Must-Know API trends in 2023

According to Google, APIs are now the “crown jewels” of modern software development, providing the connective tissue that powers nearly every digital product available today.

What do developers do with APIs these days? Find out in this breakdown of the relevant trends in API use in 2023

What is the future of APIs? Where are we headed in this burgeoning intersystem communications industry that has brought us closer and helped us work more efficiently than any innovation since the invention of the world wide web?

I’ll tell you this for free; as much as we’ve progressed in the use and development of APIs, there’s still so much untapped potential.

A 2021 State of the API Report by Postman, revealed that organizations will keep on investing in APIs as an essential part of their business strategies.

What’s more, according to the majority of respondents (94%) in that study, the investments in APIs will grow or stay the same for the next year. There’s no sign of slowing down.

To help you make the best choices going forward, I’ve curated a list of the most relevant API trends you should know about

Must-Know API Trends in 2023

API analytics and monitoring platforms
API-as-a-Product
The proliferation of low code and no code API development
Machine learning APIs
Improvement in API security standards
GraphQL Adoptability will Accelerate
Increasing power of AI and machine learning
The Adoption of Microservices Will Promote the Development of APIs

1. API Analytics and Monitoring Platforms

It goes without saying that APIs need to be monitored. With millions of people being affected yearly due to API-related website downtimes, not monitoring APIs is like flying an airplane without communicating with its control tower; it’s essentially flying blind.

The unsung superheroes who ventured into the development of API analytics and monitoring saw the future and decided to prepare for it now.

To get ahead of your competition and scale seamlessly, you need real-time data to make informed decisions. API analytics are valuable across the company. Such analytics are designed to capture a wide range of metrics for use by several teams.

APIToolkit.io is a one stop solution for API observability and monitoring. You really should check us out.

2. The Rise of API-as-a-Product

APIs have enabled completely new business models to surface, such as API-as-a-Product.

API-as-a-Product is a rapidly growing trend in the sphere of software development.

B2B businesses respond to changing trends, and API-as-a-Product is the natural evolution of the B2B landscape. A prime example of this type of product offering is Twilio, a communications facilitation platform. Twilio itself is not a chat platform—it is a connection platform that allows agents and customers to communicate on various other platforms.

This core product offers communication benefits to companies for integrating proven channels into their existing infrastructure instead of creating their own communication channels and methods.

Read: The Rise of API-as-a-Product: How Companies are Leveraging APIs to Drive Revenue

3. The Proliferation of Low-code and No-code API Development

In the past, few companies could boast of a low-code/no-code approach. Today, SaaS services, and mainframe technologies have changed the narrative.

For complex integrations between multiple applications in a production environment low-code programming techniques have helped companies to develop their applications through a simple drag-and-drop interface to create the desired functionality.

A remarkable benefit is that no-code platforms are easily customizable. As a result, a low-code tool can make API integration much easier with no need for specialized IT experts.

As API adoption continues to rise across industries, low code/no-code features will become increasingly important in 2023. Companies looking to scale new APIs should apply low-code/no-code approaches to reach efficiency in the development lifecycle.

Read: How to Generate Automated API Documentation

4. Machine Learning APIs

Based on the general shift in trends across the software industry, I anticipate that in 2023 many organizations will begin utilizing AI or ML technologies simply because so many more are becoming available via APIs.

Main areas of interest include translation services, speech recognition, chatbots, predictive analytics, and customer service automation tools.

A prime AI/ML API example worthy of note is Amazon Machine API. This API helps users carry out different machine learning tasks and easily enables building, training, and deployment of ML models.

The API is built on the Amazon cloud platform and so it allows users to choose from many pre-trained AI services for forecasting, computer vision, language, and other capabilities.

Read: How to Write API Docuentation: 10 Essential Guidelines

5. Improvement in API Security Standards

In a 2021 report by Postman, when asked about the factors that are considered before integrating with an API, more than two-thirds of survey respondents mentioned these four factors: security, performance, reliability, and documentation.

API security refers to the protection of API integrity. Organizations that adopt AI and ML technology should especially make API security a priority because AI and ML require massive amounts of data, and security practices to scale, protect, and better serve customers.

Security measures cover a lot of schemes, including API key, HTTP Basic Authentication, and OpenID Connect.

Besides, you need to understand if the company’s infrastructure is secure, establish a practice of regular infrastructure and application penetration testing, and detect if you have any vulnerabilities.

6. GraphQL Adoptability will Accelerate

Gartner predicts that by 2025, more than 50% of enterprises will use GraphQL in production, up from less than 10% in 2021. REST API remians the most widely used standard for creating APIs, however, developers are increasingly tilting towards GraphQL because of its adaptability and simplicity.

7. Increasing Power of AI and Machine Learning

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning for API development will increase. Currently, AI has simplified API development with its ability to auto-generate documentation, provide API monitoring and observability services, etc., and its use will only increase in the 2023 and in the coming years.

8. Increased API Security

API adoption has rapidly grown over time, and this has opened up potential loopholes for attackers to probe and exploit multiple connections. To address this issue, API systems now offer sophisticated API security mechanisms including authentication (AuthN), authorisation (AuthZ), and rate-limiting restrictions. Furthermore, API-based technologies that provide security threat analysis as a service will become more popular.

9. The Adoption of Microservices Will Promote the Development of APIs

In the previous five years, the use of microservices has increased dramatically, and adoption is anticipated to continue growing. Microservices architectures are widely used because of its reusable and modular service design. It makes sense to build microservices using an API-driven model.

Allied Market Research predicts that the market share of microservices will increase linearly. Also, as more companies begin to use microservices, they will adopt an API-driven strategy to support them. The scalability and flexibility required to support a decoupled microservices architecture will be made possible by these APIs.

Read: Key Benefits of API Integration for Developers

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t matter the industry, many teams and companies are trending towards adopting APIs.

To leverage new opportunities, companies should embrace an API management platform that can safely consume available external AI and ML APIs. This requires advanced API security features, solid analytics, and a convenient interface to manage the lifecycle.

APIToolkit is your go to platform for all things API observability and monitoring.

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