4 Excellent API Tools That Will Improve Your Integrations | Dreamfactory

Developers need excellent API tools that help them improve the quality of integrations and at the same time, reduce the time required to develop these integrations. Ideally, API tools should reduce the risk of integration and performance issues when developing new applications and should provide an effective means of accessing data that is often locked up in a variety of organisational databases. API tools however come with a variety of features so you need to understand what features are relevant for you and your team and what features aren't necessary. Understanding this will go a long way to making an informed decision on what API platform is best suited for your business and it's API management requirements.

Akana

Akana offers a comprehensive API management platform that makes it easier for DevOps to perform functionality tests quickly. When developers encounter problems, they can augment policies in the coding language of their choice, including Beanshell, Java, Javascript, and Jython (a version of Python that runs on the Java platform).

Other Akana features you should know about include its:

• Open-source API gateway that accepts various security options, including JSON Web tokens, basic auth, and Social Oauth from GitHub.
• API analytics that improve performance and identify issues as they arise.
• Full API life-cycle management that assists with improved functionality while developing, monitoring, scaling, and monetizing products.

Akana Pricing

You can get a free trial of Akana, but you will need to request a custom price quote to keep using it.

Recommended reading: Tyk or Akana: Which Has the Right API Management Tools to Match Your Needs?

DreamFactory

DreamFactory offers exceptional API tests that make sure your applications, microservices, and web services coordinate with endpoints and users. Some of the most impressive features from DreamFactory include:

• Automated SOAP into REST API.
• A low-code platform that allows API creation through a drag-and-drop environment or an application programming interface.
• API limits that automatically throttle API calls to manage costs and prevent attacks.
• Server-side scripting that supports Node.js, PHP, V8JS, and Python.
• Live API documents that use the Swagger open source project for reliable feedback while you try parameters and test applications before deployment.
• Works with Windows, MAC OS, and Linux operating systems.

Learn more about how DreamFactory helps with everything from turning SOAP into restful API to instantly creating APIs.

DreamFactory Pricing

Start a free, 14-day trial with DreamFactory to determine how much time it saves your team. Then, you can request a price quote that matches your organization’s needs.

Kong API Management

Kong provides a range of tools that integrate through a common dashboard. The features you should consider while exploring Kong API Management include:

• Runtime manager that lets you manage Kong Gateway across self-hosted infrastructures, hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and Kubernetes.
• ServiceHub to manage API end-to-end life cycles and improve performance testings.
• Insomnia Integration that lets developers collaborate while testing and deploy APIs via GitOps.

Kong has some excellent features, but it comes with restrictions, too. It only offers single node deployment and only connects to Cassandra and PostgreSQL databases. Even more regrettably, Kong transformations only work with HTTP. Compare that to DreamFactory, which can work with XML, JSON, and more.

Kong Pricing

You need to request a demo with Kong before you can see the platform in action and get a price quote for your organization’s needs.

Recommended reading: Kong vs. Dell Boomi: Find an API Management Platform That Works for You

Tyk

Tyk’s API and web applications management platform offers three main categories of features:

• An open source API gateway that manages communications between the load balancer and origin service.
• An API management dashboard that doesn’t require many technical skills to control access points, rate limiting, and analytics for REST and GraphQL APIs.
• A developer portal that uses Swagger and OpenAPI spec service documentation.

Tyk can help you build APIs, launch functional tests, and debug issues. It’s a great tool, but it may not have all the features that you need, especially if you want instant REST API generation and .NET core functionality.

Tyk Pricing

The amount of money that you spend on Tyk depends on whether you choose the self-managed, cloud, or enterprise edition. Regardless of the product you want, you need to contact Tyk for pricing.

Recommended reading: 3 Best API Management Tools

Other API Functionality Tools to Explore

Want to learn about other functional API tools? Whether you need a comprehensive API management platform or a tool that specialises in API testing, there are a range of products on the market at varying price points that may offer you the features you need. Explore the options listed below to get an idea of the range of API tools that currently exist.

Postman

An API collaboration tool for automated testing, documentation, and sending REST, SOAP, and GraphQL requests.

SmartBear ReadyAPI

A complete API management platform with testing for JMS, JDBC, SOAP, REST, and GraphQ.

Apigee

A cloud-based API management tool owned by Google.

Tricentis Tosca

An open source tool for API test automation, mocks, and performance testing that works with BDD syntax.

SoapUI

A lightweight, open source tester that executes end-to-end tests on APIs, JMS, REST, SOAP, GraphQL, JDBC, and other web services.

Take Control of Your APIs with DreamFactory

Take control of your API management life cycle with DreamFactory. DreamFactory has all the features you need, including automation tools, continuous integration, continuous testing, and instantly turning SOAP APIs into REST APIs.

Schedule a session to talk to an expert at DreamFactory about your project needs. Thousands of other companies already know that DreamFactory has the automation tools, API reuse features, and easy management options that they need for their DevOps teams to streamline workflows and become more efficient.