API or Application Programming Interface lets two or more applications communicate with each other and exchange all the necessary data. The primary purpose of APIs is to make app development more simple, save time and other resources.
There are a significant number of API tools that allow developers to make their work easier. They include the solutions that are helpful in coding, testing, debugging, writing the documentation, etc.
We have made an overview of 21 API tools that developers use the most.
RapidAPI Testing solution allows performing API testing and monitoring efficiently. It supports APIs of any type. RapidAPI Testing solution enables the creation of intricate functional tests for API validation, managing, and monitoring API tests, etc. It is possible to use this tool for free.
Apache JMeter is an open-source testing tool and one of the best API tools designed to help developers. It is used for reviewing applications and is a 100 % Javascript-based desktop application.
The main use of this tool is to test the performance of web apps. Apache JMeter is based on GUI (Graphical User Interface) design and provides straightforward and swift interface capabilities using which multithreading is done.
Moreover, it is an entirely free API tool that also supports plugins and third-party integrations.
SoapUI is a highly efficient cross-platform testing API tool that offers a GI (Graphical Interface) to its users and lets you make and execute automated functional, compliance, and regression tests.
With it, you can easily manage tests on REST, GraphQL APIs, JMS, SOAP, JDBC, and multiple other web services. SoapUI does offer a free trial period, but its pricing is based on the features you include in your plan. The pricing plans start at $599 per year.
k6 helps the developers with load testing. This open-source testing software as a service is straightforward to use and flexible. With k6, you can write tests in JS to put to use in real-life scenes. It also lets you configure SOLs in the k6 script so that you can check the quality of your services. It also comes with a free trial period, and the pricing plans start at $99.00 per month.
Apigee is an API tool used for designing, scaling, and analyzing APIs anywhere with smooth control. In addition, it is one of the best testing API tools.
Its key features include:
Apigee also lets you have a look at insights throughout the API value chain. Apigee offers free sign-ups to continue utilizing it, and you have to subscribe to one of its three pricing plans.
JSON Formatter is one of the best API tools to help developers with debugging. With JSON Formatter, you get JSON and JSONP support, syntax highlighting, clickable URLs, collapsible trees along with guides for indentation, toggle in between raw and parsed JSON.
It is also possible to work on any valid JSON page with its help, as the URL does not affect it. It also works on local files, and with its help, developers can check the JSON simply by typing “JSON” in the console.
HttpRequester is yet another fantastic API tool for developers made especially for Mozilla Firefox to make HTTP requests like GET, PUT, DELETE, POST. This tool is also used for response viewing and record-keeping of the transaction history.
This tool is handy for working on web or REST development and deleting or extracting raw text versions of history.
Postman is one of the best API tools used by 7M developers all around the world. Postman offers a wide range of features for developers to use, such as designing, debugging, mocking, testing, monitoring, documenting, and more. In addition, it is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Postman is priced at $12 for each user per month (billed annually) or $15 per month (billed monthly).
Runscope is a simple API tool for monitoring and validating complex API workflows. With Runscope, you can add assertions for JSON and XML data. It can also help you validate status codes, HTTP headers, and response bodies. In addition, it is possible to use the tool to make high-level programmatic validations using JS and Chai Assertion Library.
To help you validate the workflow, Runscope lets you create chained requests along with basic template syntax. You can also insert data into requests and make monitors by importing Swagger and other formats.
Runscope is designed to verify whether the human API is returning the correct data or not. Runscope has four different pricing plans depending on what features you need. It offers small, medium, large, and premier packs for the subscription.
Bugsnag is one of the best API tools, which is a cross-platform error detector that lets you detect automated crashes and send you alerts for them. It also utilizes its faster bug fixes to correct the errors present.
Bugsnag is very easy to use and has extensible error-capturing libraries to optimize your workflow. It also uses a precise search and prioritization technique for bug searching and fixing only to focus on the bugs necessary to resolve. Bugsnag pricing plans start at $29 per month.
Swagger is a simple and easy-to-use API tool that developers use across various companies and enterprises. This open-source tool lets anyone visualize and interact with API resources without needing any logic for implementation in its place.
Swagger allows its users to write API documentation, plan and report new APIs, and edit existing APIs. Thus, Swagger lets all its users save a tremendous amount of time for API documentation.
3scale is a full-fledged API management tool that helps you build API infrastructure for present and future use. It is a cloud-based API tool and lets its users share, allocate and monetize all of their APIs through access control, limitations on rate, and performance analytics. It is best suited for developers from small to large enterprises as it helps with management and security. 3scale has a free version. Its paid services start at $750.00 per month.
RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML) is one of the API tools that makes it easier for developers to manage the entire API lifecycle, from design to sharing. RAML’s simple but efficient syntax enables swift development of APIs that can scale, starting from hobby projects to professional enterprise applications.
You can design, build, test, and document your REST API with RAML. This tool also includes walk-through samples with Notebook SDKs for the popular languages to provide you with an even more fantastic experience.
Apiary helps to write an API quickly and share it with others easily. In addition, Apiary provides various services to its users, which lets you work much more smoothly and faster. It also has a dedicated dashboard to manage API blueprints.
You can also get role-based (Admin, Editor, or Viewer roles) API document access and add or eliminate project members. Overall it is an excellent API management tool that does the job faster.
Hoppscotch is an excellent open-source API request building tool that lets you make swift requests and saves your time so that you can focus on development. It is lightweight and made with a trendy minimal User Interface design. You also get real-time responses with it.
Moreover, Hoppscotch is entirely free of cost, and so you can use the service to its fullest potential without making any payment. In conclusion, this is one of the best API request builders available for free of cost.
Insomnia offers easy designing, debugging, and testing solutions that act like humans, not robots. As a result, Insomnia is widely prevalent among developers. The reason behind the popularity is that with its streamlined API client, Insomnia can easily and swiftly send REST, GraphQL, GRPC, and SOAP requests.
In addition, it lets you centralize and automate API tests manually so that you can integrate them with your CI / CD process to create an API testing pipeline. Insomnia has a free version and comes with two other priced plans, each at $50 per user and $120 per year, depending on features.
SwaggerHub is a premium API documentation tool with Swagger UI features, Swagger Editor, and various other Swagger ecosystems. It is one of the best API tools for documentation purposes. It targets developers of businesses and enterprises of multiple scales and offers numerous features to make their job easier.
Some of its features include the benefit of having a single swagger package instead of multiple packages, automatic generation of documentation, and a vast collection of improved collaboration tools. In addition, single users can make a free account while team packages start at $90 per month.
ReDoc is a free open source API tool used for documentation purposes. It is highly flexible and can run on your browser. But you can also use it as a Docker image, a React component, or a command-line tool.
The UI is highly responsive and aesthetic, and you can personalize fonts, colors on it. The tool is very easy to navigate and also features a search box to make things even more accessible.
Docco is another API tool used for documentation and is made with Node.js. Docco is an easy-to-use and friendly tool designed in such a way so that you can pair it with in-source documentation to get JS documentation along with the source code.
Moreover, developers can use Docco to lessen their work burden, making incredible documentation necessary for record-keeping.
DapperDox is an open-source API documentation tool that works well with OAS 2.0 and OAS 3.0. It is a highly sought-after tool and is one of the best API tools you can get your hands on. You can integrate markdown content with DapperDox as it lets its users mix their OpenAPI specifications with diagrams by using GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown).
Also, its API explorer allows users to test from inside the API documentation. Multiple documentation of API specifications is also possible as a suite of cross-referenced products through DapperDox.
API2Cart brings to you an easy way to connect to more than 40 shopping platforms and marketplaces. Thus, it develops a seamless and unified integration between your software and multiple shopping platforms. Furthermore, API2Cart unified API makes it easier for its users to maintain the integration with diverse platforms and never miss any updates.
API2Cart supports the connection with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Amazon, eBay, and many others. It offers 100+ API methods to manage data of stores so that you can use it with more convenience. Using API2Cart, you can easily retrieve, add, delete and sync the info connected with products, customers, orders, taxes, etc.
It is possible to test the service for 30-days for free.
RapidAPI Enterprise Hub is an API platform that developers can use for finding, managing, connecting to various APIs and external API subscriptions. This solution allows enterprises to expose APIs centrally, to unify the control across APIs, etc. It supports REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and the other types of API.
RapidAPI Client can help you with accelerating API delivery. Also, it allows you to enhance your developer experience a lot. This solution provides a fully-featured API client to test, debug, and interact with HTTP APIs. RapidAPI Client supports REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and various other API types. You can use a free or paid version of the solution. It all depends on your needs.
Using the API tools mentioned above, you can easily save time and make your work much more manageable. We hope that this article is helpful for you, and you can choose the best API tools suited for you.
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