Rapid’s Top 10 API Predictions: what to expect from the API market in 2023

As we embark on the New Year, one trend within the constantly changing enterprise tech world stands out: APIs are a critical part of the developer experience. As a crucial tool for digital expansion, monetizing data, and unlocking innovation, APIs have become a key component of nearly every enterprise’s efforts to compete in the digital world.

Following an incredible year of growth in 2022, the API market is poised to rise further in 2023, as companies look to offer next-gen experiences and capabilities while also creating internal environments that will attract and retain top developer talent. Several key API trends are taking shape, including increased emphasis on serverless computing, a shift to cloud-native architectures, and greater emphasis on security.

Before we reveal our top 10 API predictions for 2023, let’s address the top 3 burning questions you might have on the API economy:

Will the recession affect the API economy in 2023?

Despite the economic slow down, the API economy is growing at an incredibly fast pace and undergoing tremendous change that will continue into 2023.

Will attracting developers remain a concern in 2023?

The developer gap will continue in 2023, with attracting and retaining top developer talent a primary concern for tech companies. Companies that embraced APIs as part of the developer experience will likely see more interest from potential candidates and more likely to retain existing developer talent.

What is serverless computing?

Serverless computing allows developers to build and run applications without having to manage servers. In 2023, there will be a big rise in “serverless-as-a-service” offerings.

So without further ado, here are our top 10 predictions for the API market/economy in 2023:

1. APIs will be recession proof

Despite an economic slow down, the API economy is growing at an incredibly fast pace and undergoing tremendous change that will continue into 2023. This change is driven by a bifurcation in how companies bring APIs to market, with legacy companies providing the infrastructure for APIs and smaller companies building consumer experiences on top of them.

2. The external API marketplace will become a common enterprise offering

In 2023, we will see many companies start to release external API marketplaces for both increased visibility and the ability to monetize their APIs. Traditionally, these external marketplaces were only common for specific companies such as eBay and Salesforce, but this is quickly changing.

3. The rise of serverless computing

In 2023, there will be a big rise in “serverless-as-a-service” offerings. Serverless computing is especially important for organizations seeking to attract and retain top developer talent, as these technologies eliminate infrastructure management tasks like capacity provisioning and patching, so developers can focus on writing code. It also eliminates the concern over internal questions such as: Where are we going to build this? How will we host it? Who will serve the traffic?, etc.

4. APIs will drive democratization of data

APIs make it easy to adjust, transform, enrich and consume data – helping enterprises overcome the traditional need for hundreds of highly paid engineers and data scientists to manage the data and understand algorithms. In 2023, we will see a shift towards API technologies managing data as a way to gain insights and also control data-related costs. As a result, there’s no longer a need to have highly developed engineering skills to harness the power of data.

5. Attracting and retaining developers will be a top concern

Changes in the economy have drastically shifted the power dynamic between employees and employers, but not for developers. The developer gap will continue, with attracting and retaining top developer talent a primary concern for tech companies in 2023.

Organizations will need to lean on their developers to retain and support customers. Enterprises are challenged with legacy technologies; companies that don’t invest in modern tools and cater to developer experience will lose top developer talent in 2023.

6. The cloud will drive the API economy

We will continue to see a big shift toward cloud-native architectures, and an even greater emphasis on multi-cloud and hybrid cloud structures. This will create additional complexities and, as a result, an explosion of APIs, leading to the API economy growing at an even greater rate in 2023.

7. A greater intersection between security and privacy

In 2023, we will start to see a greater intersection between cybersecurity and privacy as companies work to implement more effective API security processes. CISOs and CPOs will begin working closely to strategize and advise development, product, and engineering teams on how to handle data when developing and utilizing APIs.

8. Increased investment in developer tooling

With the rise of APIs as products, we are stepping into a gray zone of API implementation. Developers are still spending days and weeks on learnings and implementations. Companies will start to invest more in no-code, low-code tools that will allow developers to integrate faster with those APIs.

9. API monetization is on the rise

With mounting economic pressures in 2023, companies will try harder than ever to make every asset of the organization profitable. Whether it’s data, services, functionality or otherwise, APIs will be a go-to for monetization and creating new revenue streams.

10. Gateways will become a commoditized service

Free or nearly free API gateways are becoming the norm with open-source tools and cloud vendors. This shift is creating a tumultuous time for legacy gateway vendors, who can no longer rely on vendor lock-in driven by table-stakes API management functionality. Separating the winners and the losers will really come down to which vendors focus on delivering a seamless developer experience that offers a path for utilizing multiple gateways.

Keeping an eye on these trends will help enterprises create their internal API strategies in an effective and timely manner. During a period of rapid evolution and constant digital acceleration, organizations that proactively develop a well-aligned API game plan, centered around an API hub, can create a much-needed competitive advantage.