other public API artifacts

When you use Postman, your API is hosted on a cloud-based, version-controlled, centralized repository containing all API artifacts throughout the entire API lifecycle. As a result, there is a single source of truth for your API controlled through workspaces which provide access to Postman’s tools. 

Limitations of Postman in API Documentation

Struggles with a large number of APIs

When you start to add a large number of APIs, Postman struggles to function at this capacity. 

Cannot process more than 1,000 API requests

Since Postman is limited in the number of API requests it can handle which is capped at 1,000, Postman is not suitable for users who are expecting a high volume of requests. 

Limited testing area for APIs

While Postman has been well-designed for testing RESTful APIs, it is not suitable for other APIs such as SOAPs. This means that Postman is not a truly comprehensive tool for API development. 

Contains some bugs in the application

Developers report multiple bugs within Postman that have never been addressed, such as disallowing you to edit URLs or ignoring your host file. 

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8 Best Postman Alternatives in 2023

1. Document360

Document360 is our solution for API documentation, and as a dedicated tool it offers numerous benefits for those who are looking to document their APIs for internal and external users. Document360 automatically generates documentation from your API definition files, presenting it beautifully in an interactive user interface. Simply upload or link to your OpenAPI file and automatically create comprehensive documentation. Whenever the OpenAPI specification file changes, Document360 instantly updates the documentation so your docs are never out of date. 

Pros

• Smart sync preserves manual edits to the API documentation, allowing you to create custom pages
• Automatically generates code samples for API endpoints in five different languages
• Manage multiple API definitions and versions from a single place

2. SwaggerHub

SwaggerHub is another Postman alternative which is a tool that allows you to design and document RESTful APIs using the OpenAPI specification. Interactive documentation is generated automatically during design so you can develop APIs at speed for your users. You can manage access to API documentation using built-in permissions and user roles, as well as using versioning to update and maintain multiple versions of the API docs. As an API documentation platform, SwaggerHub is a viable alternative to Postman. 

Pros

• Syntax auto-completion to speed up writing code
• Collaborate on APIs using Team Management

Cons

• Customer support can be limited at times
• Limited integrations when compared to equivalent tools

3. MuleSoft Anypoint platform

MuleSoft Anypoint is a product by Salesforce that offers many different features, including API management. MuleSoft allows you to group your APIs together in the platform and gain valuable insights into your API’s reliability, performance, and compliance. API analytics share key metrics that show you the performance of your API over time. When you adopt MuleSoft for API management, you can use its tools for Flex Gateway, governance and monitoring. 

Pros

• Integrated platform that offers lots of functionality relating to APIs
• Manage and secure any API, built and deployed anywhere

Cons

• Limited capabilities when it comes to actually documenting APIs, requiring the integration of a third-party tool
• More costly than other solutions with no ability to consume on a pay-as-you-go basis

4. Stoplight

Stoplight is a great little tool that has been developed specifically for API documentation that helps you design and build your APIs much faster. Stoplight uses modern API workflows and an intuitive UI to enable development teams to complete their entire API design lifecycle. Documentation is interactive with tutorials and code samples, providing a highly desirable developer experience. 

Pros

• Design your API in OpenAPI or JSON Schema
• Instant mock servers allow you to test out designs and gather early feedback

Cons

• Some of the features can be confusing, such as the Proposal feature or switching between code and text view
• Does not support some methods such as the HTTP QUERY method

5. Boomi

Boomi is another platform much like MuleSoft which allows you to manage and deploy APIs with intelligent integration and automation. It supports the full lifecycle of APIs in any environment and you can configure your APIs with real-time integrations. Boomi allows you to use APIs to make the most of your business’s data and create better experiences for your customers. 

Pros

• Readily connects to most platforms and offers custom integrations
• It’s easy to perform bulk operations in Boomi

Cons

• Like MuleSoft, lacks specific documenting capabilities and focuses more on API management
• The breadth and scale of Boomi gives it a steep learning curve for some users

6. Azure API Management

Azure API Management is Microsoft’s answer to Postman. As a result, this is a product that is a hybrid, multicloud management platform for APIs across all environments. In fact, Microsoft and Postman have even partnered on API management to offer a more comprehensive solution for developers. Azure allows you to authenticate access, authorize users, and set usage limits. Azure also offers automated API documentation alongside capabilities for API mocking, API revisions and versioning. 

Pros

• Meets high security and compliance requirements
• Ability to view all your internal and external APIs all in one place

Cons

• Costs quickly begin to spiral for larger organizations
• Creating a new API in Azure can be time-consuming

7. Kong API Gateway

Kong API Platform is an API management tool that helps you build applications at speed. Kong has built-in security, governance, and compliance, so you can rest assured that your APIs are up to standard. Collaborative workflows allow you to design and debug APIs with automations. Provide better experiences for your customers with Kong’s cloud-native platform and integrations with a range of technologies, including open source. 

Pros

• Connect services across any cloud, any platform, and any modern protocol, such as REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and Kafka
• Scale effortlessly with the ability to handle large amounts of traffic and high number of connections

Cons

• Limited documentation, support and community available
• Can be complicated to set up and configure if you lack experience with Kong

8. ReadyAPI

ReadyAPI by SmartBear is an API testing platform for developers who want to create, manage, and execute automated functional, security, and performance tests. You have the choice of whether or not to use scripts to create your tests which you can also automate. ReadyAPI was developed specifically for testing REST, GraphQL, SOAP, JMS, and JDBC services, giving you a wide range of potential use cases.

Pros

• Powerful reporting dashboard for viewing the results of your tests
• Easy to add APIs and update them in ReadyAPI

Cons

• UI can be considered unintuitive and hard to use
• Takes up a lot of memory and can become slow when handling large projects

Wrapping Up

As you will have now learned, there are many alternatives to Postman when it comes to building, testing and documenting your APIs. We can recommend our own Document360 as a solution for documenting your APIs with many time-saving features such as automatically generating docs and setting up workflows. 

With Document360, you are not limited to documenting one API but you can create multiple knowledge bases for each API you are responsible for. Your documentation is fully customizable and can be adjusted to suit your brand. Ensure you offer a great developer experience by choosing Document360 for your API documentation. 

Take your time when considering Postman as an API documenting tool, and remember there are dedicated solutions out there such as Document360.

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The post Top 8 Postman Alternatives to Consider for API Docs appeared first on Document360.

It’s not enough to use a generic tool such as Google Docs and hope to generate high-quality documentation that is fit for purpose. You need specialist tools called knowledge base software that provide you with all the functionality you need to create technical documentation at speed.

There are many tools out there that help you with publishing your documentation, which includes GitBook. While GitBook is an excellent option in some cases, you’ll also want to consider alternative tools like Document360 or Confluence. We hope this post will make your search for the right documentation tool just a little bit easier.

What is GitBook?

GitBook is documentation software for technical teams, particularly for technical writers and software developers. GitBook provides a powerful way to author, organize and sync your technical content for internal or external users of your product or even create documentation for your teams working on technical projects. GitBook is especially suitable for technical teams that want to integrate with GitHub, with the ability to sync your documentation and preserve prior versions. GitBook mimics the workflows of Git, such as using commits to make edits and keeping your docs in sync with your codebase – without the complexity.

GitBook is suitable for anything from internal knowledge bases to documenting APIs Note that GitBook is free for open-source projects, non-profit organizations and students.

What does GitBook Offer?

Editor

Users of GitBook enjoy using its editor, which you can use to author, make changes, and publish your documentation. You can format your text using rich text, allowing you to use the inline palette to make changes such as adding links, email addresses, bold, italics, etc. GitBook supports Markdown, which enables you to format your content in a keyboard-friendly way, simplifying the rendering of your text. Formatting your content in blocks allows you to organize content in different ways, including lists, paragraphs, task lists, hints and, quotes.

Version control

Document creation is a collaborative process, and GitBook supports version control to help you manage your content. GitBook’s History tab allows you to monitor changes, keeping track of the feed, which shows day-to-day changes that have taken place, and change history which tracks changes to your content. You can view historical versions of content by displaying how your content looked at a particular point in time, and revert back to previous versions by clicking the rollback button.

Collaboration

GitBook supports collaboration on your documentation by making it easy to add team members to your spaces either through their email addresses or an invite link. You can control access permissions and revoke access at any time. Members collaborate asynchronously by using either live edits or change requests and review content using comments and discussions.

Visitor authentication

Share content securely with your users using visitor authentication as long as you are on the Pro or Enterprise plan. Visitor authentication controls how users access private documentation, such as hiding it behind a login or sharing your content publicly with a large number of users via a token.

SEO

SEO-optimized content lets you share documentation publicly that can be found by anyone searching for it. Although it’s impossible to demand that search engines index your site, GitBook’s configurations make it more likely that your documentation will show up in search results.

Customization

GitBook spaces can be customized to match the look and feel of your own brand. You save time when you customize your documentation at a collection level, which means that all the spaces within your collections will inherit those customizations and settings. GitBook offers numerous page layouts which can be used to customize your content, such as docs page, editorial post, and landing page.

Analytics

GitBook offers some native analytics for your documentation content which you can use to gain insight into how your pages are performing. GitBook tells you what keywords are being used to search your documentation, a summary of traffic to your pages, and a total number of views over a period of all time since the page was published.

Notifications

You can stay ahead of changes made to your GitBook documentation using notifications that are sent to you whenever someone creates new content, updates the documentation, or changes the visibility. You can receive notifications from either a space you own or an organization you are part of, in several ways, including in-app notifications or email.

Limitations of GitBook

Lack of advanced styling options

Unfortunately, creating documentation with GitBook can look overly simple with the lack of advanced styling options. Many companies wish to make their content look more “on brand”, but in GitBook this is not possible. Documentation created in GitBook suffers from looking a bit generic, with a fairly consistent “look”. It does not support custom CSS and custom JavaScript, which reflects poorly when compared against similar tools.

Limited content organization

With GitBook, you are fairly limited in how you organize your content and some users find the system restrictive. GitBook only works well with nesting your content up to three levels deep.

Limited Integration options

GitBook doesn’t integrate with many third-party tools when compared to other solutions, with your options limited to Slack, GitHub, and Trello and no support for MS Teams, Salesforce and Freshchat and so on.

Content export and import options are limited

GitBook doesn’t make it easy to transfer your documentation between different platforms, whether that’s importing or exporting your content, so you’ll struggle when you want to migrate to or from different tools.

Lack of advanced analytics

The analytics offered by GitBook is relatively basic, which makes it hard to understand how your content is performing or what changes need to be made. Documentation can only be improved if you become aware of how users are engaging with it.

No private hosting

With GitBook, there is no option to privately host your documentation which is a barrier for companies with security concerns.

Limited API documentation

GitBook is not particularly suitable for API documentation, and there are other tools out there that offer more functionality for this purpose.

Advanced security

GitBook lacks advanced security features, which will be a problem for enterprise customers in particular.

8 GitBook Alternatives with Reviews

1. Document360

Document360 is a top consideration as an alternative for GitBook. For everything you want to achieve with GitBook, Document360 also provides a solution. It has been developed especially with technical teams in mind who want the power of developer workflows combined with the ease of use of intuitive user interfaces.

Users of Document360 love the powerful analytics that come in-built with the platform, as well as the ability to integrate with Google Analytics for even deeper insights. Document360 is especially suited for API documentation with the ability to automatically generate your docs from your API definition files, and support for interactive code samples. Document360 is easy to use by both technical and non-technical team members alike.

Pros

• Highly intuitive user interface that is easy for any user to learn
• Support for Markdown in creating your technical documentation
• Contextual help assistant to serve knowledge base articles

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2. Confluence

Confluence is a well-known knowledge management product that offers lots of capabilities for collaborating on documentation. It’s a mixture between documentation tool and collaboration platform that lets you organize your content into spaces and pages. Information is centralized to help all team members work from the same page.

Pros

• Extensive collaboration features such as tagging, commenting and access controls
• Integrates well with other Atlassian products like Jira.

Cons

• Difficult to export documents as a PDF
• Searching for documents doesn’t have the best experience

3. Docusaurus

Docusaurus is a static-site generator powered by React. Technical teams use Docusaurus to build optimized websites for either documentation or blog posts, and search runs on Algolia to help users find resources they need. Documentation is written in Markdown and Docusaurus is simple to set up. The software is free and open source.

Pros

• Offers extensive customization options if you have the development resources
• Designed for localization using tools such as Git to translate your docs

Cons

• Requires technical resources to set up and run
• Lacks advanced features for users who want to collaborate on documentation

4. Archbee

Archbee is a documentation tool that helps you centralize information for any team in your company. You can either use Archbee to host your own documentation or publish to your own domain, and status updates tell you when content is becoming out-of-date. Archbee supports API docs as well as product documentation and structures content as blocks.

Pros

• Supports many programming languages including Python and JavaScript
• Ability to embed any type of media into your documentation

Cons

• Some users report multiple bugs with the editor
• Disappointing integration with GitHub

5. Notion

Notion is wiki software that offers a highly intuitive editing experience. Notion supports many styling options for your documentation and the ability to collaboratively work on docs together. You can break documents down into tasks or open a calendar view to gain oversight into priorities and due dates.

Pros

• Combines the functionality of many types of productivity tools into one platform
• Highly flexible for individual workflows

Cons

• Notifications and recurring reminders can be challenging
• Not a particularly sophisticated mobile experience

6. Slite

Slite is an internal knowledge base platform including onboarding guides, projects and notes. Slite comes with all sorts of templates to help you organize your knowledge with the ability to tag team members and add tasks. You can easily track the status of your documentation and access key performance metrics.

Pros

• Slite uses AI to give the user the ability to ask the workspace questions
• Handy automation to streamline your workflows

Cons

• Limited integrations and lack of open API
• The Search functionality needs to work according to the users

7. Tettra

Tettra is an AI-powered knowledge management system aimed at curating internal company information. It’s also possible to use Tettra for external product documentation and import your files directly into Tettra to avoid having to start from scratch. Integration with Slack allows you to quickly serve existing knowledge from Tettra to avoid having to repeat the same answers.

Pros

• Easy to create new articles in Tettra
• Offers Markdown as well as a WYSIWYG editor

Cons

• Lacks collaborative real-time editing
• It can be hard to sort through articles when you reach a lot of content

8. KnowledgeOwl

KnowledgeOwl is a simple knowledge base software that allows you to write, edit and publish documentation for internal or external users. On every KnowledgeOwl plan, there is no limit to the number of articles, files, or categories that you can add to your knowledge base. KnowledgeOwl is flexible and you can customize workflows for article creation and change access permissions.

Pros

• The ability to create customized templates that makes publishing new content quicker
• Can make your knowledge base public or private depending on the user base

Cons

• There is no way to organize the files you have uploaded, which gets messy
• Only limited reporting in the back-end

Wrapping Up

Overall, GitBook is a useful tool for documentation, but there are also some great alternatives out there. For example, our own Document360 is well-suited for technical teams documenting software or hardware products or APIs. The platform is flexible enough to accommodate different workflows and operates reliably for all your documentation needs.

Users of GitBook may be interested in seeking other options, such as Document360, which offers you everything you need for great documentation whilst keeping things simple. There’s a plan to suit every user and you’ll uncover endless useful features in Document360 that helps you manage and improve your documentation.

An intuitive knowledge base software to easily add your content and integrate it with any application. Give Document360 a try!

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The post 8 Best GitBook Alternatives For 2024 with Reviews appeared first on Document360.

An API development approach is a methodology for designing, developing, deploying, and managing an API (Application Programming Interface). It provides the framework for creating an API, including planning, documenting, implementing, testing, and maintaining. The three most commonly adopted API development approaches are:

• • Code-First
  • Design-First
  • API-First

You do not need to adopt these approaches individually. Instead, you can use variations or hybrid methods that better fit your project requirements.

In the end, you should choose the approach based on project complexity, your team dynamics, how much upfront planning is needed, requirements flexibility, and integration needs.

Deep Dive: API Development Approaches

Approach #1: Code-First

The Code-First approach to API development involves designing and implementing an API through code. The API specification comes after building the API.

Developers skip a formal design phase. Instead, they interpret basic requirements to define the API endpoints, request/response schemas, and business logic. Then, they use tools and frameworks like OpenAPI to generate an API specification, documentation, and other artifacts.

Using this approach, the ‘code’ is the single source of truth over the API specification.

Here is an overview of the Code-First approach:

Focus:

• • Design the API through coding and generate the associated artifacts later.

Benefits:

• • No Design phase to slow down development.
  • Dev Team has the freedom to implement changes as project requirements evolve.

The API specification is closely coupled with the API implementation.

Challenges:

• • Lack of clarity, effective communication, consistency, and coordination between teams.
  • Making changes during development is more costly than during the Design phase.

The following is an overview of Code-First’s key components:

Design through Code

Instead of starting with a formal API specification or design document, developers begin by writing the actual code that implements the API endpoints and the associated logic. Then, they define the API’s request/response models, authentication mechanisms, and other aspects of the code.

Frameworks and Annotations

Developers use frameworks and libraries to annotate the code with API details. These frameworks can parse the code and generate an API specification. Using the specification, they use tools like Swagger to generate API documentation, client SDKs, and artifacts. Automation helps ensure consistency and reduce manual effort in maintaining documentation.

Iterative Development

This approach is highly flexible because it allows developers to iterate on an API’s design and make changes quickly, allowing for faster development cycles.

Strong Integration with the Implementation

The tight coupling between the API code and the spec is beneficial in scenarios where the API needs to align closely with implementation requirements and underlying business logic.

Approach #2: Design-First

Design-First is a collaborative approach whereby stakeholders from all walks of the business participate in designing the API using language and tools that ‘make sense to everyone.’ Writing the specification comes before development, and there is a ‘design’ phase even before writing the specification. Stakeholders conceptually map the functions of the API by interpreting basic requirements using ‘higher level’ language.

Once requirements are precise and there is buy-in from all parties, teams can interpret the project requirements to create the API’s structure, endpoints, and data formats using graphical tools.

Note that throughout the entire process, developments and non-developers collaborate to refine the specification.

Here is an overview of the Code-first approach:

Focus:

• • Cross-functional stakeholders design and document the API spec upfront before writing code.
  • The API specification acts as a contract during development.

Benefits:

• • Clear and consistent team communication through shared understanding of the API spec.
  • Front-end and back-end teams can work in parallel.
  • Making changes during the design phase is cheaper.

Challenges:

• • The upfront design effort and team coordination are resource-intensive.
  • Delays in cross-functional communication and layers of bureaucracy can slow things down.

The following is an overview of Design-First’s key components:

Extensive Design Phase

Stakeholders, including developers, must communicate in a ‘shared language.’

Developers and non-developers collaborate using a shared set of tooling, which usually includes visual API design tools. They can then generate Open API specifications in machine-readable formats.

Specification as Contract

The API specification becomes the single source of truth for the API development process for all stakeholders involved. Therefore, changes to the API require buy-in from all stakeholders.

Documentation

The API specification acts as a design contract and document for the API. Using the Design-First approach, teams can document their APIs thoroughly in their API specifications. This effort requires collaboration to establish requirements, functionality, and expected behavior.

Validation and Mocking

Adopting a specification language allows you to use tools to validate and test the API spec against standards, best practices, and errors. Mocking tools can generate simulated responses based on the specification. Client developers can start working with a fake API, providing early feedback opportunities.

You can, of course, implement prototypes and mocking using the Code-First approach. However, Design-First only requires your specification, whereas Code-First requires API implementation code.

Approach #3: API-First

Companies may have a variety of products and services they offer. However, API-First companies view the API as the most critical product that glues together all other products. As a result, they prioritize its development first.

Here is an overview of the API-first approach:

Focus:

• • Prioritize API development over other software components
  • Create an API ecosystem in which every API plays a specific role

Benefits:

• • A consistent developer experience across APIs
  • APIs evolve independently with reduced dependencies
  • Standards define the interaction of system components

Challenges:

• • Requires advocacy to communicate why a business should prioritize APIs
  • Lack of parallel development with front-end teams

The following is an overview of API-First’s key components.

Sequence

The API is the primary interface connecting all the separate software, services, or applications you can interact and exchange data with. As such, API-first businesses build APIs before services, components, and user interfaces that rely on the API.

In contrast, Design-First and Code-First may not prioritize building the API over other components. For example, teams may wish to create the user interface while making the API.

Modularity and Reusability

With API-first, each API is considered a ‘product’ within an API ecosystem. As a result, teams can build APIs using the technology stacks they feel are best for the API. In addition, APIs can evolve and improve by remaining independent from others in the portfolio.

Interoperability

API-first emphasizes standardization, starting with developing the API specification as the interface for integrating external services, third-party platforms, or developer ecosystems.

Developer Experience (DX)

Each API fulfills a specific purpose within an organization’s overall API ecosystem. This approach contrasts the tendency to develop disparate APIs without a ‘clear vision’ of the entire offering. The result is a better developer experience as there is consistency.

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A Hybrid Approach: API-First and Design-First

Combining API-First with Design-First allows you to have the best of both worlds. You can prioritize the development of your API while also taking advantage of the collaboration using a common language and shared tooling.

This hybrid approach has several benefits contributing to its efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. The following are some key advantages.

Design Clarity and Consistency

When you prioritize the API over other software components, you can focus on designing the API so it is maximally useful. Teams can create a well-defined contract outlining the endpoints, data structures, and expected behavior. This clarity ensures consistency across different components and enables effective communication between teams.

Scalability and Agility

A well-designed API provides a scalable architecture. It allows for adding or replacing back-end services without affecting the front-end implementation. This flexibility enables agile development practices, making it easier to adapt and evolve the application over time.

Innovation and Collaboration

Client developers can create new innovative solutions that the business never originally intended. Businesses can improve the API using these new use cases. If companies foster a collaborative environment, client developers build solutions together in new and innovative ways.

Versioning and Maintenance

Separating the API specification from the API implementation makes applying version control to the API easier. Using version control, you can add new features and changes to the API while ensuring backward compatibility and reducing disruptions for existing clients.

Also, check out our blog on API Strategy

Challenges of API-First/Design-First

Using a combination of API-First and Design-First presents some challenges that teams need to consider. The most common challenges are as follows.

Upfront Design

Creating a well-defined API specification requires more upfront design work. This can be resource-intensive and requires careful planning and collaboration between teams that sometimes have different priorities.

API Changes

Changing the API as requirements evolve offers flexibility but can lead to complex and costly changes. In addition, a challenge when iterating is maintaining backward compatibility with existing clients.

Communication and Collaboration

There must be close collaboration between the cross-functional to succeed, which requires a shared understanding of the API specification.

Learning Curve

Developers must learn design principles and collaborate with non-developers to create the specification using visual API design tools instead coding.

Testing and Validation

In addition to the API code, developers must perform testing and validation against the API specification. This can be challenging and often requires specialized tools and expertise.

Governance

APIs require governance to ensure they are secure, scalable, and aligned with the business’s overall goals. Unfortunately, establishing proper governance structures is complex and resource-intensive.

Third-party Dependencies

Typically developers will not build the tools that design and maintain the API specifications. Instead, they rely on third-party services or platforms that may pose risks and complexities because they are not in-house. In addition, changes to third-party dependencies can affect the API specification and prompt the need to update the implementation code.

Also, read: What is API Developer Portal with Best Practices & Examples

How do you follow an API-First / Design-First approach?

To successfully follow this hybrid approach, you must ensure your company prioritizes APIs over other products and that teams commit to a collaborative effort to build the API.

Taking an API-First and Design-First approach to API development involves following steps and practices prioritizing the design, documentation, and iteration of the specification and implementation code in parallel.

A general guideline for adopting this hybrid approach is as follows.

Identify Requirements

Before writing the specification, ensure teams understand the requirements for the API by identifying its essential functionalities, data structures, and interactions that the API needs to support.

Define API Contract

Choose an API architecture and specification language that aligns with those requirements. Next, specify the data models, operations, and authentication mechanisms, then use the appropriate tools to create and generate an API specification like OpenAPI, RAML, or API Blueprint.

Collaborate

The API-first approach requires close collaboration between business stakeholders, developers, and other parties to maintain the API and uphold the API contract.

Validate

Validate the API specification often to ensure that it meets the needs of client applications.

Mock and Prototype

With only a specification, you can use tools to generate mock responses to simulate a ‘real’ API. Front-end developers can begin building client applications using fake server responses even before API development has finished. Prototyping presents an opportunity to capture feedback early to test the usability of the API design.

Implement

Once the specification has been validated and meets the needs of client applications, dev teams can implement API endpoints and business logic based on the API specification. In addition, frameworks and libraries allow you to generate boilerplate code from the API specification alone that you can use to implement your API.

Test

Thorough testing ensures the API implementation aligns with the API specification and functions as expected. Instead of building testing tools from the ground up, leverage well-maintained API testing frameworks and tools that validate the specification to ensure compliance.

Document and Generate SDKs

If your API aligns with a schema language like OpenAPI, you can use tools to generate documentation from your API specification. API reference documentation is essential so API users understand the resources, endpoints, request/response schemas, authentication and authorization, and any additional guidelines for developers, like getting started guides and how-to tutorials. In addition, depending on the API, you can generate client SDKs and code samples from the API specification that eases the integration of client applications.

Deploy and Version

The following are some guidelines for deploying and versioning an API:

• • First, deploy the API to the production environment where client developers can access the API.
  • Configure your gateway with the proper security mechanisms in place.
  • Ensure you implement load balancing to distribute incoming requirements so servers are not overloaded effectively.
  • Ensure versioning is activated, and you can manage backward compatibility to make changes that won’t negatively impact existing clients.

Iterate

You can refine the API design based on feedback gathered from client developers. The associated documentation should reflect changes made through automation.

Wrapping Up

Overall, API development requires careful planning, management, and coordination to overcome the challenges of keeping the spec and code in sync. In addition, proper communication, governance, and collaboration are vital to designing, testing, and aligning APIs with the organization’s business goals.

Each API development approach has its strengths and challenges. Since there is no ‘magic bullet,’ there will always be tradeoffs. It is up to teams to decide how best to implement an API based on requirements, team coordination, and development preferences.

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This article discusses the differences between internal and external APIs.

Public APIs/External APIs

Businesses use public APIs to provide a standardized and secure interface for the public to access their data to build applications. They are exposed to public stakeholders such as external developers, third-party vendors, and customers and accessed over the Internet using HTTP protocol. External APIs provide specific functionalities or services, such as accessing data or performing transactions.

Some takeaways for external APIs:

• exposed to the public
• used more than internal APIs to create user interfaces
• generate revenue or increase brand awareness
• gather usage metrics to improve the API
• manage interactions between backend components
• helps to integrate with other business applications

Internal APIs

Internal APIs increase operational efficiency. Companies use internal APIs to access sensitive internal systems and data that the company doesn’t expose to the public. Unlike public APIs, internal APIs’ functionality is highly-specific and not meant for general usage. Internal APIs are rarely used to create user interfaces.

Companies use internal APIs as an interface for components built by different organizational dev teams that work on separate components. In addition, they use internal APIs as the interface that allows communication between components. Companies also create APIs as standalone components that fulfill a specific functionality rather than only being ‘connectors.’

Some takeaways for internal APIs:

• not exposed on the Internet
• created and used inside of a company or dev team
• may provide access to sensitive data to internal stakeholders
• focuses on discreet functionality rather than ‘general usage.’
• used to connect components in microservices architectures
• deal with connecting backend services rather than creating user interfaces

Public APIs/External APIs – Pros

Revenue

Public APIs have the potential to generate revenue by exposing data to third-party app developers.

Brand Awareness

Businesses can improve their brand awareness by making their APIs public, whether the API generates revenue or not. Furthermore, since APIs are fit for a general audience, their reach can extend beyond developers to business stakeholders and citizen developers.

Community Building

Companies can foster a growing company around their public API. The community can suggest new functionality and provide a continuous feedback loop for every release.

Innovation

By exposing your data publicly, third parties can innovate in ways not initially intended by the API developers. Third-party developers can integrate your product with other business apps, thus enriching your application ecosystem.

Scalability

APIs provide a standard interface for third parties to access a company’s data. A standard interface allows companies to scale without spending significant resources to support new users. A unified interface also means that companies do not need to create custom solutions that are hard to maintain.

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Public APIs/External APIs – Cons

Security Risks

Public APIs are a security risk if they are not adequately monitored and secured. While necessary security could be in place, there is always the risk that a user can exploit vulnerabilities in APIs to gain access to data. Therefore, companies should have a transparent process for reporting security vulnerabilities and performing security screenings.

Dependence on Third Parties

The popularity of the applications built using an API determines if the API is successful. When more customers use the API, its value and adoption increase.

Increased Complexity

Internal APIs are tailored to a company’s internal needs, while public APIs must cater to a general audience and support many use cases and third-party applications.

Support and Maintenance

Public APIs require ongoing support and maintenance to ensure stability, security, and reliability.

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

They must follow legal and regulatory compliance requirements that internal APIs are not subject to. Remaining compliant adds complexity to the maintenance of API.

Internal APIs – Pros

Enhanced Security

Unlike public APIs, companies host internal APIs on an internal network behind a firewall. As a result, you can restrict access to only authorized users within the company and applications used by the company.

Better Control

Internal APIs give companies control over who has access to what functionalities and data in an organization.

Flexibility

You can focus on creating APIs that meet the company’s specific needs.

Reduced Costs

Internal teams can create APIs to solve their problem and save money by not adopting a third-party API.

Internal APIs – Cons

Limited Exposure

By not exposing APIs to the public, companies cannot take advantage of opportunities to generate revenue, increase brand awareness or gather usage metrics that feed back into improving the API.

Limited Resources

Private APIs usually need more resources to support and grow them because they do not generate revenue. A company’s profit-generating products typically take priority over them, which results in an API not being maintained and updated.

Unsupported internal APIs lose effectiveness over time as internal developers stop trusting their output and may choose a better-maintained third-party API that performs the same function. That is why internal APIs should be as simple as possible so they are easier to maintain.

Low visibility

Another factor contributing to the low resources is a need for more visibility, particularly to business stakeholders. Internal developers need to communicate the value of an internal API to business stakeholders and managers so they can provide the necessary resources to maintain it.

Limited Use Cases

They usually connect backend resources that are less valuable to non-developer stakeholders. However, with the support of business users, the internal API can evolve to support other kinds of users in the organization.

Lack of Innovation

Internal APIs not exposed to the public may never achieve their full potential by allowing third parties to use them in new and creative ways. Non-innovative internal APIs may motivate developers to adopt a comparable public API.

What is API Management?

API management is designing, publishing, monitoring, and securing application programming interfaces (APIs) that developers, customers, and other stakeholders use to access a company’s software and data.

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Why is API Management critical?

API management is essential for both internal and public APIs. However, before we show how to manage them differently, let’s review why API Management is critical.

Security

API management helps implement authentication and access controls, encrypt data, and monitor for security. These factors protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access.

Reliability

API management ensures that APIs are reliable through analytics that provide real-time data on usage patterns, user behavior, and performance metrics. As a result, companies can identify potential issues, such as performance bottlenecks and errors, and address them before they become significant problems.

Scalability

Developer tools and documentation make using the API easy for third-party developers. In addition, it’s scalable because, with proper resources in place, the API becomes self-service.

Cost savings

Providing standardized APis is cost-efficient because you do not need to maintain custom integrations for each customer.

API Management Best Practices

API management involves several key steps that can help ensure APIs’ security, reliability, and scalability. The following are some best practices for managing APIs.

Effective Design APIs

It would be best if you designed APIs that are reliable and scalable. Defining endpoints, data formats, and authentications is part of effective API design.

Document APIs

API users need resources to help them understand the API, including reference documentation, conceptual documentation, code samples, tutorials, and other development tools.

Test APIs

You must subject APIs to rigorous testing to ensure it functions as expected. Testing includes functional, performance, and acceptance testing.

Publish APIs

Publishing exposes the API to its intended users, whether internal or external. Public APIs are usually published using an API Management platform that exposes the API to customers. These platforms provide customers access to resources like documentation and developer tools to help them understand and experience the API.

Discover APIs

There is a misconception that discoverability is only essential for public APIs. However, APIs must be easily discoverable to internal and external stakeholders. Unfortunately, creating user interfaces to search and filter APIs requires resources that internal APIs usually need more. Therefore, a business should consider if an internal API has the potential to become ‘public’ in the future and, if so, invest in its discoverability appropriately.

Secure APIs

It would help to implement proper authentication and access controls for an API to be secure. For public APIs, API gateways manage API security by authenticating users, encrypting data in transit and at rest, and monitoring security threats.

Manage access

You must implement authorization policies that control who can access your API and what privileges they are assigned.

Monitor APIs

For public APIs, you can leverage an API management platform’s analytics to gather real-time usage data on how the API performs. Such platforms identify issues preemptively, such as errors, performance bottlenecks, and security threats.

Gather Analytics

You should capture and analyze data to gain insights into usage patterns, user behavior, and performance metrics. As a result, you can use these insights to optimize performance and improve the developer experience.

Update APIs

To build trust with your API users, you should update APIs regularly to signal to users that your API is well maintained and incorporates feedback.

Management Strategies: Internal vs. Public APIs/External APIs

Now that we know the basics of API Management, let’s discuss how internal APIs are managed differently from public APIs.

Authentication and Access Control

Public apps have more stringent authentication and access control. Public APIs need to integrate a service like OAuth 2.0 for authentication and, in many cases, require users to register API keys to identify their requests.

Documentation and Developer Tools

Public APIs require more resources for developers, like extensive documentation and developer tools. In addition, public APIs often need to cater to non-technical business stakeholders, whereas private APIs are usually for backend services.

Monetization

Public APIs, if used to generate revenue, need a monetization model, which requires another management layer. Usually, charging occurs based on API usage, tiered pricing plans, or taking a part of the revenue generated by third-party apps.

Performance and Scalability

Public APIs must be highly performant and scalable to handle many platform users simultaneously. Internal APIs, on the other hand, are usually limited to a small number of users compared to public APIs so that they can accommodate less stress.

Analytics and Monitoring

Gathering analytics is essential to improve a public API, but it adds another layer of complexity. Internal APIs benefit from analytics but less so. Internal APIs are more predictable and controlled.

Also, check out our article on API Strategy

Documenting Internal and Public APIs/External APIs

Writing Internal API documentation is slightly different from writing public API documentation.

Internal API documentation usually includes more detail since it is specific to the skills and knowledge of internal dev teams.

A broad audience reads external documentation. Businesses consider their users’ varying technical competencies when writing public API documentation. Topics included in public API docs (and not included in internal API docs) include authentication requirements, rate limits, data formats, and error codes.

Public API documentation provides more security considerations like user authentication and storing sensitive data. On the other hand, internal APIs are more secure and do not require an architecture for interfacing with the public. As such, the focus is more on how to use the API to connect internal system components.

Businesses publish public API documentation to a dev portal that gives online resources for understanding the API available to the public. Internal API documentation is traditionally published using a tool like Swagger and is only available on the company’s intranet.

Public and internal API documentation differ in the amount of detail they provide, the security information provided, and how the documentation is accessed.

Also, check out our article on SwaggerHub Alternatives

Wrapping Up

Whether an API is public or internal is determined by its audience and usage. Each has advantages and disadvantages that businesses must weigh when developing an API.

Public APIs have the potential to generate revenue, improve brand awareness, promote community building and innovation, and increase scalability at the expense of security, increased complexity, and ongoing support and maintenance.

Private APIs offer enhanced security, increased operational efficiency, more access control, and more flexibility at the cost of limited exposure, reduced resources, limited visibility, and less usefulness to a broader audience.

Ultimately public APIs have the advantage of a feedback loop with the general public to improve them.

Overcoming the ‘cons’ of internal APIs requires companies to prioritize the maintenance of these functionalities and how the products that generate revenue rely on them. Internal APIs need advocacy that they are worth spending resources on to get buy-in from business stakeholders and managers. Companies should consider when assigning resources whether the API has the potential to become public in the future.

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The most significant difference is how clients fetch data. For example, REST and GraphQL differ in how they expose data, how clients apply filters, and how the client receives and parses the response.

This article will discuss the differences between REST and GraphQL and their use cases.

What is REST?

REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is an architectural style that places constraints on how to build web APIs. A defining feature of REST is its use of resource URLs to expose data objects to clients. We go in-depth on REST in our other blog post, REST vs. SOAP: What is the difference?

One must mention REST to discuss web APIs. REST is the most widely adopted API architecture for web APIs and the most commonly used API type that connects components in microservice architectures. Due to its widespread adoption, REST has a richer ecosystem of tools and frameworks with built-in support for REST.

What is GraphQL?

Facebook developed GraphQL to address some of REST’s shortcomings. GraphQL’s selling point is its flexibility in how data is requested. With GraphQL, clients construct queries that filter and structure the response data.

REST, in contrast, has predefined responses that can only be minimally impacted by passing parameters in the request.

GraphQL is simpler because your app does not need to keep track of all the resource URLs for every data object it wants to retrieve or manipulate. Instead, it can use one URL to query the data it needs.

Requesting data is more efficient than REST because you can retrieve only the data you need. Conversely, REST often involves ‘over-fetching’ and ‘under-fetching.’

Since you can structure data in a query, developers can spend less time parsing the response. REST’s strict response structures require more strategy for parsing and often need to be formatted so your application can use it. GraphQL lets you structure your query’s JSON response to match your application’s expectations.

Finally, GraphQL works better than REST for complex applications.

How are they different?

The main difference between REST and GraphQL is how clients fetch data.

REST APIs expose data through resource URLs. Therefore, gathering the data may involve sending requests to separate resources. This limitation is called “under-fetching.” Under-fetching occurs when you cannot receive all the information you need.

Conversely, REST’s strict response structures can lead to “over-fetching.” Over-fetching occurs when a client gets more data than it needs in the response.

GraphQL exposes data differently. Clients send queries for data to the API’s one URL. As a result, gathering the data you need using GraphQL may require fewer requests.

Both REST and GraphQL offer ways to filter the response by passing parameters. However, GraphQL’s queries provide more flexibility. GraphQL, as a query language, allows you to filter the response to precisely the data you need. How you structure your query determines how the API structures the response. In REST, you cannot control the structure of the response. Instead, the API defines the order of JSON properties.

The downside of GraphQL is that you must be intimately aware of the GraphQL schema you use.

Request Examples: REST vs. GraphQL

We will compare REST and GraphQL requests to show how they fetch data. Two fake APIs, one for REST and one for GraphQL, will return the same data. The APIs allow you to retrieve user details by providing a userId.

REST – Fetching More Data Than Needed (Over-fetching)

Below is an example request to a fake REST API called fake_rest_api using vanilla JavaScript in a simple web app.

fetch("https://fake_rest_api.com/user/86", {
	method: "GET",
})
.then((response) => response.json())
.then((data) => {
console.log(data);
});

The request passes a resource URL in the fetch() method to a resource that returns user information based on a userId. The userId of the user you wish to retrieve data about is passed as a path parameter in the resource URL as /86. The request specifies the method, or CRUD operation, taken upon the resource. In this case, the GET method tells the API to “retrieve” data, not create, update, or delete data.

The request returns a JSON object that looks like this:

{
"id": 86,
"username": "doeUser",
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Doe",
"email": "johndoes@gmail,com",
"password": "8625",
"phone": "3348439878",
"userStatus": 0
}

As you can see, the JSON includes all for the user with userId: 86. But what if we only want to retrieve the user’s username and email? If you remember, REST APIs dictate the response. The API developers decided not to allow the client to filter only the fields needed in the user object.

As the client app, you now have more data than you need (“over-fetching”). Over-fetching can affect performance since the payload size increases. In addition, if the data object returned by the API is, extensive and frequent requests can negatively impact performance.

For this REST API, you can also not define the order of the properties in the returned JSON object. The user object follows a strict format specified by the API. Because you cannot dictate the structure of the response, your application must structure the data it receives in the response.

GraphQL: Fetching Only the Needed Data

Next, we will send a similar request to the GraphQL API, fake_graphql_api, to show GraphQL’s flexibility.

First, we will save the API uri (basically a URL) to a variable called a client that we will access later.

const client = new ApolloClient({uri: 'https://fake_graphql_api.com/',
});

Notice that we are providing the API’s base URL as the value of the uri property. There is no separate /user resource URL. With GraphQL, clients access data objects using a base URL only. How you specify which user you wish to retrieve details about is passed in the query (we will get to that in a second).

Now, let’s construct the request using vanilla JavaScript to retrieve user details.

client
  .query({
    query: gql`
      query User(id: 84) {
        username
        email
      }
    `,
  })

  .then((result) => console.log(result));

Ignore the overall structure of the request for now. The critical bit of code is the query string wrapped in the gql template literal:

query User(id: 86) {
  username
  email
}.

Like the REST API, you pass the userId to return data for that user. The equivalent GraphQL request involves ending a query (the operation type) called user (the operation name) that passes the id of 86 as an argument.

Our application only needs the username and email, not the other fields belonging to the user object. With GraphQL, requesting specific fields from the user data object is possible. If you remember, the REST API did not offer a way to filter the user data and returned ALL user details.

With GraphQL, you can filter data and define its structure in the request.

{
   "data": {
       "user": {
           "username": "doeUser,"
           "email": "johndoes@gmail,com"
       }
   }
}

If you look at the query structure and the response JSON structure above, you will see that the basic structure is the same.

With GraphQL, the response contains precisely the data you requested, no more and no less.

The order of the data you requested is maintained, with the email displaying after the username. In the REST API, the API determines the order of properties.

REST: Fetching Data from Multiple Resources (under-fetching)

Now, let’s say we are building a blog app. Each user writes blog posts. Say we want to retrieve the titles of all blog posts written by the same user.

The REST API has two endpoints: one for retrieving user details called /user (the one we sent a request to before) and another called /posts that allow you to retrieve data about articles users have written.

In this case, a request to the /users resource is an example of under-fetching because we need to get all the data from that resource.

We must send a second request to the /posts resource. This resource allows you to pass an optional userId to filter the list of posts to only those the user writes.

fetch("https://fakerestapi.com/posts?userId=86", {
method: "GET",
})
.then((response) => response.json())
.then((data) => {
console.log(data);
});

GraphQL: Fetching Data from a Single Resource

For the GraphQL API, we do not need to send a separate request to retrieve the user’s blog posts. Instead, we can send an HTTP request to the API’s uri and specify that we want the user details and the articles they wrote in the same query.

client
.query({
   query: gql
     query User(id: 84) {
       username
       email
       posts {
           title
       }
     }
   ,
})

.then((result) => console.log(result));

We added a posts{} object to the query in the above code snippet. Within posts{}, we specify that we want the title of all the user’s posts.

Using GraphQL, we can request all the data we need with one request. Looking back, REST required requests to two resource URLs: one for /users and one for /posts. GraphQL prevented the under-fetching by allowing you to request all the data you needed with one request.

A Disclaimer

In the previous examples, I may have diminished the capabilities of REST to illustrate the flexibility of GraphQL.

REST offers ways of filtering data using parameters. For example, the REST API could have specified that you can pass the desired fields in the response. But, of course, you cannot control the response’s structure; it demonstrates that you can affect the response in a limited way.

The point of the previous examples is that you can use REST and GraphQL to retrieve the same data. The possibilities for affecting the REST API response are at the discretion of the API developers. GraphQL offers API users more options to define the relationship between fields and structure the response exactly how an application expects data.

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Differences Deep Dive

Now that we know the difference between the two in practice let’s dive deeper into these differences.

Components

REST

• • Resources – Data objects the API exposes that clients can retrieve and manipulate. Each resource has a unique resource ID the client uses to access the resource.
  • HTTP Methods – These are the equivalent of standard CRUD operations. Each operation represents a specific action taken against a resource.
  • Representations – REST offers several message formats, such as JSON, HTML, YAML, XML, and plain text.
  • Statelessness – The client application does data and not the server. The server does not track requests; each request is independent of past requests. The client must manage the application state.

GraphQL

• • Server implementation – The GraphQL API server provides a URL to which clients send queries and has a resolver function that gathers data and sends the response.
  • Data source – The data source is the location that contains the data the API acts upon. Data sources include databases, file systems, or web services that retrieve data from another API.
  • Schema – An API’s schema defines the requested data, available operations, fields, and the potential relationships between fields.
  • Client implementation – The client implements GraphQL by constructing GraphQL queries.

Operations

REST

As briefly discussed, HTTP methods are sent with API requests to indicate the actions you would like to take toward a resource. There are many API methods, so I will only list some important ones:

• • POST request – creates a resource.
  • GET request – retrieves information about a resource.
  • PUT request – updates or creates a resource.
  • DEL request – deletes a resource.

GraphQL

• • Query – A query is a request for server data. A query is a way to filter a data object to only the fields you need. A query is a more flexible version of the GET request where you are retrieving data.
  • Mutation – If a query is like REST’s GET method, the mutation is the rest of the CRUD operations (methods) used to modify data objects. The mutation operation type manipulates and returns data.
  • Subscription – This operation type lets you specify real-time events or data changes you want to trigger. Examples include implementing feeds, chat rooms, and more.

Data Fetching

REST

• • Construct Request – Specify the specific endpoint containing the data you need in the request.
  • Send Request – Use a tool or library specific to the client’s programming language to send the request.
  • Receive response – The response body includes the requested data. Status codes indicate whether the request succeeded or failed.
  • Parse response – The application must parse and format the response body.

GraphQL

• • The client sends a request for data in a query that specifies the exact data to the API’s uri. You commonly use a library that adds GraphQL functionality to your web app.
  • GraphQLfunctions map fields in the query to data in the source and return the data.
  • GraphQLfunctions combine data in sources, apply business logic, and execute calculations.

Community

Both have strong communities. However, REST has been around longer and is more widely adopted, so more resources such as tutorials, blogs, documentation, and user forums are available.

GraphQL’s community has grown steadily. Resources include GraphQL.org, GraphQL Weekly, GraphQL Summit, and GraphQL libraries and tools.

Performance

Both are optimized for high performance. GraphQL can be more performant than REST because it reduces over and under-fetching. GraphQL does require, however, an often complex server-side implementation. As a result, API developers must define schemas carefully and optimize queries to avoid performance issues.

Development Speed

While GraphQL is better suited to complex APIs, REST’s simplicity and familiarity among developers can speed up development initially.

Switching to GraphQL may involve a learning curve. Your team’s familiarity with each technology is a factor. In the end, complex APIs require more time to develop than simple ones, whether or not they use REST or GraphQL.

Documentation

REST usually relies on third-party tools that parse a REST API’s Open API spec to generate documentation. However, GraphQ supports complete in-built documentation.

Read more:  How to Write API Documentation with Examples

Caching

Both REST and GraphQL server responses are cachable. However, the caching strategy is different.

When a client requests a REST API, the API must indicate that the response can or cannot be cached. Also, it must show how long the client can cache responses. Caching can improve availability and performance by reducing the number of API requests since the client can leverage cached data for a particular time.

For GraphQL, you must cache individual fields since catching the entire GraphQL query response is not feasible. As a result, you need more granular control to cache responses effectively. Therefore, it would be best to have a caching library for GraphQL.

Also read: gRPC vs REST: What’s the difference?

Wrapping Up

REST and GraphQL are technologies used to build web APIs. For example, Facebook created GraphQL to address REST’s over-fetching and under-fetching problems. GraphQL solves this issue by allowing clients to send queries that filter the needed data and structure the data returned in the response.

While GraphQL solves many REST problems, it is less familiar than REST and requires a learning curve.

APIs working with complex data models and relationships between those data models may be better suited to GraphQL. Conversely, simpler APIs not involving complex data may be better suited to discreet and isolated functionality.

Ultimately, it is possible to abstract GraphQL on top of REST to gain both benefits.

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It’s not always obvious how to use a tool like an API and as such you might want to provide explanations and references for your intended users. In fact, if you don’t provide documentation for your API then it is unlikely to become a success, because learning how to use your API will be too much hard work without support from the development team. 

That’s why many teams are using SwaggerHub, which is a popular tool for API documentation. Nevertheless, there are many viable alternatives that you might want to consider, including our very own Document360 – which offers everything you need to document your API. 

What is SwaggerHub?

Swaggerhub essentially allows you to design, build and document an API. There is an open source version of the Swagger editor which you can access for free, but Swaggerhub is the premium version that comes with more robust features. The core Swagger tools available are integrated into a single platform, and includes UI, Editor, Codegen and Validator.

SwaggerHub is consistent with the latest OpenAPI specifications, meaning that you can use OpenAPI to standardize your API for other users and it is readable by both humans and machines. You’ll still need to create the documentation yourself but SwaggerHub is a tool for creating API-specific documentation, including a highly intuitive interface and hosting.

SwaggerHub is suitable for teams who want to collaborate on their API documentation. It supports multiple APIs which can be rendered in a published or unpublished state, and makes your content indexable by search engines. SwaggerHub supports the creation of hundreds of APIs that can be made available to your users.

What does SwaggerHub Offer?

It’s the design and documentation platform for teams and individuals working with the OpenAPI Specification. SwaggerHub offers a wide range of capabilities for designing, building and documenting your APIs for end users.

Design

SwaggerHub gives you access to a robust editor for designing your API documentation which can be implemented in collaboration with other team members. Inline commenting and versions make reviewing your documentation and making changes before publication easy.

Build

Use SwaggerHub to build your APIs on an accessible platform and iterate on them on an ongoing basis. You can work on your APIs behind the scenes and then publish them when they are ready.

Document

SwaggerHub allows you to publish your documentation and make it available for your users. Create documentation that is in line with your needs and makes the inner workings of your APIs available to all users.

Test

Test your API documentation before it is published to ensure your endpoints and parameters and so on are working as expected. If you find an error after your API has been published and it has become read-only, you can unpublish your API to make changes.

Standardize

SwaggerHub uses the OpenAPI specification to standardize your documentation for both humans and machines, maintaining a high level quality throughout in line with an externally developed standard.

Benefits of SwaggerHub in API Documentation

Generates interactive API documentation

With SwaggerHub, you can generate interactive API documentation that is fully hosted and privacy-enabled, so you can control who has access to your content. There’s no more messing around with manual infrastructure as SwaggerHub does it all for you. Since your SwaggerHub docs are interactive, this means users can test their own APIs and explore the API endpoints, parameters, responses, and data models, and test the API calls directly in their browser.

Custom Branding

SwaggerHub enables organizations to implement custom branding so you can create documentation that is in line with your style guide. It’s easy to add a logo and change the header color that will be shown to users who are accessing your API documentation. You can preview your changes before you make them live. It’s important to note that the Team plan will display a “powered by SwaggerHub” badge beneath the custom logo.

Specify Server to Send Requests

In SwaggerHub, you need to specify the server to which you are going to send your API requests. This enables your “Try it out” button in SwaggerHub to work, since you have specified the host or servers depending on the version of OpenAPI that you are using. If you don’t already have a production server, you can use SwaggerHub’s mock server to generate responses instead.

Routing Request

You change the routing request at the bottom of the documentation. Ideally, SwaggerHub should use the browser to access local APIs and a proxy for internet-facing APIs, so your users have flexibility when trying out your API for themselves. The default option is to use the SwaggerHub server for routing requests which are then sent to your target API server.

Limitations of SwaggerHub in API Documentation

Limited Number of Collaborators Available

If you have a large team then you will struggle to use SwaggerHub to collaborate on your documentation since it limits the number of users depending on your plan. If you want to increase the number of users (or “designers”, as SwaggerHub calls them) then you’ll need to start paying some higher prices on the Enterprise solution.

Outdated Interface

Some users describe the SwaggerHub interface as somewhat outdated when compared to other similar tools like Redocly or Document360. SwaggerHub last updated its interface in 2017 so it has some work to do if it wants to keep up with more modern API documentation tools.

Lack of Integrations

At the moment, SwaggerHub provides some basic integrations but doesn’t integrate with popular development tools like SVN and Jira. You will need to code your own solutions with external scripts if you want to connect with other platforms.

6 Best SwaggerHub Alternatives in 2024

1. Document360

For outstanding API documentation, look no further than Document360. Document360 has been specifically designed for technical teams to create beautiful API docs and technical documentation, integrating all your documents together in one platform. Version control means you can use Document360 as a platform much like GitHub, keeping track of the changes you make to your API documentation as you work and avoiding the pitfalls of different writers overriding your changes.

There are many advantages to using Document360 over SwaggerHub, not least because of its highly intuitive editor and helpful documentation workflows. Analytics tell you how users are interacting with your API documentation and enable you to make improvements. Document360 also has many sought-after integrations. Document360 can generate beautiful documentation automatically from your API definition files and allow developers, testers and project managers to easily consume your APIs.

Pros

• Highly intuitive user interface with no learning curve
• Ability to add more collaborators to work on your API documentation
• Advanced analytics for understanding engagement with your content

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2. Stoplight

Stoplight is another viable alternative to SwaggerHub because it allows you to maintain a single source of truth for your API documentation. Your documentation is easily manageable and searchable in a technical knowledge base and all stakeholders can collaborate across the entire API lifecycle. Stoplight’s instant mock servers allow you to test out designs and gather early feedback.

Pros

• Ability to control permission groups for accessing your documentation
• High quality developer experience with design-focused API solution

Cons

• Some limitations when it comes to versioning of content
• Cost of the premium features can be prohibitive

3. Postman

Postman is another alternative platform for building and using APIs. It simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and empowers collaborative workflows so you can create better APIs. You can use Postman as an API repository to store all artifacts relating to your API including specifications, workflow recipes, test cases and results. Different workspaces help you organize your API work and tailor it for various needs. Perhaps best of all, Postman integrates with important tools and is extensible through its own API.

Pros

• Has a powerful API that integrates easily with other tools
• Has the ability to export code to different tools that saves time over a manual process

Cons

• Error messages lack detail so it’s difficult to troubleshoot common errors
• Can be an intimidating learning curve for new users with lots to learn

4. ReadMe

ReadMe is an API documentation platform that allows you to transform static API documentation into interactive developer hubs. Advanced analytics tell you all about how users are interacting with your documentation. You can use ReadMe to host your API reference, help guides, sample code tutorials and more and have your documentation tailored for each unique developer experience.

Pros

• Real-time API usage shows were developers might be getting stuck
• Easy to configure and customize the API reference

Cons

• Lack of customer education means users might not use the tool to its full potential
• The content editing experience can be considered limited

5. Kong

Kong enables you to manage the full lifecycle of your API with its award-winning documentation platform. You can design, debug and test your APIs much faster with Kong and use its features to benefit from open-source technology built to enterprise specifications. Since Kong is cloud, protocol, and language agnostic, it integrates well with both legacy and emerging technologies.

Pros

• Powerful platform for developing APIs through managing the full lifecycle
• Offers the ability to build your own custom plugins to work with the API

Cons

• It’s not specifically intended as an API documentation platforms so you may find its features limited
• There’s a lack of support for teaching users how to work with Kong

6. Redocly

Redocly is a developer documentation tool that allows you to build beautiful API documentation that best represents your brand. Redocly is based on open source technologies and is brought to you by the team behind Redoc. Redocly allows you to collaborate in the cloud and auto-publish slick API documentation. Your API docs can be styled according to your own needs and integrated with your favorite source control technologies.

Pros

• Redocly is open source so you can have insight into how the tool operates
• It uses the OpenAPI specification so you can develop your documentation according to a consistent standard

Cons

• Redocly is made by a small team so you might not benefit from some of the powerful features that are offered by the other solutions
• Pricing can be prohibitive for those on limited budgets with lack of features in the lower plans

Conclusion

API designers who are interested in SwaggerHub for their API documentation may want to consider our list of alternative tools. SwaggerHub does have some advantages such as its ease of use and ability to manage large numbers of APIs, but there are also some great benefits to our own platform Document360. Teams of all sizes have used Document360 to create their API documentation and manage all their content in one simple place.

Make your APIs highly accessible and user-friendly using Document360 as a one-stop solution for technical documentation. Your API documentation looks exactly as it should and generates code samples for API endpoints in five different languages, significantly enhancing the developer experience.

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