Table of Contents
- Summary
- Market Categories and Deployment Types
- Key Criteria Comparison
- GigaOm Radar
- Vendor Insights
- Analyst’s Take
- Methodology
- About Ben Stanford
- About GigaOm
- Copyright
1. Summary
API usage has dramatically risen in the last couple of years, boosted by a trend towards microservices architectures, and hastened by the pandemic’s forced decentralization and the need to respond dynamically to rapidly changing markets. While this approach has clear benefits over monolithic builds, there are challenges around maintaining oversight and control over the services being created, how they communicate, and who can access them. The associated sprawl can undermine the ability to upgrade microservices efficiently and dramatically slows change programs down.
The vendors in this report represent a broad range of capabilities in API management, from sophisticated business-oriented strategies to developer-focused highly customizable platforms. Many API management tools sit within broader platform offerings such as iPaaS, integrations, API design, and AI analytics, adding functionality where enterprises require it. Others maintain open-source components and aim to provide lightweight and easy-to-use mediation to smaller enterprises.
Solutions exist for those with on-premises, single/multicloud, and hybrid deployments, and depending on the extent to which capabilities are required to engage with external developer communities and third-party partners. Similarly, newer standards such as GraphQL and gRPC are provided by some vendors, as are connectors and pre-built APIs that accelerate the development of industry-specific solutions in areas such as open banking and healthcare. Enterprises will benefit from aligning their choice of API management platform with both their current stack and future roadmap to deliver the greatest business value from their services and data.
In the accompanying GigaOm report “Key Criteria for Evaluating API Management Solutions,” we list the major features and evaluation metrics that should be applied when selecting an API management solution. In this report, we analyze the leading solutions in the market, weigh the key criteria and evaluation metrics used to assess them, and identify important technologies to consider for the future. All vendors featured in this report offer viable solutions capable of providing core API management features, but there is much greater differentiation in the more advanced areas that form the key criteria for evaluation.
How to Read this Report
This GigaOm report is one of a series of documents that helps IT organizations assess competing solutions in the context of well-defined features and criteria. For a fuller understanding, consider reviewing the following reports:
Key Criteria report: A detailed market sector analysis that assesses the impact that key product features and criteria have on top-line solution characteristics—such as scalability, performance, and TCO—that drive purchase decisions.
GigaOm Radar report: A forward-looking analysis that plots the relative value and progression of vendor solutions along multiple axes based on strategy and execution. The Radar report includes a breakdown of each vendor’s offering in the sector.
Solution Profile: An in-depth vendor analysis that builds on the framework developed in the Key Criteria and Radar reports to assess a company’s engagement within a technology sector. This analysis includes forward-looking guidance around both strategy and product.