2022 State of
APIs

Developers’ workflows change rapidly.
Here are the insights you helped us collect on the state of APIs in 2022.

Who did we survey?

The Rapid Developer Survey received 850 responses from over 100 different countries. Many of the respondents were professional developers, with over 85% reporting that they program as part of their job or education.

Overall, the survey respondents represent a wide variety of organization sizes, experience levels, and industries.

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Find challenges (with solutions!) and interactive examples & visuals to help you become a pro API developer.
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What are our favorite languages?

We asked questions to determine what languages developers use and which ones they prefer. Although JavaScript still being the most used language, it has lost ground this year, while TypeScript has grown by 4% since 2021. Older languages’ usage continued to fall — see Java, PHP, C#, and .NET moving down.

GoC.NETC++TypeScriptC#PHPJavaPythonJavaScript
More prefer this language
(% of respondents)
More use this language
(% of respondents)
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What tools are we using?

This year, we saw an increase in the usage of all types of APIs. Webhooks, Serverless & FaaS, and REST API are being used by more and more developers. While the changes are subtle, we expect newer types of APIs will continue to grow in popularity as the technology matures.

How to read

Each colored bar indicates the change in the percentage of people in each bucket from 2021 to 2022:
increasing, sustaining, or decreasing.

20% (2021)
10%
Unfamiliar
10% (2021)
10%
Aware of but not using
20% (2021)
20%
Investigating
20% (2021)
20%
Currently in POC
30% (2021)
40%
Using in production
Increasing usage
Increasing familiarity

—— Increasing familiarity & usage —-->

REST
REST was used more in production and more people are aware of it.
9.7% (2021)
6.8%
Unfamiliar
13.6% (2021)
8.7%
Aware of but not using
9.6% (2021)
7.4%
Investigating
7.8% (2021)
7.8%
Currently in POC
59.3% (2021)
69.3%
Using in production
Webhooks
Webhooks were used more and more people are aware of them.
27.6% (2021)
20.8%
Unfamiliar
25.1% (2021)
25.8%
Aware of but not using
13.5% (2021)
10.9%
Investigating
7% (2021)
7.9%
Currently in POC
26.8% (2021)
34.6%
Using in production
Websockets
Websockets were used more and more people are aware of them.
20.7% (2021)
17.1%
Unfamiliar
31.3% (2021)
31.9%
Aware of but not using
15% (2021)
15.3%
Investigating
7.8% (2021)
6.2%
Currently in POC
25.3% (2021)
29.5%
Using in production
AsyncAPI
AsyncAPI was used more and less people are aware of it.
34.8% (2021)
34.5%
Unfamiliar
22.7% (2021)
20%
Aware of but not using
13.9% (2021)
11.6%
Investigating
6.8% (2021)
7.3%
Currently in POC
21.8% (2021)
26.5%
Using in production
Serverless & FaaS
Serverless & FaaS were used more and less people are aware of them.
34.8% (2021)
30.7%
Unfamiliar
27% (2021)
24.9%
Aware of but not using
13.8% (2021)
12.7%
Investigating
6.9% (2021)
6.2%
Currently in POC
17.4% (2021)
25.4%
Using in production
SOAP
SOAP was used more and more people are aware of them.
29.6% (2021)
25.9%
Unfamiliar
35.2% (2021)
38.6%
Aware of but not using
10% (2021)
7.7%
Investigating
4.8% (2021)
4.8%
Currently in POC
20.4% (2021)
23%
Using in production
GraphQL
GraphQL was used more and less people are aware of it.
25.1% (2021)
23.3%
Unfamiliar
36.8% (2021)
35.5%
Aware of but not using
15.9% (2021)
15.2%
Investigating
7.5% (2021)
7.4%
Currently in POC
14.7% (2021)
18.6%
Using in production
Kafka
Kafka usage increased and more people are aware of it.
48.6% (2021)
46.6%
Unfamiliar
27.3% (2021)
28.8%
Aware of but not using
9.2% (2021)
8.2%
Investigating
5.3% (2021)
3.7%
Currently in POC
9.6% (2021)
12.6%
Using in production
gRPC
gRPC was used more and more people are aware of it.
60.2% (2021)
55.3%
Unfamiliar
22.2% (2021)
24.6%
Aware of but not using
8.4% (2021)
8%
Investigating
3.8% (2021)
4%
Currently in POC
5.4% (2021)
8.2%
Using in production
Learn GraphQL in 5 mins
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How much do we rely on APIs?

Over 62.6% of developers reported relying on APIs more in 2022 than they did in 2021. Additionally, 69.2% expect to rely on APIs even more in 2023.

I relied on APIs...
2021 → 2022
Compared to 2021, did you rely on APIs more, less, or about the same in 2022?
Less
5.1%
About the Same
28.1%
More
62.6%
Unknown
4.2%
I will rely on APIs...
2022 → 2023
Do you expect to rely on APIs more, less, or about the same in 2023?
Less
2.0%
About the Same
24.9%
More
69.2%
Unknown
3.8%
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How important is it to participate in the API economy?

This figure was even higher in specific industries, including telecommunications, professional, and financial services. Nearly all organizations with an active, high-priority project around APIs or microservices agreed that participation in the API economy was important.

Participating in the API economy is a top priority for my organization’s strategy.
All responses
59.3%
Yes
16.4%
No, but it will be a priority
24.3%
No
From people who work at organizations in...
Financial Services
67.4%
14.0%
18.6%
Technology (Software/Internet)
63.6%
14.8%
21.5%
Manufacturing
57.1%
14.3%
28.6%
Telecommunications
72.2%
11.1%
16.7%
Healthcare
43.5%
13.0%
43.5%
Professional Services
59.5%
16.2%
24.3%
Government
41.7%
16.7%
41.7%

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 2021 Developer Surveys, more developers in 2022 reported working on partner-facing or third-party APIs.

The percentage of developers who reported working on partner-facing and third-party APIs was the most noticeable increase across all categories, increasing by almost 5% from 44.2 to 48.9 and 49% to 53.9%, respectively. This change was even more dramatic with partner-facing APIs in industries like Technology, which grew by nearly 10%.

What types of APIs do you work on?
75.1%
74.4%(2021)
Internal
+0.7%
from 2021
48.9%
44.2%(2021)
Partner Facing
+4.7%
from 2021
53.9%
49.0%(2021)
Third-Party
+4.9%
from 2021

Are we monetizing APIs?

Developers from industries including financial services, technology, telecommunications, and healthcare reported monetizing APIs at an above-average rate. There is also a marked increase in monetization from people who work in organizations that use over 10 APIs.

As we move into 2023, we expect even more organizations will take advantage of the API economy and monetize their APIs.

All responses
42.6%
40.7%(2021)
+4.7%
From people who work at organizations that...
...are in Professional Services
26.8%
30.3%(2021)
−11.6%
...are in Technology (Software/Internet)
45.2%
42.3%(2021)
+6.9%
...are in Healthcare
41.7%
42.9%(2021)
−2.8%
...are in Financial Services
52.3%
45.0%(2021)
+16.2%
...are in Telecommunications
57.9%
57.8%(2021)
+0.2%
...have 10+ Internal APIs
49.1%
48.1%(2021)
+2.1%
...have 10+ External APIs
50.9%
50.1%(2021)
+1.6%
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How do APIs scale with organization size?

We found the number of APIs an organization maintains grows with the size of the organization. Nearly 40% of the largest companies we surveyed reported having over 250 internal APIs. This increase mirrors our findings from 2020 and 2021.

Number of Internal APIs that the organization uses
0 to 10
11 to 50
51 to 100
101 to 250
250+
1 to 50
63.8%
23.6%
10.1%
1.0%
1.0%
51 to 200
37.4%
28.6%
19.8%
6.6%
5.5%
201 to 1,000
26.2%
32.3%
18.5%
10.8%
10.8%
1,001 to 5,000
6.8%
40.9%
22.7%
9.1%
15.9%
5,001 to 10,000
9.1%
36.4%
21.2%
12.1%
21.2%
10,000+
18.0%
9.8%
21.3%
8.2%
37.7%
Number of employees in the organization
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How important is API testing?

Are we using tools for API testing?
Yes
45.8%
I write tests in my code
36.6%
No, but I plan to
15.9%
No, and I don't plan to
0.9%
No, and I don't know what API testing is
0.9%
What types of API testing are we doing?
Functional Testing
34.4%
Integration Testing
30.4%
Acceptance testing
17.2%
Performance Testing
7.0%
Load Testing
0.4%
Security Testing
4.0%
Workflow Testing
2.6%
Other
2.6%
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Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Rapid Developer Survey! We hope this report gives you insight into the API landscape and emerging technology trends.

View 2021 state of APIs