- Ron Huber
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
At Apiboost, we work with API management platforms every day, so the given blog post is our own perspective on how these tools stack up in real-world enterprise use. Of course, we start the assessment with the developer portal our passion and the heart of our product, Apiboost API portal, before moving into other tools that complete the API management ecosystem.
Within just the last few years, API management has exploded into a critical component of every enterprise IT infrastructure.
And it's not just about large corporations with substantial budgets embracing an API-first approach - small businesses and startups are also increasingly more reliant on APIs to run their operations.
With the API economy projected to grow by roughly 600% by 2031, , the pressure is on to manage APIs across the full API lifecycle, from design and deployment to analytics and monitoring.
To truly unlock the value of your API assets, you need more than just basic access management. You need secure API environments, seamless integration, and monitoring tools that give real-time insights into performance and usage.
An efficient API management platform empowers teams to handle various API types, enforce governance, and give non-technical users and developers alike the tools to manage APIs with ease. The best tools allow developers to onboard faster, test in sandboxes, and maintain consistency across environments.
But with so many options out there, how do you make the right choice? In this article, we explore the top API management tools and platforms designed to support secure, scalable APIs with powerful analytics and monitoring capabilities.
What Are the Best API Management Tools?
Choosing the right comprehensive API manager is essential for organizations looking to scale their app ecosystems, ensure robust security, and gain insights into API usage. In 2025, the best platforms go beyond basic gateways: they offer fully managed solutions that monitor APIs, enforce API access control, support version control, and streamline every stage of the API lifecycle. Below, we explore the top API management solutions that help businesses confidently manage and secure their APIs.
Apigee
Microsoft Azure API Management
MuleSoft
Akana
IBM API Connect
1. Apigee
Apigee is Google’s API platform that helps enterprises build, deploy and manage applications in the Google cloud.
With Apigee, you can easily manage your full API lifecycle and innovate faster than ever before.
Top Features
Developer Portal - Apigee includes a developer portal that allows teams to publish API documentation, manage API keys, and onboard developers through a self-service experience. While it supports branding and customization, its out-of-the-box options are relatively limited, so enterprises often need to invest additional resources to align the portal with their corporate UX standards.
Apigee Hybrid - The platform provides you with great flexibility when it comes to deployment. With Apigee, you can host your APIs on-premise, in the cloud, or opt for the hybrid deployment option.
API Ops - Leverage the power of AI to monitor your API performance, automatically detect unusual traffic patterns, and accurately trigger alerts to help your team quickly respond to technical issues and cyber threats.
API Monetization - Cultivate additional revenue streams and maximize the business value of your API assets using a wide spectrum of monetization models, service packages, and integrations.
Powerful Analytics Tools - Analyze your usage patterns to understand how you can better address the needs of your API consumers.
Pricing
Apigee comes with four plans based on your unique API needs: Evaluation, Standard, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus.
Evaluation - This pricing plan is perfect for those looking to explore whether Apigee is a good fit for their business. The 60-day plan includes 100,000 calls per month, two environments, and basic analytics reporting capabilities.
Standard - This pricing package includes 180 million API calls annually, 99% runtime SLA, and more work environments.
Enterprise - This service package is geared towards rapidly growing organizations that need to scale up their API infrastructure, providing 1,2 billion calls on an annual basis, more environments, advanced analytics reports, and custom support for a hybrid deployment.
Enterprise Plus - The ultimate package for large organizations, including 12 billion calls, more top-level containers, and more extensive reporting.
Why we recommend this tool: Apigee is a household name in the API management space, providing best-in-class tools for effectively working with your API assets - regardless of the size of your organization.
2. Microsoft Azure API Management
Microsoft' Azure API management platform is a comprehensive solution for the entire API lifecycle that empowers developers and organizations to create, publish, manage, and monitor APIs.
Using this API management platform, you can control access to your APIs with authentication and authorization mechanisms, easily publish APIs to external and internal API consumers, analyze usage data to optimize your API design, and more.
Top Features
Developer Portal - Azure API Management offers a built-in, open-source developer portal that can be customized and extended through GitHub. It provides interactive documentation, a “try-it” console, and self-service sign-up for API keys. Although functional, the design flexibility is constrained, and customization beyond basic theming may require development effort.
Distributed API Management - Host your APIs in the cloud (using Azure or other third-party solutions) and on-premises.
Advanced Security Measures - From implementing authentication and authorization mechanisms to filtering IP addresses and setting custom usage limits, the platform helps you keep your APIs safe from data breaches and other cyber threats.
API Mocking - Develop your API solutions faster than ever before, streamline the entire development process, and avoid unnecessary entanglements by decoupling frontend from backend.
Pricing
This API management tool comes with six different pricing packages to scale as you grow:
Consumption ($0.035 per 10,000 calls) - This pay-as-you-go plan is perfect for small teams that want to test out the platform.
Developer ($0.07/hour) - This pricing package was designed for non-production use cases, unlocking access to their developer portal, self-hosted gateway, and multiple custom domain names.
Basic ($0.21/hour) - This plan is an excellent option for small to mid-sized APIs that don’t need a lot of bandwidth.
Standard ($0.95/hour) - This option is great for organizations looking to scale up their APIs.
Premium ($3.83/hour) - The pricing package is perfect for large organizations that need extensive API resources.
Isolated - A custom pricing plan for enterprises that have unique API needs.
3. MuleSoft
MuleSoft is a leading provider of API management tools that enable organizations to seamlessly work with their API assets.
With its Anypoint Platform, you can easily create APIs, manage complex integrations, and securely expose your APIs to the world.
Top Features
Developer Portal - MuleSoft’s Anypoint Exchange serves as its developer portal, enabling internal and external audiences to discover APIs, share documentation, and access reusable connectors and templates. It integrates with MuleSoft’s full lifecycle management tools, but the user experience is more utilitarian than branded, making it harder to adapt for marketing or partner engagement.
API Lifecycle Management - MuleSoft offers an end-to-end solution to all of your API needs to effectively design, develop, and maintain your APIs.
Hundreds of Out-of-the-box Connectors & Templates - Connect instantly to mainframes, ERP systems, and SaaS applications.
Flexible Deployment Options - Deploy your API in the cloud, on-premise, or go the hybrid deployment route.
Anypoint Monitoring - Analyze crucial API metrics such as the number of inbound or outbound requests and average response times - all in one place.
Robust API Security Tools - From tokenizing your data to deploying the Edge gateway, MuleSoft provides a wide range of tools to protect your APIs from hackers.
Pricing
MuleSoft comes with three plans: Gold, Platinum, and Titanium - the pricing packages are built to scale as your API environment expands.
Gold - The plan provides access to the core functionalities of the platform for you to get started.
Platinum - This option unlocks enterprise features to accelerate your growth, including global cloud and flexible hybrid deployment, business groups, and external identity management.
Titanium - The plan unlocks mission-critical capabilities, including advanced data analysis and distributed log management.
4. Akana
Akana offers a powerful API management platform, empowering organizations to accelerate digital transformation.
Akana provides the security, scalability, and performance needed to manage your APIs and microservices.
Top Features
Developer Portal - Akana provides a customizable developer portal where organizations can publish API documentation, tutorials, and onboarding flows for different stakeholders. The portal supports partner access and role-based controls, but design options are fairly rigid, limiting the ability to deliver a polished, branded developer experience.
API Lifecycle Management Tools - Design and build your API using the platform to speed up the development process and accelerate digital transformation.
API Importing - Akana allows you to import your existing API in just a few clicks.
Automated API Security - The platform automatically applies pre-built API security policies to ensure the safety of your user base, including OAuth, SSO, JWT, and many more.
Developer Portal - Boost your adoption rates and improve the accessibility of your APIs by deploying a developer portal with custom-tailored interface and functionalities for every key stakeholder.
Pricing
Akana provides you with a custom quote based on your unique API needs upon signing up.
5. IBM API Connect
IBM API Connect is a full-cycle API management platform that enables you to create, manage, and monitor APIs to make them scalable, reliable, and secure.
The platform offers a wide range of features that cater to the needs of different users, including authentication and authorization mechanisms, flexible deployment options, and robust API monitoring capabilities.
Top Features
API Productization - Turn your API assets into market-driven products to drive up the value of your corporate API assets.
Developer Portal - IBM API Connect includes a self-service developer portal where users can register, discover APIs, and request access. It supports community features like forums and application registration, but the customization is largely structural, meaning the overall experience can feel standardized compared to more modern, design-driven portals.
API Development Tools - IBM API Connect provides you with a comprehensive toolset for designing, creating, and testing your APIs.
IBM® DataPower® Gateway - Secure, manage, and keep track of your API traffic using the built-in API gateway.
Pricing
The API management platforms offer three pricing plans to help you grow your API ecosystem:
IBM API Connect Lite (free) - This free plan provides 50,000 calls per month, allowing teams to try out the platform at no cost.
IBM API Connect Enterprise ($100 per 100,000 calls) - This pay-as-you-go plan helps you scale up your expenses as you grow while providing round-the-clock support as well as advanced analytics and deployment options.
Connect Enterprise (custom pricing) - This custom subscription plan helps large organizations manage their API assets in a manageable way while providing superior security, data transfer, and deployment features.
What Are API Management Tools?
Think back to the early days of building your first REST APIs: a few endpoints, basic API testing, maybe a crude log to check if things were working. Fast-forward to today, and the process of API management has become far more complex.
As businesses scale and API ecosystems grow, you need more than just functional endpoints. You need an advanced API management strategy, one that ensures every API response is reliable, secure, and ready to scale.
That’s where API management tools come in. These platforms aren’t just dashboards. They’re the essential tools that give teams a comprehensive suite of tools to design, deploy, secure, and monitor APIs across environments.
From rate limit controls that prevent abuse to real-time monitoring dashboards, from access governance to version control, full-featured API platforms streamline the entire management process. They help you build efficient APIs, craft smart API strategies, and even unlock revenue through microservices and monetization models.
Whether you're exposing internal systems or building public-facing APIs, a strong management layer is no longer optional. It's the backbone of every scalable API ecosystem.
Benefits of API Management
Effective API management is more than just publishing endpoints, it’s about controlling the entire process of API creation, deployment, and optimization. With the right set of tools, businesses can transform how they build, secure, and scale digital experiences.
Full API Lifecycle Management
From design to retirement, API management tools provide end-to-end control. A powerful API designer lets teams build and test efficient APIs, while integrated API monitoring tools help you monitor API performance and spot issues before they impact users.
Robust Security Features
Built-in security features and policy management protect your APIs against threats. Role-based access, rate limiting, and encryption ensure that only the right users access your systems.
Smarter Traffic Management
API gateway and traffic management tools help regulate usage, reduce latency, and prevent downtime, even under heavy loads.
Tools and Services for Every Step
From development to deployment, API tools support everything from API products to support for various API types (REST, GraphQL, SOAP). The right API management tools available today offer everything in one place.
Visibility and Control
Manage APIs easily with centralized dashboards and real-time API monitoring. Businesses get actionable insights and can tweak performance instantly.
Enables Businesses to Scale
A well-managed API ecosystem doesn't just work, it drives growth. Comprehensive tools and services give teams the confidence to scale securely and efficiently.
With the right API management solution, businesses gain not just control, but a competitive edge.
Benefits of Using API Management Tools: Simplify API Development
Behind every great digital product is a well-structured API strategy and that’s where API management tools help simplify and streamline development.
Today, there are many API management solutions available, each offering features that make it easier to understand APIs, control complexity, and maintain performance.
At the core of API management lies the ability to organize, secure, and scale APIs efficiently. A modern API manager offers features like automated documentation, devportals, and access controls that reduce time spent on manual configuration.
API management supports multiple API styles, whether REST, GraphQL, or SOAP, allowing teams to manage APIs consistently across services and platforms.
Top management tools in the market also include API design tools, testing environments, and version control, making it easier to move from prototype to production without losing visibility or control.
Accelerate Digital Transformation with an Effective API Management Platform
With citizen development on the rise, making your APIs accessible for non-technical users, not just developers, is crucial.
This is where API portals come in, helping you consolidate all of your API assets in one place while improving your adoption rates by providing business units and developers with the tools they need to effectively interact with your APIs.
Do you want to learn more? Get in touch with our team to schedule a free consultation.
