Best 20 API Management Software (Updated For 2023 With Link)

API management is a process for managing different Application Programming Interface functions like API creation, editing, publishing, and monitoring. Proper documentation and high-level security should ensure the best utilization of any Application Programming Interface. In addition, it needs regular monitoring, testing, and reliability. To perform these tasks, you need a good tool. Therefore, one must use good API software to help them properly utilize the API mechanism. That is why we have compiled a list of 20 of the best API Management Software.

What is API?


API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface. It is software that works as an intermediary between two applications and lets them talk to each other. For example, you use an API whenever you use Twitter to send a message or post a tweet. When you use your phone to share a tweet, it sends the information to the server. The server receives the data, interprets the data, performs the action, and sends back the presentation. That is the job of an API.

What does an API management tool do?


API management software is a tool used to access, distribute, control, maintain, and analyze the APIs used by software developers. It works in an enterprise setting and on a large scale. It helps the developers centralize the command over the apps and help them keep all the online apps on the web functional. In addition, it ensures high performance and standard security of the software’s API integration.

API Management Software’s Services


API management provides three kinds of services. They are,

  • Proxy: These API tools safeguard the back end of services from getting it down when there are several queries. It has caching capabilities too. Example: KOng, Mashery.
  • Agents: They integrate with the central data server—for example, IBM API management.
  • Hybrid: these types of API management tools cover both proxy and agent. Example: Apigee, Akana.

Best 20 API Management Software


Here are 20 of the best software to manage your APIs. Please note that these are not based on ranking. The API lists are made as per availability on Google.

1. Apigee


Apigee API management tool is suitable for Consumer Apps, Partner Apps, records, IoT, and Cloud Apps systems. It provides complete security, analytics, monitoring, mediation, and a developer portal. In addition, it can deliver proxy, agent, and hybrid solutions according to your need. With Apigee, the developers can build and test apps. They can also deliver the app for public use.

Apigee API management softwareApigee API critical management software is best as a Monetization tool. It is a complete solution for your API management.

Price: Apigee has three pricing models. The Evaluation Plan is free for you to try. Second, the Team plan costs $500 per month. Finally, the Business plan’s pricing is $2500 per month. There is additionally an Enterprise plan that is customizable according to your desire.

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2. 3scale


3scale is another top-class tool that is on the API software market. Red Hat Software develops the software to help developers manage their APIs. It is easy to manage internal and external functions with 3scale. It comes with proxy, agent, and hybrid solutions. 3scale is a great tool to help you share, edit, secure, distribute, and monetize your APIs under a single platform. Its developer portal is the best on the market.

3scale is another top-class tool that is on the API management software3scale comes with multiple options for traffic control. You can control open-source gateways, plugins, hosted cloud services, and CDN with 3scale.

Price: 3scale offers two pricing plans. The Pro plan is $750 per month, and the Enterprise plan will cost according to your customized plan. You can have a free trial of 3scale before choosing any paid plan.

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3. IBM API Management


From the beginning, IBM has provided excellent tools to control and monitor software and computers. So it is no wonder that they will have a solution for APIs. IBM API Management is a cloud-based solution for API creation and management.

IBM API ManagementIBM API Connect provides built-in security and governing functions for all your APIs. IBM’s solution is excellent for simple coding, real-time analytics, and self-service for development. It comes with automated tools for API creation and protects your data from threats. In addition, it allows the developers to test and monitor an API without coding.

Price: IBM API Connect comes with the most versatile pricing plans. The first one is the Lite Plan. It is free and comes with 50,000 API calls per month. Next is IBM API Connect Enterprise. It will cost $100 per 100K API calls monthly. You can have a free trial of the Enterprise plan.

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4. Akana 


Akana is an API tool that provides end-to-end software solutions. It helps developers design, customize, encrypt, secure, implement, monitor, and publish your app. It comes with both cloud and on-premise support. In addition, Akana provides proxy, agent, and hybrid solutions just like 3scale.

Akana is API management softwareAkana is good at helping you manage your traffic. It auto-detects vulnerabilities and informs you of them. It is best as a Life cycle management tool, and no other API management tool is as good as Akana.

Price: Akana gives its users a free trial of the product. The Akana Business plan is priced at USD 4000 per month. In addition, you can choose the Enterprise plan for customizing your plan.

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5. Kong Enterprise


Kong Enterprise is the best open-source API management software. It ensures an end-to-end solution for API management and is perfect for those who need to manage critical applications. It is a great help in securing, managing, and microservices. You can also use it to extend your APIs.

Kong EnterpriseKong can be deployed on the cloud, premises, or hybrid. You can extend its functions by adding plugins. It easily maintains large-scale operations, making it the best open-source API management platform.

Price: Kong Enterprise is an open-source platform. You can use it for free, but to add plugins, you will have to pay for them.

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6. Microsoft Azure


Microsoft Azure lets you control and manage your APIs under a single platform. It provides token and IP filtering functions to ensure the security of your APIs. In addition, it will present data analysis and insights into your applications through Analytics.

Microsoft AzureYou can use Microsoft Azure to publish APIs internally and externally for your customers. It is capable of creating API gateway and developer portals. It is best for self-service Application Programming Interface key management.

Price: Microsoft Azure has the most pricing plans for its customers. The plans are Consumption, Developer, Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Consumption plan gives you one million calls for free. The developer’s plan starts at $48.04 per unit/ month. The Basic Plan is $147.17 per unit/ month, the Standard Plan is $686.72 per unit/ month, and the Premium plan starts at $2795 per unit/ month.

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7. Dell Boomi


Dell Boomi gives its users a solution to connect the applications and data to cloud-based servers. It is compatible with any hybrid environment. It is a handy API project management software with a vast library of connectors. Dell Boomi helps you integrate any application into the public or private cloud. It also supports different integration patterns. It is best for integrated cloud apps.

Dell BoomiPrice: Dell Boomi offers its customers a free plan for using it. If you want to subscribe to the monthly plan, it will cost you $549. You can also customize pricing plans if you want. They offer that option too.

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8. OpenLegacy


OpenLegacy is a digital-driven API management system compatible with almost every platform. It helps users to release digital services faster and easier, ensuring quality. Even connected to the most complicated core of the system OpenLegacy processes and automatically generates digital-ready components. It can integrate with innovations and make the APIs easy to manage. Many leading companies use OpenLegacy to create, monitor, manage, and publish consumer-ready apps.

openlegacyPrice: they offer a free demo of their product. OpenLegacy has solutions for every industry. From agriculture to retailers, they have products suitable for everyone’s needs.

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9. Wso2 API Cloud


Wso2 API Cloud provides a top-class open-source API management solution for businesses. It features complete API lifecycle management, customizability, policy enforcement, and monetization under a single platform. As a result, we can use both microservices and monolithic architectures with this application. 

Wso2 API CloudThe analytics function of Wso2 gives the users an insight into their product. It can be used as a central host for multilingual applications. They are reliable and used by many renowned companies around the world. It is perfect for exposing APIs to external and internal consumers.

Price: Wso2 is open-source software, so it is free to use. You need to subscribe with a valid e-mail to get the downloadable file.

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10. SwaggerHub


SwaggerHub is suitable for API designing and development. An API management system is for teams to ensure drive and disciple along with the development workflow. It helps a team accelerate an app’s design process and conveniently publish it.

swaggerhubSwaggerHub works as a powerful editor and error feedback generator. It also features syntax auto-completion and style validators for optimum design consistency across different APIs. In addition, it can help you to integrate other API software like Azure, Apigee.

Price: SwaggerHub has two sets of plans. One is open-source, which is free to use but has certain limitations. And the Pro versions come in different tiers. The Team plan is priced at $75 per month, and the Enterprise plan is customizable by the user. But, again, you need to contact SwaggerHub for details.

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11. Mashery


Mashery is API inventory management software that provides a SaaS solution for a complete life cycle of API management. It supports B2B APIs, public API programs, and internal APIs. It will support creating, testing, monitoring, and publishing your application. In addition, you can use API analytics to monitor your traffic. Mashery also has an on-premise gateway to ensure API security. It is well known for being capable of converting to RESTful and SOAP protocols. It uses cloud servers to process your data.

Price: Mashery offers a 30 days free trial of the product. Mashery Professional plan is priced at USD 500 per month. In addition, it has an Enterprise plan that allows one to custom design their products.

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12. Automate by CA Technologies


Automate by CA Technologies brings us a complete SaaS solution for API management. It provides Agile Development, PPM Management, and DevOps solutions. It is a low-code development platform for creating APIs. Automate is good at managing microservices. You can use it to make IoT-ready mobile phone apps with ease. Automate provides the best API gateway ensuring the best experience for the user.

Price:  Automate offers a 30 days free trial of it. Their plans start at $1700 per month, and you can also customize a plan suitable for your organization.

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13. Funnel


Funnel is a simplified solution for all types of Marketing API management. It supports over 500 platform integration and customizes additional sources for you. They provide clean and harmonized data to feed to any platform you need. It is a perfect automated data collection and BI tool feeder you can use online. With Funnel, you can control your marketing data and use them accordingly to grow your business.

funnel APIPrice: the Standard plan is priced at $499 per month. The business plan will cost $799 every month, and the Professional plan is capped at $999 monthly. You can also customize your needs and change the payment model with the Enterprise plan.

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14. Postman


Postman is a great API software management system that can be integrated with all online apps. It has made designing and managing mock APIs, APIs, real easy. It lets teams collaborate and share their collections, managing and setting permission.

postman APIPrice: Postman has a free plan for everyone. You can choose from the paid plans if you want more options. For example, postman Pro costs 4 USD per month, whereas Postman Enterprise is priced at 18 USD per month.

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15. MuleSoft


If you want a solution for building an application network efficiently, MuleSoft is here for you. You can build, maintain, and manage APIs on any platform. Furthermore, it can help you analyze the traffic and change your actions accordingly. In addition, it comes with a high-level data security patch to keep your users safe. 

MuleSoft APIMuleSoft is the best Application Programming Interface management software for API gateway and developer portals. It is commonly used for connecting multiple applications. MuleSoft is the perfect solution for any service provider. Companies like Coca-Cola, Netflix, Airbnb, and Unilever use MuleSoft for their apps.

Price: MuleSoft has a 30 days free trial with a money-back guarantee. They offer different tier plans for all types of users.

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16. SyncTree


SyncTree provides a SaaS No code API solution for small businesses. The API management works with a simple drag-and-drop interface, which is very easy to operate. They bring the best API solution for those not good at coding. Using SyncTree to create, monitor, publish, and manage your integrated API apps is effortless and efficient.

SyncTree API Management SoftwarePrice: SyncTree has provided three subscription plans. They offer a Free plan with 600 calls per day. The Professional Plan is USD 8/ month per seat. You can also sign a yearly contract with SyncTree. You can get a free demo by registering on the SyncTree website.

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17. Axway Amplify API Management Platform


Axway Amplify API Management Platform is another great tool to help enterprises manage and monitor their APIs. It features content collaboration, API analytics, B2B Integration, and File transfer. You can use what you have and make it productive with the help of Amplify.

Axway Amplify API Management PlatformPrice: they have not provided us with a pricing plan. You have to contact the supplier to get a quote. You can register for a free demo.

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18. DreamFactory


DreamFactory is another top-of-the-class API management tool for your business. It is a platform that automatically creates complete documented REST APIs for you. DreamFactory is perfect for Frontend devs to work with multiple databases efficiently. It will also help Backend devs to save time for hand-coding the API. The users can strategically plan their data distribution and not worry about data security. It ensures you have no backend plumbing and can focus only on your customers.

DreamFactory is another top-of-the-class API management tool for your business.Price: DreamFactory has three different pricing plans; Community Edition, Professional Edition, and Enterprise Edition. All of their plans come with a 14-day free trial.

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19. Oracle SOA


Oracle SOA is excellent for managing APIs. It supports both REST and SOAP API. Therefore, we can ensure complete API lifecycle management with Oracle SOA. It is a proper hybrid API development tool for cloud and on-premises support. It also comes with a modern security system to protect your data.

Price: it has many different pricing models. Oracle API Platform Cloud Service costs $1.0753 per unit per hour. Oracle Apiary Cloud Service – Standard is priced at $5.28 per Unit/month, and the Professional plan starts at $ 16 per unit/month. They also have a non-metered plan which supports 25,000,000 API Calls / Month at $1,500.

20. ImportOmatic


ImportOmatic brings a complete solution for API management. It supports all external and internal services. We can use all types of record types and formats with ImportOmatic. It is suitable for integrating IOM data from external sources into RE/ RE NXT. It is easy to operate and handy in operation.

Oracle SOA API Management SoftwarePrice: you have to contact ImportOmatic for a detailed pricing list. They offer a free trial if you are interested.

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Final Thoughts


In this list, we have covered the best commercial and open-source API software comparison. All these products are good at different tasks. For example, Apigee offers the best monetization support, whereas Akana is the best lifecycle management tool. It is up to you which one of the services you require.

Most of the software provides a free trial or version. Therefore, it is wise to take up the opportunity and try first to find out the perfect API management software. Then, share the article if you found it helpful.

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