10 API Integration Tools Worth Consideration

In the era of numerous data touchpoints and downstream applications, your organization must be agile in data collection functions. For consolidating real-time data, APIs serve as the foundation for traditional point-to-point integrations or custom-built solutions.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of protocols that enable your software platforms to communicate without needing to know each platform’s internal workings. APIs play a critical role by supporting both legacy and modern systems. Using dedicated API integration tools, your organization can ensure a smooth and swift data exchange across multiple platforms regardless of their location or architecture.

This article delves into a few well-known API and integration tools that you can adopt to modernize your business processes.

What is API Integration?

API integration is the process of connecting two or more software applications to help you exchange data. Through API integration software, you can join several internal and external systems to streamline data operations and improve analytics. 

API integration forms the foundation for cloud-based solutions like Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS). By decoupling the data transfer interface from the application itself, API integration helps you ensure interoperability and eliminate system downtimes. As data volumes increase, you can also enhance scalability and efficiency in data movement functions.

Let’s understand API integration with the help of an example. For instance, if your website integrates with a location-based service like Google Maps to pinpoint the geographical location of your customers. This allows you to develop targeted marketing campaigns for that area without needing to know how Google Maps determined the location internally.

Why Should You Use API Integration Tools?

API integration and management tools help you access data from different environments swiftly and securely. Here are a few key reasons for adopting them:

• Automation: API integration tools help you automate repetitive data integration tasks. It not only reduces manual efforts but also enhances operational efficiency as data can be quickly ingested and processed.‍
• Data Security: API tools provide a standardized framework for different systems to interact with one another. Integration platforms comply with strict privacy laws and even let you secure roles for data access. This helps you protect sensitive information during data transfer.‍
• Scalability: Your organization can use API and integration tools to add data from new platforms and systems. As data volumes keep increasing, you do not have to start from scratch or keep modifying existing frameworks, giving you the flexibility to expand operations.‍
• Real-time Data Access: API integration tools help you capture changes almost instantly as they occur. It enables you to improve responsiveness and take preventative measures to reduce risks in decision-making. ‍
• System Connectivity: With a robust API integration tool, you can obtain data from a traditional on-premise system and move it into modern applications. APIs are compatible with a multitude of systems, helping you break down data silos and integrate data from private, cloud, or hybrid deployments.‍
• Improved Collaboration: By using API integration platforms, different teams within your organization can share data to enhance their applications. You can also collaborate with external partners, such as payment gateways or customer service tools, to refine your offerings.

10 API Integration Tools Worth Your Consideration 

Here are some top API integration platforms and tools that you can consider adopting for your organization:

Airbyte

Airbyte is a widely popular data movement platform that offers a large library of 550+ pre-built no-code connectors. One of the unique features offered by this tool is that you get multiple options to build a data pipeline. You can also leverage Airbyte’s Python environment, PyAirbyte, the Terraform Provider, and Airbyte API to securely extract and transfer data. 

The Airbyte API allows you to programmatically interact with several Airbyte features. The functionality is not limited to helping you extract data from multiple sources and move it into data warehouses, data lakes, and databases. Using the Airbyte API, you can trigger and run syncs, list workspaces, update source credentials, and use data orchestration tools like Airflow in your data pipelines.

Through Airbyte API, you can scale and personalize your Gen AI applications by integrating them with Airbyte Embedded. This feature enables you to add hundreds of data sources to your existing enterprise products. By increasing data sources, your applications and ML models can cross-reference and validate data, improving the quality and reliability of their responses.

To get started with the Airbyte API, all you have to do is sign up for the platform. The API is available for all Airbyte products: Airbyte OSS, Cloud, and Self-Hosted Enterprise. 

Zapier

Zapier is a user-friendly automation tool that allows you to create no-code workflows called Zaps. Using this tool’s free Developer Platform, you can connect your APIs to over 7000+ apps. The Workflow API powered by Zapier helps you build native end-to-end integrations that help enhance the user experience.

Pros:

• Zapier’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for you to integrate APIs.
• You can use the Code Mode feature to write custom JavaScript code to customize your API calls.

Cons:

• You have limited control over custom integrations, making it unsuitable for complex personalized workflows.
• There are rate limits when accessing the Workflow API. If you exceed it, Zapier will need a cool-down period before you can make more requests.

MuleSoft

MuleSoft is a Salesforce-owned platform that offers you a strong API management system through its Anypoint platform. Through its Anypoint API Manager, you can secure your APIs with pre-built or custom security policies. You can also improve your API performance and reliability by analyzing key metrics and user interactions on the platform.

Pros:

• Your organization can govern microservices and group APIs together to simplify consumption with a single API manager interface.
• This platform offers you the opportunity to build APIs from scratch and create personalized API portals for specific use cases.

Cons:

• Your API Portal cannot have more than 350 APIs at a time.
• The Anypoint platform does not have extensive API documentation, making initial setup difficult.

Boomi 

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Boomi is a well-known integration platform that offers 600+ pre-built connectors and AI agents to streamline business processes. The Boomi API Control Plane helps you maximize your API value by supporting the entire API lifecycle in any environment. It is a scalable solution for deploying and managing API operations on a large scale.

Pros:

• You can manage and govern your shadow APIs—third-party APIs that are used outside the official organizational channels–to reduce the risk of cyber attacks.
• Increase your developer team’s productivity by leveraging a consistent portal for on-premise and cloud API management investments.

Cons:

• This API integration tool may provide limited support for APIs that are developed and deployed outside of the platform.
• Boomi sets a limit of 10 API requests per second for each account. Once exceeded, you will receive an HTTP 503 error message.

Workato

The Workato API platform encompasses key API management functionalities, letting you securely create, manage, and secure your APIs in one place. It provides a fully cloud-native architecture where you can enjoy uninterrupted services, such as inline testing tools, auto-generated user guides, and more. You can leverage its API gateway to publish your organization’s existing APIs.

Pros:

• You can brand your APIs with custom domains and automate SSL and TSL management to secure API connections.
• Workato offers a comprehensive dashboard where you can identify, isolate, and fix API performance issues.

Cons:

• Developing and maintaining API integrations can be expensive, as Workato uses API quotas and rate limits.
• You must constantly update or remove unnecessary client profiles on Workato to ensure secure access to APIs.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) provides a robust set of services and built-in tools to help you manage API lifecycles. By leveraging the OCI API Gateway, your organization’s developers can choose from several tools to create API descriptions and prototypes in OpenAPI format. This also assists you in deploying and operating APIs from web and mobile applications.

Pros:

• To quickly edit API specifications, you can use the Code Editor, which comes with Git integration in the OCI console. 
• Based on your application’s requirements, you can restrict or enable API access through the OCI console.

Cons:

• If you are not invested in the Oracle ecosystem or you are not familiar with the Oracle ecosystem, OCI APIs can have a steep learning curve.
• OCI has a smaller market share and developers' community support.

IBM API Connect

The IBM API Connect platform supports all modern API types, such as REST, AsyncAPI, GraphQL, WebSockets, and SOAP. It has a flexible microservices-based architecture that is compatible with almost all development environments, making it a scalable solution for your organization. IBM API Connect has four main components to support the API lifecycle and can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, across hybrid environments, or through SaaS deployment.

Pros:

• This API integration software comes with a gen-AI assistant feature that helps you automate manual, time-consuming tasks, such as writing API documentation.
• The API Connect is available in 13+ languages. During product installation, you can enable your preferred choice through the operating platform.

Cons:

• If you validate an API document above 5 MB, the API governance service will take longer to run, resulting in an HTTP 504 gateway timeout.
• Even if you delete some security requirements from API Designer and API Manager UI components, they may still remain in the source. You must manually remove them each time through API Editor.

Cyclr

Cyclr is an embedded iPaaS API and integration tool that offers you a rich library of 500+ API connectors. The platform has a complete abstraction layer between APIs. This not only separates the underlying complexities from your developers, but it also reduces API development and maintenance efforts. 

Pros:

• You can build custom API integrations through Cyclr’s low-code workflow builder feature and even create automation on top of your API.
• Cyclr’s APIs are easy to use and enable you to maintain your own UI/UX. Alternatively, you can deploy your own UX through the LAUNCH functionality. 

Cons:

• If you choose a third-party API that is not included in Cyclr’s API library, you may not receive enough support.
• Cyclr monitors the number of API calls you make while running its pre-built integration templates. If you exceed the connector’s rate limits, Cyclr will queue API requests and pause the execution.

Jitterbit

Jitterbit is an integration and automation platform that offers Jitterbit API Manager, a web interface where you can create and publish APIs. You can access this feature through its Harmony Portal, which allows you to manage the full API lifecycle. Jitterbit APIs support both standard HTTP and custom-defined methods.

Pros:

• You can use the generative AI-powered assistant to develop, manage, and maintain your APIs.
• Jitterbit APIs can be utilized within your existing systems as well as in new applications that you can create through its App Builder feature.

Cons:

• To access the API Manager, you need to be a member of a Harmony organization and have the required permissions and access levels. This creates vendor lock-in, limiting flexibility.
• Harmony also requires you to conform to certain browser requirements before gaining access to its API Manager interface.

Apigee

Apigee is Google Cloud’s native API management tool where you can build, manage, and secure APIs for any environment or use case. Your teams can create consistent quality APIs without possessing technical expertise. Apigee is freely available for 60 days in your own Google Cloud sandbox environment, allowing you to explore its features cost-effectively.

Pros:

• To create new API specifications with prompts, use the Gemini Code Assist in Apigee. Gemini can also turn these specifications into proxies or extensions for your AI applications.
• The Advanced API Security feature can detect undocumented and unmanaged APIs linked to your Google Cloud L7 Load Balancers.

Cons:

• Unless you are already familiar with the Google Cloud ecosystem, exploring Apigee will be challenging.
• The API proxy resource file size should not exceed 15 MB, resulting in low API throughput.

Why Does Going with an API Integration Platform Instead of Building It In-house Make More Sense?

Building an in-house API integration solution can be complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. Developing custom API to database integrations requires you to hire a dedicated developer and data engineering teams, which leads to an increase in business expenses.

Your team needs to test and handle API changes, authentication protocols, and debugging issues to ensure the pipeline is reliable and ready for use. This process may take weeks and months, stalling all other related functions like data analysis and product innovation, thereby affecting customer satisfaction and profitability. 

API integration tools enable you to automate workflows and simplify data movement. Most platforms offer pre-built solutions as well as special features to help you handle errors and maximize your API performance. Your team does not have to spend time writing complex code or troubleshooting issues, giving them more opportunities to innovate existing products and services.

Going with an API integration platform also ensures your data transfer is more secure and protected. Sometimes, in-house solutions may not comply with industry standards, and a breakdown in the pipeline can result in a data breach. API integration software already has authentication and authorization mechanisms in place to restrict unwanted data access and avoid data leakage. You can check your chosen platform’s security certification and fine-tune API movement for further data protection.

How Can You Utilize the Airbyte API?

API and integration tools like Airbyte help you reduce pipeline development costs by providing built-in connectors and robust features. You can leverage the Airbyte API to streamline your operations on the platform and interact with its various features. Whether you are an Airbyte Cloud user or you have opted for the Airbyte Self-Managed version, configuring API access takes only three simple steps. Let’s take a look at them:

Step 1: Create an Application

• Login to your Airbyte UI and go to Settings>Account>Applications. Click on the “Create an Application” option.

• Add a name to your application:

• You will see that a client_id and client_secret get automatically generated. If you wish to see the client_secret, click on the icon next to it.

Step 2: Get the Access Token

• Using the client_id and client_secret, you can retrieve the access token using this endpoint.
• Airbyte Cloud users can utilize the following POST request to retrieve the token:

POST https://api.airbyte.com/api/v1/applications/token

• Airbyte Self-Managed users should replace <YOUR_WEBAPP_URL> with the following to access Airbyte UI.

POST <YOUR_WEBAPP_URL>/api/v1/applications/token

• You must ensure that the below-mentioned JSON body is attached to your API request by populating your client_id and client_secret:

{ 
  "client_id": "", 
  "client_secret": "" 
  }

• The API response should provide you with an access_token, which can be used to make requests to your API. It is important to note that this Bearer Token is only valid for three minutes.

Step 3: Operate Airbyte through your API

• Once you have successfully configured the above steps, you can make API requests to any endpoint that is listed in the Airbyte API Reference.
• You can also use APIs in Python and Java SDKs offered by Airbyte to make API requests directly in code. It will help you create flexible custom pipelines for certain requirements.

Although Airbyte is a highly secure platform that conforms with most compliance regulations, you can still fine-tune access roles for Airbyte API. Once you have created an application in Airbyte, you can configure permissions for every user that interacts with Airbyte API. This will help you ensure that only authorized users can handle data extraction. 

Airbyte API can help you gather customer data more efficiently by working on the backend of Powered by Airbyte. With this feature, you can add several integrations to your products, eliminating the need to maintain ELT pipelines or engineering cycles on data movement. Your end-users can directly connect their data sources to your product and sync them to an Airbyte destination. 

Airbyte API receives a series of API requests from your product that is integrated with Powered by Airbyte. Using Powered by Airbyte, you can power your product’s frontend UI and completely customize the user experience while capturing essential data at a moment’s notice.

Conclusion

Data collection plays a crucial role in data management functions. Through dedicated API integration tools, you can obtain vast amounts of data from different software systems. In this article, you have explored ten API and integration tools, each with its own distinct advantages and disadvantages. These platforms provide significant benefits and make the process of extracting data more manageable, reliable, and efficient.