Top 10 Best API Management Tools with Feature Comparison

Top commercial and free open source API Management Tools that You Need to Know:

API management is the process of managing different API functions like API creation, publication, securing, and monitoring.

For making the best utilization of API, there should be proper documentation, increased level of security, thorough testing, regular versioning, high reliability, etc.

All of these API managing requirements can only be satisfied with the help of a tool. This is where API management tools come into the picture and in turn, are becoming popular too.

API Management Overview

API Gateway is the main component of API management solutions. The figure given below will show you the architectural components of API Management Solutions.

API management software helps in API designing, deployment, and maintenance.

The prominent features that almost every API management tool provide include documentation, security, sandbox environment, backward compatibility, high availability, etc. API management platforms also provide usage reporting.

Some API management platforms provide developer portal where the developers can obtain or share the APIs which will be useful to build some applications. The example of such an API management platform with a developer portal is Apigee.

API management services can act as Proxy, Agent, or Hybrid.

API services that act as a Proxy: These services safeguard the back end of services from getting it down because of several numbers of queries. They provide caching capabilities too.

Example: Apigee and Mashery.

API services that act as Agents: These are the plugins to integrate with the server.

Example: 3scale.

API services that provide a Hybrid solution: It is a combination of agent and proxy.

Example: Apigee, 3scale, and Akana

General functions which API management tools provide are:

• Protection of API from getting misused.
• Memory management.
• Traffic monitoring.
• Automating and controlling the connection of APIs and the applications which are using the APIs and
• Ensuring the uniformity in multiple API implementations and versions.

Top API Management Tools Review

Let’s explore the most popular API Management Tools that are available in the market.

Comparison Chart

Let’s Explore!!

#1) API Hub

Best for Unified API design, testing, documentation, and governance.

Price: API Hub offers multiple pricing plans for every team:

• Individual: Starting at $19 per user/month
• Team: Starting at $29 per user/month 
• Enterprise: Starting at $49 per user/month 
• Enterprise Plus: Please contact the company

High-quality APIs start here. API Hub empowers developers and teams to design, test, and document APIs efficiently while aligning to business goals. From individual creators to large-scale enterprises, API Hub ensures collaboration, consistency, and scalability across your API ecosystem.

Features:

• API Hub for Design – Collaborate on API design, enforce standards, and integrate seamlessly with development workflows.
• API Hub for Exploration – Quickly discover, analyze, and interact with APIs in a streamlined environment to accelerate development and ensure optimal API usability.
• API Hub for Contract Testing – Prevent breaking changes and scale microservices contract testing while automating CI/CD testing.
• API Hub for Portal – Deliver clear, up-to-date API documentation with a branded portal for internal and external stakeholders. Ideal for teams looking to enhance API discovery and adoption.

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#2) Apigee

Best for Monetization tools.

Price: It has three pricing plans, i.e. Evaluation, Team, Business, and Enterprises. The evaluation plan is free. For the Team plan, you need to pay $500 per month. The business plan is for $2500 per month.

The price for Enterprise plan will be based on the product and support options.

Apigee API Management is for Partner Apps, Consumer Apps, Cloud Apps, Systems of Record, Employee Apps, and IoT. It provides the features of security, analytics, operations, run-time monetization, mediation, monitoring, and developer portal.

Features:

• It can deliver the solution as a proxy, agent or hybrid solution.
• With Apigee API management solutions, the developers can build and deliver the applications.
• Developers will be able to use the data and tools that are required for building new cloud-based apps.
• Analytics will provide you with information about API traffic and You will also be able to measure the KPIs.

Website: https://apigee.com/api-management/

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#3) 3scale

Best for its developer portal.

Price: There are two pricing plans i.e. Pro and Enterprise. The pro plan is for $750 per month. The company does not provide the pricing details of the Enterprise plan. A free trial is available for the Pro plan.

3scale is an API management platform by Red Hat Software. It will be easier to manage internal and external users with 3scale. It will allow you to share, secure, distribute, control, and monetize your APIs.

Features:

• It has API program tools with the features of access control, analytics, rate limits, security, dashboards, etc.
• There are multiple options for traffic control like open source gateways, hosted cloud service, plugins, CDN options, etc.

Website: https://www.3scale.net/

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#4) IBM API Management

Price: IBM offers six pricing plans for API connect. With the Lite plan, you will get 50K API calls per month for free. The Enterprise plan is for $100 for 100K API calls.

The next plan is Enterprise 25M. You will get 25 million API calls per month for $10,000 with this plan. Enterprise 1B (1 billion API calls per month for $160). Hybrid Professional ($55 per month for 100K API calls). Hybrid Enterprise ($44 per month for 100K API calls). Prices may change based on the data center location.

IBM provides a cloud-based solution for API creation and management through API connect. It provides built-in security and governance functionalities. It is a platform for simple coding, self-service developer portals, and real-time analytics.

Features

• It provides automated, model-driven tools for API creation.
• For APIs and data protection, it provides traffic management and built-in security features.
• The self-service developer portal will empower the developers.
• Analytics on API usage can be available to API providers as well as consumers.
• API testing and monitoring without coding.
• Multi-cloud support for the deployment of components on Docker, AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud private, etc.

Website: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/api-connect

Further Reading => BEST eSignature APIs of the Year

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#5) Akana

Best for Life cycle management tools.

Price: A free trial is available for the product. There are two pricing plans i.e. Akana Business ($4000 per month) and Akana Enterprise (Please contact for the details).

Akana provides an end-to-end API management platform. You can design, secure, implement, monitor, and publish APIs using this platform. It can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.

Features

• Developer Portal.
• Lifecycle manager.
• Traffic management.
• It provides application security by detecting vulnerabilities in the code or during run-time.
• It offers open-source support.

Website: https://www.akana.com

Further Reading => Have you tried these API Marketplaces

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#6) Kong Enterprise

Best for an open-source API management platform.

Price: It is an open-source API management service and is available for free.

Kong provides end-to-end solutions to organizations for their mission-critical applications. It helps in securing, managing, and extending your APIs and Microservices.

Features

• It can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or as a hybrid solution.
• Kong functionality can be extended using plugins.
• It is horizontally scalable, so large and variable workloads are also supported by Kong.

Website: https://konghq.com/kong-enterprise/

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#7) Dell Boomi

Best for Integrating Cloud Applications.

Price: Dell Boomi offers a free plan. The simple monthly plan starts at $549 per month. It also offers customized solutions as per your need through ‘Serious Integration’ plan. A free trial is available for every plan.

Dell Boomi provides a solution to connect applications and data across any cloud. It can work in any hybrid environment. It has a vast library of connectors to help you connect applications in any combination.

Features

• It will allow you to integrate the applications into different combinations E.g. You can connect applications in the public cloud or private cloud.
• It supports different integration patterns.
• With Dell Boomi, you will be able to build integration rapidly.

Website: https://boomi.com/

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#8) Mashery

Best for Conversion to RESTful and SOAP protocols.

Price: Mashery Trial is a free trial of the product for 30 days. Mashery Professional plan starts at $500 per month. There is one more plan which is Mashery Enterprise and the pricing details of this plan are not provided by the company.

Mashery provides a SaaS solution for full life cycle API management. It has API management capabilities for internal APIs, B2B APIs, and public API programs.

Features:

• It will provide the functions of API creation, testing, packaging, and management.
• On-premise API gateway is available for API security.
• Developer portals
• API analytics

Website: https://www.mashery.com/

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#9) Automate by CA Technologies

Best for API gateway.

Price: A free trial is available for the product for 30 days. The essentials plan starts at $1700 per month. The Enterprise plan has custom pricing.

CA Technologies provides SaaS solution for API management. It provides solutions for Agile Development, DevOps, and PPM management etc.

Features:

• It provides a low code development platform for API creation.
• Managing micro services.
• Creation of IoT-ready mobile apps.
• Developer portal.

Website: https://www.ca.com/us/products/apim/api-management.html

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#10) MuleSoft

Best for Connecting applications. It is also best in managing and building APIs.

Price: A free trial is available for the product. There are three pricing plans for Anypoint platform, i.e. Gold, Platinum, and Titanium.

MuleSoft provides a solution for building an application network. It will allow you to design, build, and manage APIs on the Anypoint Platform. API manager will help you in managing users and analyzing traffic. It will also help you to secure APIs through policies.

Features:

• Developer Portal.
• API gateway.
• Anypoint management center will provide you with centralized visibility and control for the applications and APIs that are deployed.

Website: https://www.mulesoft.com/

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#11) Microsoft Azure API Management

Best for Self-service API key management.

Price: There are five pricing plans, i,e. Consumption, Developer, Basic, Standard, and Premium. With the consumption plan one million calls are free. The Developer plan starts at $48.04 per unit per month.

The Basic plan starts at $147.17 per unit per month. The standard plan starts at $686.72 per unit per month. The Premium plan starts at $2795 per unit per month.

Using the Microsoft Azure API management platform, you will be able to manage all your APIs in one place. It will provide you with a token, key, and IP filtering functionalities to secure your APIs. You will get insights through API analytics.

Features:

• Publish APIs for internal and external customers.
• Creation of API gateways.
• Publish and manage microservices architecture.
• Create developer portals.

Website: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/services/api-management/

Also read =>> Azure Monitoring Tool Serveless360

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#12) Astera Data Services

Best for API lifecycle management.

Price: A free trial version is available for the users to try the product. Pricing is available upon request.

An end-to-end API lifecycle management platform that enables users to develop APIs in a zero-code environment, deploy them on the cloud or on-premise, auto-generate API documentation, manage the published APIs, and monitor their consumption through a visual dashboard.

Features:

• Consume APIs using HTTPS methods with just a few clicks.
• Use the design-first approach to build APIs in a drag-and-drop environment.
• Test APIs in design-time through real-time preview and after deployment to ensure zero error probability.
• Secure APIs using advanced authorization and authentication protocols.
• Manage API visibility and configurations through a unified wizard.
• Deploy APIs in the cloud, on-premise, and hybrid.
• Monitor and analyze API performance through visual graphs generated in real-time.
• Automatically generates API documentation through one-click.

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Additional API Management Tools

#13) Oracle SOA:

Oracle API Manager will allow you to create APIs. It supports both REST and SOAP API. It can control the runtime access to APIs and help in tracking the API’s performance. Monthly pricing plans start at $6.60.

Website: https://www.oracle.com/cloud/cloud-native/api-management/

#14) Postman:

Postman provides a complete development environment for API. It helps in different tasks like designing and mocking APIs, debugging APIs, monitoring APIs, and creating a collection of API endpoints. It provides integrated tools for each stage of the API lifecycle.

Teams of any size can collaborate by sharing collections, setting permissions, and managing participation in multiple workspaces. It has three pricing plans, i.e. Free plan, Postman Pro ($8 per month), and Postman Enterprise ($18 per month).

Website: https://www.getpostman.com/

#15) Axway:

Axway provides a cloud-based data integration platform.

It can securely connect systems, apps, and devices. It provides a solution for API management, Content Collaboration, B2B Integration, App Development, Analytics, and Managed File Transfer.

Further Reading => Best Axway File Transfer Alternatives

Website: https://www.axway.com/en

#16) WSO2:

WSO2 provides open-source solutions for API management. It has features for full API lifecycle management, monetization, and policy enforcement. The best feature of this platform is its customizability.

Website: https://wso2.com/

#17) Cloud Elements:

Cloud Elements provides an API integration platform for digital enterprises and SaaS providers. It is used to connect disparate data sources and services using hubs and elements.

It has five pricing plans. The first plan is Tin, which is free. The second plan is Aluminum ($1495, followed by Copper ($2995) and Titanium ($4995). The last plan is Tungsten (It provides a custom enterprise package).

Website: https://cloud-elements.com/

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Conclusion

We have seen the top commercial as well as free open-source API management tools in this article. Apigee has the best monetization tools. 3scale is best for its developer portal. Akana provides the best lifecycle management tool. Kong is an open-source API management platform.

Dell Boomi is best in integrating cloud applications. Mashery is best for conversion to RESTful and SOAP protocols. MuleSoft is best in connecting applications. CA Technologies is best for its API gateway.

Free plans are available with Dell Boomi and Apigee. Azure has a Consumption plan which provides one million calls for free. IBM has a Lite plan that offers 50K calls free every month. Free Trial of the product is available with MuleSoft, CA Technologies, Mashery, Akana, and 3scale.

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