San Diego, CA, April 2, 2024 - Achieve Internet, a provider of solutions for external API portals, is pleased to announce Apiboost is available on Google Cloud Marketplace. Apiboost gives customers an External API Portal that is fully integrated with Apigee within the Google Cloud ecosystem. Increase API Adoption with Apiboost Apiboost enables enterprises to promote increased API adoption and efficiently manage API documentation through a fully integrated Apigee Developer portal. Key Features of Apiboost Include: External API Portal Management for Apigee Customers: Apiboost provides organizations with a unified external developer portal to manage the entire lifecycle of their APIs, from creation to publication, and maintenance. Developer Documentation and Versioning: Easily document and version APIs to ensure clarity and compatibility for external developers and partners. Security and Access Control: Implement robust security measures and access controls to safeguard sensitive data and protect against unauthorized access to external APIs. Analytics and Monitoring: Gain insights into external API usage, performance, and reliability through comprehensive analytics and monitoring tools. How Can Apiboost Benefit Your Business? Apiboost empowers organizations to enhance collaboration and innovation by enabling seamless integration and communication with external developers and partners through dedicated API portals. Whether it's fostering a developer community, enabling third-party integrations, or facilitating strategic partnerships, Apiboost provides the foundational tools and capabilities needed to succeed in today's connected ecosystem. Availability on Google Cloud Marketplace: Apiboost's availability on Google Cloud Marketplace provides organizations with easy access to a powerful solution for managing their external API portals within the Google Cloud ecosystem. This integration offers customers a seamless and integrated solution for external API management. For organizations looking to simplify the management of their external API portals and unlock the full potential of their external collaborations, Apiboost on Google Cloud Marketplace presents a compelling opportunity to streamline and optimize their external API operations. “Bringing Apiboost to Google Cloud Marketplace will help customers quickly deploy, manage, and grow API tools on Google Cloud's trusted, global infrastructure," said Dai Vu, Managing Director, Marketplace & ISV GTM Programs at Google Cloud. “Achieve Internet can now securely scale and support customers on their digital transformation journeys.” For further information, please visit Google Cloud Marketplace and search for "Apiboost External API Portal." Free 30-day Trial Available Through Google Cloud Marketplace About Apiboost: Apiboost is a provider of solutions for external API portals, empowering organizations to streamline their external API operations and enhance collaboration with external developers and partners. With a focus on simplicity, reliability, and flexibility, Apiboost helps businesses unlock the full potential of their external API portals to drive innovation and foster strategic partnerships. Follow Apiboost: https://apiboost.com # #

This video explores how Apiboost enhances API product management by enabling product owners to directly manage their API products. Instead of relying on system administrators, product owners can efficiently handle product approval workflows within Apiboost. The demonstration showcases a scenario where product owners and app developers collaborate to manage API products, emphasizing Apiboost's capability to empower organizations. The workflow includes app developers creating apps, adding products, and navigating through Apiboost's streamlined process. Notably, the video illustrates a scenario where a product is listed as pending, indicating that access is not automatically granted. Product owners can make case-by-case decisions on developers' access, minimizing confusion and simplifying the access request process.

Compliance Alert: Drupal 9 End-of-Life It has come to our attention that your Kickstart and custom Drupal developer portals are currently running outdated versions, specifically Drupal 9, which is now end-of-life. This puts your portal at risk of security vulnerabilities and could impact its overall performance. Security Alert: PHP 8.0 Support Ended In addition to updating your Drupal version, it's crucial to address the PHP version running on your site. PHP 8.0 reached the end of its security support on November 26, 2023. To maintain a secure environment, we recommend ensuring that your site is running at least PHP 8.1. Why Upgrade with Achieve? With over 18 years of Drupal experience, Achieve is your trusted partner to bring your portals up to compliance swiftly and seamlessly. Our team of experts understands the intricacies of legacy systems to ensure a smooth transition, minimizing downtime and maximizing security. Our team at Achieve is well-versed in PHP updates and can assist you in making this transition seamlessly, guaranteeing that your portal remains robust and secure. Why Act Now? Security: Outdated software poses a significant security risk. Upgrading ensures that your portals are protected against potential threats. Compliance: Staying compliant with the latest standards is essential to ensure the continued function of your portals and to meet industry regulations. Performance: By updating, you will benefit from the latest improvements in Drupal and PHP, enhancing the overall performance of your developer portals. Don't wait until it's too late. Achieve is here to guide you through the upgrade process, ensuring your portals are not only compliant but also optimized for peak performance. To discuss your upgrade options or if you have any questions, please reach out to our dedicated support team. Thank you for choosing Achieve as your trusted partner. We look forward to assisting you in keeping your portals secure, compliant, and performing at their best.

Spoiler alert: Very easy with Apiboost Apigee’s Integrated Portal is a good starting point for organizations that just need to get their API documentation online as simply and quickly as possible. However, at some point most organizations find they need to migrate their APIs, associated content, and users to a new platform to achieve their overall business and efficiency goals. The challenge with this migration is that there are no available official tools or documentation on how to do a migration. Until now! First we’ll cover the process to migrate from Apigee’s Integrated Portal to a generic third party platform. After that, we’ll discuss the migration to the Apiboost API platform. Please note that Apigee’s API calls listed below can change at any time since they are not officially supported by Google for external consumption. Also there is no officially supported documentation for these APIs. What can be migrated? Information in Apigee’s Integrated Portal can be broken down into the following types: Pages – Generic HTML content pages. APIs – API Documentation including descriptions, API Specification files, and links to API Products in Apigee. API Categories – Simple terms used to categorize your APIs Teams – Optional Beta feature that enables developers to create teams to collaborate on applications Audiences – Access controls that limit APIs or content to select developers or teams. You’ll notice that we did not list developers, developer apps, or team apps here as items that can be migrated. Developers, developer apps, and team apps are all stored in Apigee and will remain accessible when your users log into the new portal with their email address. Developers will retain access to all of their apps when logging into the new portal with the same email address that they used on the Integrated Portal. Likewise, team apps are associated with a team service developer account in Apigee. Team members will retain access to their team apps as long as your new portal solution supports teams. Note that not all portal solutions support teams in a way that is compatible with the Apigee’s Integrated Portals. Happily, Apiboost is fully compatible with migrating your teams, their membership, and apps. How to migrate from the Integrated Portal to a third party. Like any migration, the process here is one where you: Export data from the Integrated Portal into a usable format. Clean/modify the exported information so that it can be imported into the new portal. Import the data into your new portal. Exporting data from the Integrated Portal The process to export data from the Integrated Portal involves impersonating an active logged-in administrative user on the portal to crawl the portal, extract data from each page, and write that information to one or more files. User Impersonation To impersonate a user, you first log into the Apigee Management Console with a user account that has administrator permissions on the portal that you want to export. You’ll then need to copy the request headers, particularly the cookie settings, from the browser into whatever tool that you’ll use to crawl the site. We’ll be using Postman in these examples. Log into the Apigee Management Console and visit the portal admin UI for the portal to be migrated Open the Developer tools of the browser, go to the Network Tab and look for an XHR/JS request to the portal Copy the Request Headers from the browser developer tools and paste them into the headers area in Postman. You’ll need to do this one-by-one unfortunately. The key headers to include are: Accept Cookie JSESSIONID access_token refresh_token session_context X-Apigee-Csrf X-Apigee-Org NOTE: The cookies and X-Apigee-Csrf options are fairly short-lived, so you may need to periodically update these as you’re exporting data. Available APIs for exporting data You can now start calling Apigee’s Integrated Portal APIs to extract data. Below is a summary of the available APIs. To export your content, you need to iterate through all of these API calls and download the responses. Getting the base URL The base URL in the following API calls depends on your version of Apigee. But generally take the form of: Apigee Edge: https://apigee.com/portals/api/sites// Or Apigee X/Hybrid: https://apigee.google.com/organizations//sites// Available APIs /portal Provides general information about the Integrated portal such as the internal ID, name, description, logo URL, etc. You will specifically need the “zone-uuid” value from this call for use in the other APIs. /pages Provides a list of all content pages on the portal. The response will include the ID, name, description, and content for each page on the portal. /pages/ Provides detailed information about a single page on the portal including body content and same page properties. /resource-entitlements/pages/ Provides information about audience assignments and public/private flag on a single page. https://apigee.com/consumers/api/providers//audiences Provides a list of configured Audiences and their membership. NOTE: The in the URL can be found in the /portal API call response. https://apigee.com/consumers/api/providers//audiences/ Provides detailed information about a single audience. NOTE: The in the URL can be found in the /portal API call response. The comes from the Audience list API call above. https://apigee.com/consumers/api/providers//teams Provides a list of all teams and their membership. NOTE: The in the URL can be found in the /portal API call response. https://apigee.com/consumers/api/providers//teams/ Provides details about a single team and its membership. NOTE: The in the URL can be found in the /portal API call response. The comes from the list of teams API call above. /apidocs Provides a list of all defined API documentation on the portal. /apidocs/ Provides details about a single API document. Same information that is provided in the /apidocs listing response. /specs/doc/ Provides details about an API Specification file that is attached to an API Document including the URL to download the specification file. /apicategories Provides a list of all defined API Categories. NOTE: To find the APIs that are associated with each category you must use the /apidocs call and look at the “CategoryIds” field in the response. /file/list Provides a list of file assets such as images that have been uploaded to the portal. Clean/modify the exported content You will probably need to review and modify the exported data to format it in a way that can be imported into the new portal. This could be as simple as updating file names or as complex as performing a complete transformation of the exported data into a new format. You’ll need to review the APIs for your new portal to determine what format the content needs to be in, and then modify the exported content to align with that expectation. Import the content to your new portal The import process is just the reverse of the export process in many cases. You’ll need to review the documentation for your new portal to identify which API(s) can be used to import the content, and then pass your cleaned, exported content to those APIs. You’ll then need to review and edit the imported content within your new portal to ensure that it is imported and displays correctly. Using the Apiboost Migration Tool Apiboost includes an optional add-on tool that simplifies the migration process into just a few minutes of work. The Apiboost Migration Tool is a Node.js console application that walks you through the entire migration process. Step 1: Install the tool Download the installation package and run it on your computer. Step 2: Answer a few questions The tool will ask you a few basic questions such as: URL of your existing Integrated Portal. URL of your Apiboost Portal Credentials for your Apiboost Portal CI/CD account Step 3: Login to Apigee and provide the information to impersonate your login You can either configure the migration tool to be a proxy for your browser to capture the necessary information or you can manually copy/paste the headers from your browser developer tools. Step 4: Let the tool migrate your content The migration tool will take care of extracting all of the content from your portal and then import it into your Apiboost instance Step 5: Review the imported content in Apiboost Once the content is migrated, review the migrated content and make any needed updates. The following diagram shows the relationship between the way things are named in Apigee vs. how they are named in Apiboost: Conclusion Migrating from the Apigee Integrated Portal can be challenging, but Apiboost’s migration tool makes the entire process almost painless. Contact us today to see how Apiboost can take your developer experience to the next level.

A rapidly evolving technology landscape means continuous innovation isn't just a strategy; it's a must. Danfoss got it. They needed to improve API utilization and operational efficiency, so they partnered with Achieve—a recognized authority in crafting innovative technology solutions like Apiboost, a comprehensive, cloud-based API portal solution that provides everything you need to build a robust API partner ecosystem accessible to developers and business units alike. Together, they embarked on a transformative journey, redefining the benchmarks of API management and propelling Danfoss further into the future of sustainable technological advancement. Identifying the Need For Innovation As one of the world's biggest engineering technology companies with 97 factories spread across 20 nations, Danfoss’s organization is deeply committed to advancing technological innovation and sustainability. This dedication steered them to identify an opportunity for growth and efficiency: the augmentation and optimization of their API utilization. Even though their existing API management system had served the company well for three years, supporting 300+ APIs, Danfoss had begun to reveal its limitations. The constraints in development opportunities, the narrow content access rules (confined to 16 groups), and the lack of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CICD) began to hamper scalability and impede the firm's progress. Additionally, the absence of an approval flow and rich content, restricted the system's utility and potential. With these mounting challenges, Danfoss recognized the need for an overhaul and a more versatile and scalable system. Setting Their Sights on Transformation Despite the advantages of their existing API portal - chiefly, its integration with Apigee at no extra cost - Danfoss recognized an indispensable need for change. They understood that fulfilling their vision of a more efficient, advanced, and sustainable future necessitated a comprehensive overhaul of their API utilization strategy. With an unwavering commitment to bolstering their position as leaders in engineering solutions and enhancing their dedication to sustainable practices, Danfoss outlined six key goals that would shape their journey toward this change: To augment API usage across the organization, simultaneously refining the overall developer experience and enhancing the user interface. To introduce a unified portal that accommodates internal and external users and efficiently caters to all API target groups. To automate processes to a greater extent, assign defined responsibilities to API product owners, and create smoother, more effective workflows. To have a single portal solution that seamlessly supports their upgrade from Apigee Edge to Apigee X. To establish a feedback loop mechanism connecting the API consumer directly to the API product owner. To streamline operations and avoid the complexities and expenses associated with incorporating additional systems. Acknowledging the challenges that lay ahead, Danfoss resolved to invest in a solution that would meet their evolving needs. They stood poised to propel their organization forward on their journey of continuous technological innovation, ready to bring about a transformation that would significantly impact their operational efficiency and market standing. Finding the Perfect Partner to Realize Their Vision Recognizing the scale of their ambitious vision, Danfoss partnered with Achieve, an expert in the field, to implement the required transformative changes. Building on Danfoss's well-established foundation, the team at Achieve knew that Apiboost offered the necessary solutions to meet Danfoss's goals. Here is how Apiboost’s comprehensive features helped Danfoss meet the demands of the market: Expansion of Development Possibilities: Apiboost allowed Danfoss to move beyond the previously restrictive 16 groups by introducing a scalable system that could reach all of Danfoss's target audiences. Incorporation of CICD: Apiboost’s CICD gave Danfoss the ability to fully automate the management of content, site permissions, and access groups through integration with their existing CICD pipelines. Introduction of Approval Flows: Apiboost’s robust approval flows ensured responsibilities were distributed across multiple team members, removing the bottleneck that had slowed the process when it was the responsibility of a single employee. Enrichment of Content: Apiboost’s robust content management capabilities enabled Danfoss to provide deeper and richer content experiences to their developer community. Improving the overall developer experience, and driving engagement. Support for Team Concepts: Apiboost’s enhanced team support ensures that Danfoss’s development community has a consistent capabilities that works with both their existing Apigee Edge implementation and their future migration to Apigee X. The migration from Edge to X will have no impact on the development community and avoids any complex migration efforts in the future. Even with these improvements, Danfoss remained conscious of the risks, including the long implementation phase and additional costs required to stay on top of Apigee X and Open API specifications. But, with the power of Apiboost and support of the Achieve team on their side, Danfoss was confident that they were on the right path to achieving their vision of an innovative and optimized API management system. Seeing Their Vision Come to Life The strategic partnership between Danfoss and Achieve proved instrumental in the realization of Danfoss’s vision. Together, they launched a robust API management system that tackled the issues that plagued the previous system and introduced a wealth of beneficial features that boosted overall performance and user satisfaction, such as: Increased API Management: The number of APIs managed by the new system increased dramatically to 120 in the first year. With the robust platform and the processes in place, Danfoss expects this number to double every year. Expanded Audience Reach: The new system accommodated an expanded audience, with the number of access groups rising from a mere 16 to an impressive 210. Improved Approval Flows: The approval process became smoother and more efficient. What used to be a task for one person was successfully delegated to 25 individuals within a year, removing bottlenecks and speeding up the entire process. Enhanced User Experience: The addition of rich content greatly improved the overall developer experience. The portal ended up attracting 5,000 developers by the end of 2023, a testament to its success. Supported Team Concepts: Full support for team concepts was achieved through the implementation of Apiboost on Apigee X, paving the way for enhanced collaboration and increased efficiency in the development process. While the transformation was not without its challenges, the benefits far outweighed these risks. Danfoss made a significant leap in advancing their API utilization, marking a critical milestone in their commitment to technological innovation and sustainability. The company was able to go faster to market, save development time through reusable code and functionality, and see a probable increase in sales due to the improved efficiency and expanded customer use of their APIs. This case serves as an inspiring example of how an unwavering vision, coupled with the right partnership, can bring about a profound transformation in a company's technological capabilities and business performance. Danfoss, with Achieve's assistance, has set a new standard for API management, underlining the power and potential of innovative solutions in shaping the future of engineering technology.

For years, APIs have been a popular way for businesses to generate new revenue streams with minimal risk. All you have to do is package the data you already have and expose it to consumers so they can use it too. Pretty straightforward, right? Despite being a simple idea, launching these initiatives still comes with a lot of uncertainty, such as how do I start the process and optimize my returns. While there is no one-size fits all solution to unlocking the full potential of your digital assets, there is a way to truly maximize your revenue (and it doesn't involve those free developer portals Google, Amazon, or Azure give you when you buy their services). You need an API portal. We'll show you why the current portal solutions aren't helping you optimize your potential revenue or achieve true digital transformation. TLDR Key Takeaways API portals are more accessible to a wider audience, allowing you to bring more people to the table. In order to maintain your competitive edge, you need an API portal that can reach across multiple industries. By investing in an API portal, businesses are able to create thriving ecosystems for other applications. Free Dev Portals Can't Bring Business Units to the Table Gone are the days when developers were the only ones who needed to access a company's APIs. As more and more businesses embark on a digital transformation journey, business units are now taking a more active role in the process. That means those simple dev portals that are designed as a central repository for a business's digital assets aren't going to cut it in today's market—even if some big names market them. It's similar to the evolution of the card catalog in the public library. First, the librarians were the only ones who accessed the card catalog. They were the gatekeepers between your book and the information needed to find it. Then, they shared their system with the public. But they found that this wasn't necessarily easier for people to use. Visitors wanted something quicker, where they could see a bit more information about the title they wanted to check out. Finally, they integrated an online catalog where guests could search for their book, find information about the author, the book, recommended titles, and, most importantly, where to find the book. Those free dev portals that come integrated when you buy a big-name service are like the card catalog—basic, designed for a specific audience, and underutilized. On the other hand, API portals, like the online catalog, open the doors to everyone. They make it easy for external consumers to explore your products, but, more importantly, they help your internal business teams understand the value of your API assets. For example, let's say you have an internal API that's not fully built out yet, but your lead engineer knows there's valuable information that would be useful to others. Are you going to use the simple, card-catalog-style dev portal that not everybody understands, or will you use an enhanced API portal built for users to actively engage with your assets? If you choose the dev portal, your engineer will have difficulty explaining its value to other teams because they don't understand the clunky catalog, meaning they lose out on a potentially huge stream of revenue. However, if you choose an API portal, your teams will have no trouble seeing the value in productizing that API because API portals are built to showcase the digital asset for the consumer. API Portals Focus on Future Customers Businesses spend millions and millions of dollars on marketing efforts to make sure their products and services get out in front of their customers. So why wouldn't you invest in a portal that would make it as easy as possible for your customers to interact with and see how useful your APIs are? While that free dev portal might seem tempting, it won't actually help you grow your business because it falls short in areas where it counts the most, like productization or adoption. You need a portal that will engage and inspire your audience—one where they can explore your available products, see how they work in real-time, and determine if it fits their needs. Future customers aren't building APIs. They are looking for data on APIs that already exist and seeing how they can interact with it. And if you're not making your data available in some capacity, then you're missing out on building ecosystems that pull in more revenue than you could even imagine. Adoption is the name of the game. At the end of the day, the more consumers you can get in front of, the more revenue you'll end up bringing in. And the fastest way to get in front of more customers is by using an API portal that's built for everyone. Achieve True Digital Transformation With API Portals As businesses become increasingly digitized, the need for a robust and effective digital transformation strategy becomes more and more important—starting with a portal that has the capability to build thriving ecosystems. There are many businesses that took a proactive stance and invested in API portals before they gained traction. The results? They've created agile ecosystems that power hundreds of other applications, which in turn sell or enhance their original services. For example, Envestnet provides APIs to the banking industry to help them automate certain processes. Their APIs are integrated into other banking apps, which are also integrated into shopping apps. So, by simply making their APIs available to a larger audience, they're able to tap into additional markets they didn't even think would use their data. Other (older) banking institutions are getting left behind because they didn't invest in these transformation strategies when they had the chance. Now, they're trying to play catch up. Bottom line, you never know who could use your data, and you'll never know unless you get your product out there for everyone to see. Expand Your Digital Business With Achieve If you're ready to take your digital business to the next level, then you need to ditch those dev portals that only do the bare minimum and get an API portal. At Achieve, we've spent countless hours building hundreds of API portals that serve as building blocks for scores of applications. We know what it takes to attain true digital transformation, and we've helped our clients achieve it. Our premier API portal solution, Apiboost, has all the tools you need to grow your business, from intuitive dashboards so you can measure the success of your products to flexible catalogs that are easy to configure. Plus, it seamlessly integrates with your existing gateway services. There is a lot of money to be made from your APIs. Let us show you how. Schedule a demo and find out how Achieve helps optimize your potential revenue.

There are some comparisons that are so iconic that they’re bound to sprak a debate when you bring it up, like which format for music is better: Vinyl or digital? While there are some die-hard fans out there that swear music sounds better on vinly, digital music has made it easy for people to access their favorite songs and artists instantly without ever visiting a record store, buying a turntable, or cleaning the album. The debate isn’t so much about which is better—they both play high-quality music. It’s more about the old way versus the new? And a similar argument exists today between developer portals and API portals. Developers claim dev portals give internal teams everything they need, and they don't need all the new additional fluff API portals have. Meanwhile, API portal users claim its easy-to-use design and stack of built-in features encourage collaboration across multiple teams. With digital transformation knocking on every business’s door, the need for a portal solution to maximize your digital assets is in more demand than ever. Only one portal has adapted to the changing landscape, while the other is stuck in the old ways. Let's dive right in… API Portals Are The Future The future is here, and it's filled with no code. While this might start a riot in the community, we're here to tell you that dev portals, like vinyl records, are going out of style. Why? Aren't dev portals the go-to for managing and organizing your APIs? Eh, well, that's another debate we'll get to in a minute. The main problem with them is that developers have been their only audience—and that's a problem. The technological landscape is evolving, and the days of developers exclusively controlling development are numbered. Don't get us wrong, developers are an integral part of software development and always will be in some way or another. But with the rise of citizen developers and alternative low-code or no-code options becoming more available, dev portals just simply aren't able to meet the demands of this new crowd. Businesses are realizing the potential of true digital transformation and collaboration is the name of the game—forever shifting the role of IT. Gone are the old days of teams working in silos and dev portals being their only way to collaborate internally. Dev portals were the only tool available for many years, but thats’s not the case today. API portals are designed for users of all technical backgrounds and have a slew of built-in features that users might need—giving them a clear advantage in this new environment. With an outside-in approach to API management, API portals focus on making things easier for consumers, transforming how companies deliver their products. So while the dev portal laid the foundation for what users should expect from an asset management solution, API portals adapted it to a version that's useable by a wider audience. As these non-technical individuals continue to be involved in the development process, API portals will become more and more of a necessity and dev portals will become a relic of the past. Accessibility and Management Matter…and Dev Portals Are Limited Dev portals thrived in an environment where developers were the ones who needed and used them. But as businesses began their digital transformation journeys (en masse), they discovered a major problem—there are simply not enough developers to go around. Despite citizen developers rising to fill this void, they lacked a shared solution that multiple teams could access. Enter API portals. These digital storefronts act as a one-stop shop for all your API management needs. Do you want to market or educate your API assets to a larger audience? Or maybe you want to set up some self-service options for those technical users who know what to do. You can do it all in one location with an API portal. It's like searching for your favorite music on a digital music service. All you have to do is type a keyword into the search bar and a whole list of titles/artists populate. You can click on one and you can instantly enjoy your music anywhere. You're probably starting to realize API portals are much more accessible than traditional dev portals. But let's go back to that argument: Aren't dev portals the go-to for managing and organizing your APIs? Not any more. If an API portal is like a digital music streaming service, then a dev portal is like an old fashioned record store. It’s up to you to thumb through all the records to find what you need. Once you have it, you’ll have to bring it home, clean it, get your turntable out, and set the needle in the right spot to hear the song you want. On top of that, dev portals only have a limited feature set that hasn't evolved to keep up with the changing environment. They lack granular access control, SSO, CI/CD integration, built-in productization, advanced search, collaboration tools and other features that businesses need to successfully manage their digital assets. While these portals started out as the go-to management solution, they are quickly getting replaced with user-friendly and more advanced API portals. And those who want to maintain the “business as usual mindset” struggle to keep up. API Portals Maximize Your APIs Potential Now that we're bringing you over to the dark side, let's talk about the main driving force behind API portals' success. Hint: it's more than just good design and simple workflows. It's their built-in productization tools. Bad news for those dev portal fans—the available productization tools are limited or non-existent. While they do let you create API products and share them, that's about the extent of their tools. This is why others that talk about dev portals always warn you of "if you build it, they will come" syndrome. There's nothing that helps you monitor or market your API products once they're in your dev portal. API portals, on the other hand, come equipped with a range of tools to increase adoption rates and track the success of your API products. The portal has a focus on the needs of a product owner and allows for: multiple publishing permissions, access management for private and public API Products and advanced taxonomy options for better UX. Plus, they let you tailor products to meet the needs of different audiences, making it even easier for users to discover and consume. Even if you weren't convinced that an API portal is more attractive than a dev portal, you'd have to admit it's easier to sell products with a simple storefront accessible to a wider audience. That's because the easier you make it for a consumer to find what they're looking for and the more attractive you make your product look, the more likely they are to actually purchase your product. Whether your team decides to build their own API portal or use an out-of-the-box solution like Apiboost, you're guaranteed to have an API management solution that grows with your business. Still have questions? We'd love to help you out. Let's chat.

Considering that nearly 90% of developers use APIs when building software and applications and 69% use third-party APIs, API monetization has never been more crucial for unlocking new revenue streams. A lot of tools exist in today’s market, but AWS API Gateway, or Amazon API Gateway, is one of the most popular options developers choose to monetize their APIs. In this post, we'll look break down how to use your AWP API Gateway to monetize your APIs, and why it may not be your best option available. A Quick Recap of API Monetization API monetization is transforming your APIs into revenue drivers for your business. There are many different monetization models for you to use, but some of the most popular ones include Tiered where customers buy into a specific tier that meets their usage needs. Bulk cost/pay as you go where customers only pay for what they use versus paying for a subscription or tier. Subscription where customers pay a flat rate to access your APIs. To help you develop an effective monetization strategy, some important questions would be: Who's going to use your APIs? What capabilities will they need? What integrations will you need to support your APIs? How will you determine which pricing model is best for your business? Who's going to be responsible for governance and admin? How are you going to market and promote your API products? If you're not sure how to answer these questions, there are specialists who are willing to help you—now, let's get into how AWS approaches API monetization. AWS API Gateway and Monetization First, let's take a look at how the AWS API Gateway works. The AWS API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it easy to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure your APIs. It handles a lot of the heavy lifting of managing your APIs, so you can focus on building great products. The AWS API Gateway lets you set up pricing and usage plans for your APIs, as well as track and monitor usage. Since AWS API Gateway is integrated with AWS Marketplace and AWS Data Exchange, it lets you easily monetize the APIs you've built with the API Gateway. However, you'll need to configure their AWS API Portal or integrate your own API portal before setting up your monetization. AWS Monetization Models: Now that we've covered some basics, let's get into the AWS API Gateway's monetization models. If you plan on selling your APIs through AWS Marketplace, you'll need to bundle your APIs together to create a software as a service (SaaS) product. There are three primary ways AWS API Gateway lets you monetize your APIs: SaaS subscriptions: This is their usage-based pricing model (even though the label may be misleading). Consumers follow a pay-as-you-go structure and are billed based on their API usage. With usage-based pricing, you can easily scale your prices up or down as demand changes. SaaS contracts: This is a subscription-based model where consumers are either billed in advance or payments are made on a recurring basis. SaaS contracts with pay-as-you-go: This hybrid pricing model locks consumers into a subscription but lets them pay for additional usage as needed. Additionally, you have the option to monetize (via subscriptions) your data-based APIs through AWS Data Exchange. Benefits of Using AWS API Gateway to Monetize Your APIs When it comes to monetizing your APIs, AWS API Gateway provides several benefits that make it a great option. Customer acquisition: like all API monetization platforms do—making your APIs available on the AWS Marketplace, you open up your business to a whole new group of potential customers. Unified billing: If you have multiple APIs, use the gateway's unified billing feature to bill all of them under a single account. However, you must integrate with AWS Marketplace Metering Service or AWS Marketplace Entitlement Service to use this function. Reporting: AWS API Gateway provides detailed analytics about how your APIs are being used. This information can be useful in determining how to optimize your API pricing. Throttling: Throttling allows you to limit the amount of traffic that comes through your API. This helps you manage your resources and keep your API running smoothly. Quotas: Setting up a quota system ensures that customers only use the resources they've paid for. This helps prevent the overuse of your API and ensures that everyone pays their fair share. Potential Downsides of Using AWS API Gateway to Monetize Your APIs While AWS API Gateway is one of the most popular ways to monetize your APIs, there are some potential downfalls to using this method that you should be aware of before deciding to use it for your monetization needs. Complex configuration: AWS API Gateway is complex to configure and manage, leading to errors and unexpected results. Establishing and maintaining your product monetization involves many moving parts, and it can quickly become overwhelming - especially with multiple usage plans. No alterations to products: If you need to make any adjustments or changes to your product that's listed on AWS Marketplace, you'll need to create a new product. Insufficient access control: While AWS does allow some accommodations for identity-based, resource-based, and network-based access controls, there are limitations as to which access controls you can place at a specific endpoint. High cost: The AWS API Gateway can be costly, especially if you have a high volume of traffic to your API endpoints, which compounds as you need to access multiple services. Limited developer portal: While AWS does offer its own serverless developer portal (AWS API Portal), it has limited capabilities and requires advanced configurations to get started. Complicated CI/CD Integration: Setting up CI/CD pipelines requires intermediate to advanced knowledge of all services provided by AWS. A Better Alternative to AWS API Portal At the end of the day, the AWS API Portal is nothing more than a developer portal, meaning it's only useful to developers. Business teams and citizen developers won't be able to access and consume your API products because it's not designed for them. What does this mean for you? It means that on top of spending precious time and resources to configure their portal, your API products won't be accessible to a wide range of consumers. Advanced API portals, like Apiboost, make it easy for everyone to discover and consume your API products since they are designed to accommodate all your business's needs, not just the developers. In addition to making your API products more accessible, these portals also: Make it easy to onboard new users and expand your consumer base Provide a centralized location for all your documentation Have a user-friendly interface Eliminate waste by unifying your APIs in one location and preventing duplicates Encourage collaboration between your teams Provide advanced reporting and analytics Quickly customize your content to fit your needs Optimize and manage your API products Publish your documentation on an easy-to-use interface Boost innovation by allowing you to work in teams Harness the power of CI/CD pipelines In order to truly unleash the power of your API monetization with AWS API Gateway, you need to use an API portal. Maximize Your API's Value With Apiboost Apiboost provides organizations with a robust set of tools, features, and resources to build a partner API ecosystem accessible for citizen developers and professional developers alike. Having built and configured over 100 API portals and invested 10,000+ hours in perfecting Apiboost, Achieve has decades of experience that will help you get up and running as quickly as possible. Schedule a demo and see how easy it is to integrate Apiboost with AWS API Gateway.

Despite worldwide IT spending predicted to reach $4.4 trillion in 2022, some companies are struggling to decide whether they should dedicate their resources to build or buy their API portals as they try to keep up with digital transformation. While some talented internal teams may be able to work out how to build a custom API portal, it often turns out to be a much more complex task than originally scoped. In this post, we will evaluate the most important factors you need to focus on to decide whether or not you should buy vs. build your API Portal. Those factors we are going to break down are: Business Needs: Do You Need an API portal? API Portal Requirements (Scope) Time to Market Cost Security and Control Support, Maintenance, and Training To Buy or Build: A Comprehensive Analysis Business Needs: Do You Need an API Portal? Since you are reading this article, you most likely understand what an API Portal is and how it can help your business grow - but just in case you may be mistaken, here is a brief recap! An API portal bridges the internal developers who build your company's APIs and those who engage with them to move the business forward. This includes other internal developers, external developers, and your business team members. Think of it as a directory that houses all the information about your organization's digital offerings. While some API offerings are gated—especially in regulated industries with portals targeting internal developers—others are publicly available for a broader developer community. We dive much deeper into the benefits, most likely users, and the key features you want to find in our Ultimate Guide to API Portals in 2022. Now let's review the key factors to consider before buying or building your portal. API Portal Requirements (Scope) While you may have built previous portals for internal use, API portals require a broader and more complex scope so you can keep up with the market and support individual business units. Is your portal just for internal developers? Are you planning to build a public portal and create a new revenue source? Legal restrictions? How many APIs do you have? This, plus a few dozen other pertinent questions, will allow you to fully understand the scope of your API Portal. If you've built API Portals in the past, you may understand the resources needed—but more often than not, the scope of an API build is dramatically underestimated. Here are a few common scenarios that often play out during build initiatives: Desired tech stacks and specifications that were a leading argument for building may be removed during the build process by one stakeholder and must be added during the next iteration. Businesses attempt a design by committee approach that ends up bloating the scope and purpose of the API portal to the point where no one can agree on how to prioritize and build the platform. IT/Development receives a requirement to build a portal and then goes off in isolation to build something that doesn't fulfill the business requirements. Why You Should Buy Even when businesses start with a "manageable plan" to build and roll out small solutions and simple features that bring them towards an API management solution, they will eventually need a complete solution that addresses their current and future needs. If you don't want your internal resources (developers, designers, project managers, etc.) swallowed up by the ever scope of your API Portal build - buying a ready-made solution will be a welcomed weight off your team. This example from Apigee shows a comprehensive scope that most API portals need to fully deliver the impact you're likely hoping for. If you choose to buy, you'll find that: You'll receive new features that are available with subsequent product releases. There's no demand for their internal development and project management resources. The project's scope is already accounted for, and nothing is left on the cutting room floor. Off-the-shelf API portals, like Apiboost, are built by companies dedicated to ensuring their product meets the needs of everyone across your teams, and they've got years of experience perfecting their API portal solutions. Time to Market If you happen to work with a development team that has all the time in the world to develop their API Portal, then time to market may not be a factor under consideration. But if you are like literally every dev team living under constant pressure to build more, faster, then internally building your API portal would most likely not be your quickest path to launching your portal. Additionally, competing business and IT priorities often slow down your time to market. For example, a business may desperately need an API portal, but the CIO has an 18-month plan to transition to the cloud, which is already falling behind. Why You Should Buy You have almost certainly watched in awe as the pit crew for a Formula 1 team swapped out four new tires and refueled the car in less than three seconds before it's back to the race—and there is no better argument for specializing than that. Could a good local mechanics crew figure out how to accomplish the same feat? Given enough time, probably! But by the time they figured out how these cars work, adjusted their initial strategy, worked out the kinks, and got their car back on the track, the competition would be long gone. The same goes for your API portal. Good developers will probably find a way to build it—but working with an agency that specializes in building API Portals will get you off and running in a fraction of the time. Just a few of the delays that companies typically experience when they try to build their portal include: Failing to account for cross-department internal coordination and approvals introduces significant delays. It takes a long time to scope, design, and approve a minimum feature set. Internal projects are frequently deprioritized with either resources or budget fluidity. Infrastructure and Operations teams delay the project by months due to having a long backlog and approval process for the infrastructure to run the portal. Companies don't plan for the ongoing operational costs when building the portal and then run into problems when trying to roll it out due to a lack of funding and resources. With an off-the-shelf portal, like Apiboost, you can eliminate most of those delays. Once the onboarding process is complete, you'll only need to set up a few configurations, such as branding and content, before you're ready to launch. That's the beauty of pre-built solutions. They are designed to get you to launch faster because they've done all the work before. Cost Just like our mythical dev team with no time pressure—you could find yourself in a situation where you have a blank check to build your API Portal, but we're going to assume that cost is an important factor in your decision. Developing an API management solution on your own involves a wide range of risks that average initiatives run 45% over their projected budget and deliver 56% less value than predicted. The budget issues often stem from failing to fully understand the scope we covered earlier. Not allocating enough staff or hiring the wrong skillset also results in underestimating the time to market, which in turn, increases cost yet again. Some key questions you need to be crystal clear with to stay on budget are: How big does your team need to be? What special skills are required? How long will it take to get to launch? Are there any hidden costs? Do all of the estimates seem realistic? It's best to consider this a complex math equation—each factor multiples the final cost. If you run longer than expected or need additional people to come in and help, it will raise your costs exponentially, even if you started with a reasonable estimate. And don't forget that costs don't end at launch; maintenance costs add up, but are unavoidable since you need to regularly ensure your portal is current, compliant, and error-free. Why You Should Buy If you are unclear about any of the topics we discussed so far, going over budget is almost a certainty in our experience. And if you aren't too fond of hiring more full-time staff required for ongoing maintenance of your API Portal, buying will likely be for you. With a ready-made API portal solution, you'll find: The cost to start with the product is lower. Your subscription costs may grow with time but can be aligned with growth. Your upfront investment and maintenance costs are minimal compared to building your own. Integrations into third-party systems such as identity management (SSO) and automation (CI/CD) are already built-in. The simplicity of using a pre-built API platform makes it easier to start than building your own. With fewer upfront costs and no hassle or risk associated with making mistakes, this is an attractive option for businesses that want something fast. You'll never have to worry about additional maintenance costs as your system constantly evolves and improves with new capabilities. Security and Control The risk associated with giving security and control over to vendors is another point of contention among those who argue build versus buy, especially dealing with extremely sensitive data. The arguments for building will look like: We want to have flexible deployment options. We need to implement integrations without restrictions. We need to own our code. We are worried about the vendor's security. Since APIs are predicted to be the main attack vector for 2022, you'll need to ensure your security posture is built with threat protection and API access controls. Why You Should Buy By building your own API Portal platform, you'll own your code and all the copyright benefits that come with it. However, that means you're also responsible for it, including being the one who has to identify vulnerabilities and patch them before your data is breached. Setting up security procedures and maintaining compliance with the most recent regulations is a massive undertaking and, again, one that API Portal companies deal with daily. When you purchase an off-the-shelf solution, you are arming yourself with a battle-tested platform that has been through and is continuously going through security tests and updates. Support, Maintenance, and Training Often, businesses that want to attempt building are looking to solve a particular problem they have on hand. They neglect to look for an approach that will address the entire project lifecycle. For example, development teams get focused on a specific technical aspect of the implementation and don't plan/implement for the long-term maintenance and expansion of the platform. Or the team developing the API Portal doesn't have sufficient knowledge of what the API Gateway does, how it does it, and how to integrate with it, causing delays and rework. They often fail to consider: What support will be available? Who will be responsible for maintaining the API portal? Who will be responsible for training, or will you have access to training to help you? But, if they use an approach with sufficient support, maintenance, and training, they can mitigate these unforeseen risks. Why You Should Buy Building an API Portal is difficult already—but if you are still leaning towards a custom, in-house build, you need to ask yourself if you are ready to commit, forever. If this isn't part of your core competencies, you probably lack the valuable resources you need to build your API portal effectively. At best, you'll have to add costs for supplemental resources to bring your teams up to speed. More often than not, you'll still end up needing third-party assistance in some form or another. For those who opt to buy, this problem doesn't exist. Third-party vendors typically offer training, support, and maintenance, giving businesses the tools they need for success. Since these built-in resources are available for many off-the-shelf options, your business won't have to worry about additional costs or an ever-increasing scope. Don't Reinvent The Wheel If you've come to the conclusion that it makes more sense to invest in a fully visualized and proven solution, then you're in good company. Achieve specializes in implementing API portal solutions like Apiboost. With Apiboost, you'll get the most out of your API environment experience. The platform's unique partnerships with leading vendors like Apigee ensure that it is a superior choice for developers who care about their technology. Apiboost makes it easy to: Quickly design and customize your portal to fit your business's needs Boost your API adoption rates with flexible catalogs Build a flexible catalog that grows with your API roadmap Publish documentation through our user interface Work in teams to boost innovation Optimize your API products with powerful tools Use CI/CD and SSO solutions Manage your administrative functions with advanced dashboards and reports Join the hundreds of businesses that invested in a solution that has spent over 10,000 hours to perfect. Request a demo.

With 65% of companies accelerating their digital transformation in 2021, the desire to find an API portal solution that lets businesses monetize their APIs is on the rise. Whether you're just starting out or have years of experience behind you, choosing between a DIY dev portal or a pre-built API portal is challenging. If you're curious about the AWS API Portal and wonder what you can do with it? This post will give you a comprehensive overview of the AWS API Portal, including an explanation of what it is and how to use it. What is AWS API Portal? The AWS API Portal, or Serverless Developer Portal, is a cloud-based web application nested within Amazon's API Gateway service that makes it easy for developers to create, publish, maintain, and monitor APIs. This self-service portal lets developers explore and create applications using your Amazon API Gateway managed APIs or non-API Gateway managed APIs (OpenAPIs). This regularly updated (via AWS Serverless Application Repository) portal features out-of-the-box functionality and a customizable, React-written front-end. The Serverless Developer Portal provides: A site where consumers can browse and test out your published APIs Documentation on all the available resources API keys for registered users Basic API monitoring capabilities Why Use Serverless Portal Architecture? With serverless architecture, you don't have to worry about managing servers and provisioning them—the cloud provider does. This approach has many benefits, including reduced cost of ownership for IT teams and improved flexibility because it's easy to scale on-demand depending upon the needs within an organization. Amazon API Gateway, Amazon Cognito User Pools, AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon S3 are all incorporated into the developer portal application, making it a complex, modular system designed for specific purposes. Each of these modular systems is divided into microservices. Here are the specific microservices offered in the serverless dev portal: Login/Registration: Amazon Cognito and Lambda features handle identity management, while Amazon Cognito User Pool lets users register and log in. AWS Cloud: The front-end React app handles all requests and uses Amazon S3 to store static content before communicating with the back-end via AWS API Gateway. Catalog Update: S3 buckets and Lambda functions are used to update the API catalog when files are added or removed from the S3 storage bucket. API Key Creation: API Key Creation Services manage API key creations and deletions. They store all updates in DynamoDB tables and notify AWS API Gateway about any modifications. Deployment Options Now that you understand how the AWS API portal is structured, you should know that no matter how you choose to deploy your portal, it requires some configuration before use—even if you choose their out-of-the-box option. These deployment options are important as they will dictate how applications will be built with your APIs, how you'll expose your APIs to consumers, and the amount of maintenance you'll need. There are three ways to deploy the AWS API portal: AWS Serverless Application Repository (SAR) This out-of-the-box option is easy to deploy and use. For this option, you need to launch the API Gateway Serverless Developer Portal AWS CloudFormation stack before entering parameters into the Lambda console. AWS provides detailed documentation on how to deploy using this method. Some benefits of using AWS SAR include: Simple application management: With pre-built applications, you can deploy your serverless application with just a few clicks. You no longer need to clone and build the source code before uploading it onto AWS. Accelerate workflows: Use the power of serverless applications to your advantage and reduce duplication. Create and publish apps once, then store them for use by teams as well as broader communities who also need these services. AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM) If you're looking to make any customizations to templates or deploy the AWS portal through your existing infrastructure, you'll need to use the SAM CLI deployment guide. Configuring your serverless developer portal using SAM can be lengthy. You'll need to make sure you have the most recent versions of AWS CLI and AWS SAM CLI before you begin. Some benefits of using AWS SAM include: Single stack configuration: One of the best features of using AWS SAM is the ability to easily configure and operate on a single stack. You can even share configuration (such as memory or timeouts) between resources, making deploying all related components together in one versioned entity extremely convenient. Integrated development tools: Use the complete suite of AWS tools to discover new applications (AWS SAR), test (AWS Cloud9 IDE), and build a deployment pipeline. Development Scripts Even though AWS doesn't specifically mention this deployment model, you do have the ability to make modifications to the developer portal assets or design advanced specifications yourself. This option requires advanced configurations and installing several tools you'll need to deploy successfully. For detailed instructions, refer to this development guide. The main benefit of this deployment model is that you'll be able to make some improvements to the AWS API Portal; however, you'll have to build it to your specifications, which means you'll be responsible for maintaining it. What Are the Benefits of AWS API Portal? Serverless developer portals offer a number of features that make it easy for API providers and consumers to utilize. API providers can: Publish APIs to AWS Marketplace Monitor API usage Build their own AWS Developer Portal or use the Serverless Developer Portal to add functionality to their site API consumers can: Discover APIs See API resources and documentation Register for API keys immediately What You Can't Do With AWS API Portal While the AWS API Portal lets you create a dev site that integrates AWS's full suite of tools, there are some things it simply can't or struggles to do. 1. Multiple Usage Plans When you use AWS API Gateway to create usage plans for your product offerings, you'll find some rather inconvenient limitations. Any API published to the developer portal is subscribable, even if they aren't visible to the customer. Valid API keys can access every API in a usage plan, even if the key is only for a single API within that plan. Clients can exceed their quotas within a usage plan. You'll need to implement additional methods to prevent this. The AWS API Gateway does not differentiate between API keys with the same value, even if they have different names. For more information, AWS has more details about creating usage plans. However, if you plan on creating multiple usage plans, you'd be better off considering another option like a pre-built API portal. 2. Easy SSO Integration While AWS did build in the ability to add SSO, it requires additional applications and complex configurations to set up. Here are some problems with its implementation: SSO credentials must have permissions to access AWS resources; otherwise, this function will not work. To grant SSO permissions for certain accounts, you'll need to add additional restrictions to IAMFullAccess policies. AWS SSO is not integrated into Okta, Ping, or IAM (without advanced configuration). For more information about AWS SSO, you'll have to filter through numerous resources. If you're looking for complete access controls, you'll need a solution, like Apiboost, that has those features ready to use out of the box. 3. Built-In CI/CD AWS does have the ability to create your own CI/CD pipelines. However, like the other issues already mentioned, this requires advanced configurations, access to additional AWS resources, and is left to the individual business to determine the system and rules. To set up CI/CD pipelines, AWS recommends that you have at least intermediate experience with AWS and all its resources. Advanced IAM permissions are needed and will be given to any user in the assigned group. The cost to run CI/CD pipelines varies depending on how many AWS services you integrate into it and how you configure them. AWS has various documentation for building an AWS CI/CD pipeline, but building it will be difficult if you're not familiar with all of AWS's services. Even though AWS offers a wide range of tools that make it easy to create and publish APIs to a Serverless Developer Portal, you may find yourself asking: Is it enough? Are you able to do everything you need with it? Will this help me get ROI from my digital transformation or cloud-based services? The answer might be simpler than you think. The AWS API Portal is nothing more than a developer portal, meaning it won't provide the flexibility and functionality that an API portal gives you. Developer Portal vs. API Portal Portals designed to serve developers (almost exclusively), such as the AWS API Portal, provide access to APIs and their management. However, as citizen development has gained popularity, a new focus has emerged on user interface (UI) features and ease of use. API portals are designed with this audience in mind, they give access to giving basic information as well as more advanced options that aren't provided by your typical developer website or app store listing, such as: Additional documentation for API products Self-service administrative environment The ability for innovation and collaboration for internal and external teams within the portal Working with a portal specialist such as Achieve, who understands the complexities and best practices behind truly automated systems, is a better choice. Your Next Steps… Whether you want to build your own API portal using AWS Serverless Developer Portal or use a pre-built one, you'll need to assess your business resources. If you opt for the AWS DIY option, do you have: The experience to build in advanced access controls? The resources needed to perform continuous maintenance? The knowledge to understand the complexities involved in true automation? If you find this option daunting, you're not alone. Why not use a product that has true enterprise capabilities, like Apiboost. Apiboost has everything you need to leverage the power of API portals: Built-in SSO and CI/CD: Apiboost makes it easy to connect with the most common SSO and CI/CD solutions. This way, you can automate your documentation management or user identity features through the portal. Admin dashboards: With Apiboost, you can manage your site with an intuitive admin area and dashboards to keep you informed. It is equipped with multiple roles customized for controlling secure documentation, community activity logs, as well as reports that will help grow adoption rates. Product optimization: The Product Optimizer is a revolutionary tool for API managers to make the most of their product success. Empower your team with analytics and take action on any insights and ensure that every program achieves its full potential. Collaborate with ease: Working in teams just got easier with Apiboost. Whether you want groups innovating or using the platform for partners and customers to work together, this solution can help your company achieve success. Having created over 100 API portals with advanced integrations and a deep understanding of best practices to build true automation, Achieve helps you build an API ecosystem that seamlessly connects with other technologies. Apiboost, our premier portal solution, is a proven API portal platform that is used worldwide by large enterprises. Want to learn more? Schedule a demo.

As more businesses adopt digital transformation strategies and productize their APIs, the demand for API management solutions has grown roughly 33% in the past five years. Two of the most common API management solutions are Amazon API Gateway and Google Cloud Product (GCP) Apigee API Management. They both provide essential services for distributing APIs, but their approaches differ significantly from each other. Let's look at how these differences for you to make an informed decision. What is Amazon API Gateway? Amazon API Gateway is a cloud-based web service that makes it easy for developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale. This gateway handles all of the tasks involved in accepting and processing hundreds of thousands of concurrent API calls. Amazon API Gateway lets you easily manage APIs that allow applications to access your backend services. Use this tool for creating RESTful APIs or WebSocket APIs with real-time updates that enable communication between applications. Features and Functionality Amazon API Gateway provides many features and functions, such as: Security: Keep your API safe from malicious attacks by utilizing several security features, such as SSL/TLS encryption, OAuth 2.0, and native OIDC. Ensure only authorized and authenticated users have access to your API by using AWS Identity Access Management (IAM) and Amazon Cognito. Traffic management: Use features like rate limiting to prevent your API from being overwhelmed by too many requests. Amazon CloudWatch: View performance metrics and information on API calls from a dashboard, giving you clear visibility over your services. Versioning: Manage different API versions independently to effectively develop new features and update existing ones. Pros and Cons The main advantages of using Amazon API Gateway are: Scalability: Amazon API Gateway lets you seamlessly scale to handle millions of requests per day. Easily add or remove capacity as needed, ensuring you only pay for the resources you use. Flexibility: Amazon API Gateway supports various protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, WebSockets, and TCP. It also supports multiple integration types, such as Lambda functions, HTTP proxies, and AWS Step Functions. Support: With dedicated support teams, your issues are sure to be resolved in a timely manner. The main disadvantages of using Amazon API Gateway are: User interface issues: It's often difficult for multiple users to manage and configure endpoints. Cost: Amazon is a pay-as-you-go service so If you have a lot of traffic or a complex application, Amazon API Gateway can be expensive. The price is based on the number of requests and the amount of data processed. Minimalistic developer portal: While Amazon API Gateway now has a developer portal, it lacks advanced features and is difficult to setup. What is Apigee? Google's Apigee is a true API management solution for building and scaling your API programs with full life cycle capabilities, giving developers the freedom to create innovative solutions. This lightweight gateway provides multiple services, such as an integrated developer portal and analytics tools, which are used to drive API consumption and access actionable insights about assets in circulation. Apigee also makes it easy to monetize your APIs and maximize the value of your digital assets while ensuring the integrity of your data. With an easy-to-use platform that provides you with all the features you need to get started, it's no wonder why Gartner named Apigee as an industry leader. Features and Functionality Apigee offers a number of features and functionalities to help you manage your API operations. These include: API Monetization: Apigee supports various API packaging options that let you monetize your digital assets, unlocking new revenue streams for your business. AI-Powered Analytics: Use real-time monitoring capabilities to give you visibility into how your API is being used, so you can optimize performance and troubleshoot issues. Developer portal: A solid starting point that makes it easy to manage API documentation, community forums, and other resources for developers. For organizations looking to for more flexibility and greater access control, Apigee also provides an open-source portal they call Kickstarter. Multi-layer security: Apigee provides many features to help you secure your API, including OAuth 2.0 support, Cloud Armor, and CMEK. Scale: Apigee's scalable architecture can handle millions of API requests per day. API-first integration: This unified platform takes advantage of cloud-native architecture principles to help enterprises build their operations and accelerate developer velocity to deliver new features faster than ever before. Pros and Cons Apigee has its own set of pros and cons that should be considered before implementing it as part of your API strategy. The main advantages of using Apigee are: Flexible deployment options: Businesses have the flexibility to choose between different ways to deploy their API ecosystem. ApigeeX is a fully integrated GCP cloud product. Apigee Edge is an on-premises product for companies with high volume or those that have not yet realized the benefits of the cloud. Apigee ODPK is an exclusively on-premise product of the classic Apigee platform. Aipgee Hybrid is a Google managed core management platform with on-premise components to reduce latency. Robust feature set: As an end-to-end solution, Apigee provides everything you need to build, secure, scale, and manage your APIs. This includes an intuitive interface for building APIs, robust security features, scalability options, detailed analytics, etc. Flexible pricing: Apigee offers a variety of pricing plans to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes. There are free plans for new developers who are just getting started, paid plans for enterprises that need more features and support, and a pay-per-use plan (coming soon). Alternative dev portal solutions: The Drupal Kickstart distribution is perfect for the DIY crowd. Organizations that are looking for more advanced features and access control turn to Apiboost, offered in both a SaaS and On-Prem model. The main disadvantages of using Apigee are: Increased expense for high volumes: Apigee's pricing is quite reasonable for a medium-sized enterprise, but high volume users find the cloud version prohibitively expensive. Complexity: The Apigee platform can be complex, particularly for those not familiar with API management tools. There is a steep learning curve associated with using the platform, and it can take some time to master all of its features and functions. Deep knowledge required for customization: While Apigee does offer a wide range of features, the required knowledge needed for customizations and a limited dev portal may not meet specific organizational needs. This is a problem for organizations that are looking to expand their API program to their partners or new markets. Which Solution Should You Use? There are a number of factors to consider when deciding whether to use Apigee or Amazon API Gateway. Here are some key considerations: Functionality: Both platforms offer a variety of features and capabilities. However, Apigee is a full API management product that provides more out-of-the-box functionality. Amazon API Gateway, on the other hand, is simply an API gateway that relays requests and supports integration with other AWS services. Flexibility: Apigee provides a robust set of tools to facilitate separating your external API exposure from your internal APIs promoting an API First approach to digital transformation. In contrast, Amazon API Gateway can’t match Apigee in terms of flexibility since it’s not an end-to-end API management platform. Ease of use: This is a subjective criterion, but in general, Apigee is considered to be easier to use than Amazon API Gateway. This is due in part to its user-friendly interface and comprehensive documentation. Cost: Both platforms can be expensive, but Apigee generally costs more than Amazon API Gateway. This is because Apigee is a commercial product, whereas you only pay as you go with Amazon API Gateway. Performance: Both platforms offer good performance, but Apigee tends to be slightly faster and more scalable than Amazon API Gateway. However, with its limited dev portal solution, Amazon API Gateway prohibits the use of an outside-in approach to offer a full management product. Ultimately, the decision of which platform to use will come down to a number of factors unique to each project. The best way to determine which is best suited for your specific use case is to consult with an expert who can assess your needs and make a recommendation. Enhance Your API Management with API Portals API gateways provide you with some basic API management capabilities; however, with the rise of citizen development and API productization, you need to be able to make your APIs accessible to developers and non-technical users alike. To do this, you'll need to deploy an API portal that provides you with an API ecosystem that helps you drastically boost your API adoption rate and accelerates your digital transformation. Achieve Internet is the expert when it comes to building and managing your API portals. Having built 100+ developer portals for our clients, we created Apiboost, a cloud-based API portal solution that eliminates the need to build your proprietary platform from the ground up. Ready to boost your API management strategy? Reach out to a specialist.