API integrations enable organizations to automate business processes and improve the sharing and embedding of data between various applications and systems. While you can perform an API integration manually, using dedicated API integration platforms streamlines the process and enhances efficiency.
There are tons of API integration platforms on the market. From Zapier’s user-friendly, no-code platform to Mulesoft’s robust and customizable solutions, the options are vast.
In this guide, we explore the top API integration platforms in 2024 to help you decide which suits your needs. But first, let’s define an API integration platform and why you need them.
At a Glance
Here are the best API integration platforms:
- Mulesoft – Best for Enterprise-level API Integration and Management
- IBM API Connect – Best for Businesses Seeking Robust API Lifecycle Management
- Microsoft Azure – Great for integrating with Microsoft services and products
- Workato – Best suited for automating workflows
- Zapier – Perfect for small to medium-sized businesses
What is an API Integration Platform?
An application programming interface (AP) integration platform enables different applications or systems to communicate and share data with each other. It provides a set of rules, protocols, and tools for building software applications that interact seamlessly.
With API platforms, developers can quickly build applications with many functions by using the already-built and tested functionalities of other systems without starting from scratch.
5 Best API Integration Platforms
Choosing the right API integration platform will depend on its compatibility and support, ease of use, scalability, security, and costs.
Here are five options we have selected based on the above criteria.
1. Mulesoft
Mulesoft is a software integration platform that helps organizations connect their various platforms, data, and systems together. It provides a unified platform for building, designing, and managing APIs which allows organizations to create reusable building blocks that can be used to connect different systems together.
Key features and benefits: Mulesoft comes with a wide variety of inbuilt connectors for cloud and on-premise systems. However, you can develop your own connectors for systems that are not supported by the existing ones. It supports four scripting languages, including Ruby, Groovy, Python, and Java, which enable developers to implement complex logic and customize the integration flow according to specific requirements.
Drawbacks: Anypoint Studio needs to be optimized as it can be resource-intensive, especially when working with large integration projects. There also needs to be an improvement in its deployment strategy. At the moment, it doesn’t offer the deployment rollback to the previous version.
Pricing: Mulesoft uses a quote-based pricing model with three plans: Anypoint Integration Starter, Anypoint Integration Advanced, and API Management Solution.
2. IBM API Connect
IBM API Connect helps organizations manage their API from end to end. With its complete suite of tools, you can manage APIs, create, test, secure, and publish to save time on end-to-end testing.
Key features and benefits: One of the standout features of the IBM API Connect 10 version is its analytics capabilities. In the previous version, you had to check the API Connect log to diagnose issues in production.
However, the latest IBM Connects 10 version displays the processing time and the request spent on each policy with the API. This way, you can quickly identify bottlenecks — whether it’s your gateway script or the downstream system, and take appropriate action.
IBM API Connect allows you to easily control, manage, create, and analyze all your API link services. As a result, you can scale your API infrastructure as needed. It also offers a strongly secure gateway to manage your internal to external send and request.
Drawbacks: While this API integration platform works fine, it sometimes makes the computer slow and shut down. The UI/UX interface can also be overwhelming for new users.
Pricing: IBM API Connect has three pricing plans: the Free Trial, a pay-as-you-go Enterprise option for $100/month, and a quotation-based plan tailored to your needs.
3. Microsoft Azure
Commonly referred to as Azure, this platform offers Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which gives users flexibility in how they develop and manage their cloud resources.
Key features and benefits: The Developer Portal of Azure API Management Platform is impressive. While it is rough around the edges, it works well and provides a clean UI for externalizing key aspects of an API. Developers can register themselves and request and manage subscriptions to products/APIs.
This platform also offers lots of customization through API policies. For example, transforming JSON to XML or vice versa, restricting parameters, modifying headers, and redirecting to different end-points depending on the message body. Azure also has a well-thought-out structure for managing API. This makes it quick to start setting up new APIs and versioning them.
Drawbacks: There is no way to generate SDK unless you copy and paste it from the Developer’s Portal. It is tricky to integrate with outside services that aren’t Azure, and it can be pricey.
Pricing: Azure has six pricing options, which are a bit complicated. This includes Consumption, Developer, Basic, Standard, Premium, and Isolated. You can review the plan for more details here.
4. Workato
Workato is one of the best API integration platforms on the market due to its automation capabilities. With its easy-to-use interface and recipe framework, it simplifies creating workflows, while Intelligent Automation and Workbot provide task automation across apps and chats.
Key features and benefits: Workato has an intuitive interface that encourages you to learn recipes on the go. In Workato, Recipes are automations for business processes. They are a set of workflows that help connect your business applications. It offers an extensive library of pre-built connectors, allowing you to integrate popular applications like Salesforce, Slack, and Zendesk seamlessly.
Another valuable feature of this platform is its event-based triggers that allow you to automate tasks based on specific actions or events within your integrated applications.
Drawbacks: The basics of the software are straightforward, but learning how to use the formula and other complex features is where it can become overwhelming.
Debugging errors within recipes can be challenging since they are often returned by APIs of software Workato is connected to and not by Workato itself. In addition, Workato struggles with handling a large number of files being processed or uploaded.
Pricing: Workato has a unique pricing style. You only pay for one workspace and only as many recipes as you want. A workspace is a collaborative environment where multiple builders can create, share, test, and run recipes.
5. Zapier
Zapier is a popular choice for businesses looking to automate workflows and connect various apps together without the need for extensive coding knowledge. It offers a user-friendly interface with a wide range of integrations available, making it a versatile tool for streamlining processes.
Key features and benefits: Zapier offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to create automated workflows easily through a simple drag-and-drop interface. It supports a wide range of apps and services, making it versatile for various integration needs.
Zapier also provides a vast library of pre-built Zaps, which are templates for automation workflows that you can customize to suit your requirements. One of the advantages of Zapier is its ability to automate repetitive tasks, saving time and increasing productivity.
Drawbacks: While Zapier is great for simple integrations, it may lack the complexity needed for more advanced scenarios. Users might encounter limitations when trying to create very specific or customized workflows due to the predefined triggers and actions available.
Additionally, the free version of Zapier has limitations on the number of tasks that can be automated per month, so users with high-volume automation needs may need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Pricing: Zapier has five subscription models: a Free Forever plan that allows you to automate only 100 tasks monthly, the Starter for $19.99, Professional for $49, Team for $69, and the Company plan that requires you to contact sales.
How to Quickly Integrate APIs
Follow these steps to integrate APIs:
- Understand API basics: APIs allow applications to communicate and share data. They create a gateway for one application to use the services of another without knowing the backend logic.
- Locate API documentation: Find the API documentation for the apps you want to connect. It provides information on available endpoints, parameters, and examples of API requests.
- Write a request: Use methods like GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE to interact with the API. Write code to make requests and receive responses.
- Connect Apps: If integrating applications, locate the API documentation for each app, find the API key if required, follow the protocol listed in the documentation, and run the request to connect the apps.
- Use no-code platforms: Consider using no-code platforms like Zapier For easy app integration without extensive coding.
5 Reasons Why You Should Use an API Integration Platform
For modern enterprise IT, it is no longer a question of whether API is needed; it is about how many. Research says 83% of organizations leverage APIs to boost the ROI of their digital assets.
Here are five reasons why you need an API platform:
1. To Create New APIs Quickly
In the past, users had to use API from a third-party vendor or build from scratch if they needed API. Now, both options have their benefits and drawbacks.
For example, there is no guarantee that the third-party API will have the functionality that you need. That means you will have to build from scratch to meet your demands.
On the other hand, building an API from the ground up has challenges. You must focus on different areas, including the business logic of the API, ensuring high availability, scaling, and API security. As you can tell, this option requires a lot of time and effort to design, implement, and manage APIs.
That’s why it is more efficient to use API integration platforms. You can create an API in a few clicks, saving the organization’s time, money, and effort.
2. Leverage Legacy Data Sources
API integration platforms can help organizations access information from legacy systems. These platforms enable them to use their legacy data sources and create in-house APIs so that they can retrieve data easily.
Organizations can also deploy processes and workflows that were effective in the past by assessing and updating them easily.
3. Improve Scalability and Flexibility
API integration tools are typically designed to cater to businesses of all sizes. As your enterprise grows, these tools can scale up with it.
AP integration solutions eliminate the complexities of infrastructural management. As a result, it allows you to focus on application development and leave the mechanics of scaling to the API integration tool vendor.
4. Enable Seamless Application Connectivity
A study revealed that organizations with less than 50 employees use 16 SaaS applications on average. At the same time, companies with 50-99 employees on their roster use an average of 24 SaaS applications.
Organizations with 100-499 employees use almost double the amount of applications as companies with 50-99 staff. The largest companies (with 1000+) workers use 177 SaaS apps on average.
Obviously, the more employees a company has, the higher the number of apps they use. This means they need a system to connect these apps. Enter API integration.
During the on-premise era, popular integrations such as enterprise service buses (ESBs) were used. However, these tools currently struggle with modern API connectivity, even beyond the firewall.
And since apps are moving to the cloud, it is unnecessary to secure the platform connecting them behind your firewall. Hence, a cloud-based API integration platform is crucial to connect modern APIs.
5. Increase Productivity and Efficiency
With an efficient API integration platform in place, developers, coders, and other team members can become more productive.
Since API integration solutions automate most of the tasks related to maintaining APIs, developers can focus more on creating innovative solutions for the company.
Other departments can also benefit from an API integration platform since many platforms have user-friendly interfaces. Thus, non-technical teams don’t need IT staff to create and manage APIs. This results in an overall increase in productivity and efficiency across the board.
Wrapping Up
API integration platforms are essential for any business using apps that rely on several other cloud apps and services to operate. They allow organizations to automate business processes, improve productivity, and quickly scale.
Many API integration platforms are available today, and we have shared some of the best above. Before choosing an API platform, consider its ease of use, scalability, security, and cost.
However, selecting an API integration tool is easier said than done, especially if you have little to no experience with APIs.
That’s where we come in. At DistantJob, we can help you hire a qualified data expert to guide you. Contact us, and we can connect you with a skilled developer in no time.
