State of
APIs

Developers’ workflows change rapidly.
Here are the insights you helped us collect on the state of APIs in 2021.

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State of APIs

What kinds of APIs are we using?

Internal APIs were still the most common API type that developers reported working on for their organization. However, compared to our 2020 Developer Surveys, more developers in 2021 reported working on partner-facing or 3rd party APIs.

The percentage of developers who reported working on partner-facing was the most noticeable increase across all categories, increasing by almost 10% from 34.6% to 44.3%. This change was even more dramatic in industries like financial services, which grew by nearly 135%.

Technology (Software/Internet)
What types of APIs do you work on?
75.1%
74.4%(2020)
Internal
+0.9%
from 2020
48.9%
44.2%(2020)
Partner Facing
+10.6%
from 2020
53.9%
49.0%(2020)
Third-Party
+10.0%
from 2020

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Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s RapidAPI Developer Survey! We hope this report gives you insight into the API landscape and emerging technology trends.

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