Postman

Pros

• An IDE committed solely to the development of APIs
• Pricing plans that are all reasonably priced and include a free option for individuals

Cons

• Requires a pretty extensive understanding of APIs from day one

Postman is a piece of software that makes the process of creating new APIs far easier, making it easier for developers or business owners to fold all of the third party services they need into one central hub. APIs are a necessity of the new business order. As traditional software platforms have given way to software as a service as the de facto standard, it can be hard to keep track of the tools you need, and sorting through various complicated interfaces can be a drag. APIs provide a sensible solution, but they can be difficult to develop and almost as difficult to implement. Postman is a development environment devoted exclusively for the creation of APIs, and it couldn't have come at a better time. While it's not a product that will find much use with the casual consumer, it can be a godsend to savvy developers looking to cut back on the time they spend learning new languages and wrestling with the complex code behind the third party services that power the modern business world. It's already gotten traction in the community, and the Postman IDE has an install base of five million developers and over 100,000 companies. Over 130 million APIs have become accessible through the Postman interface.

The great thing about this development environment is that it's built specifically for the creation of APIs. That means that you can expect tools and features targeted towards your needs. One of the cleverest additions is the inclusion of workspaces. No developer is an island, but it can get easy to get caught up in the sea of code being written by fellow team members. Workspaces give you your own IDE you can work in, but it includes expansive sharing options that you can use to ask for advice, collaborate, and implement the various components made by different developers together. Admins have full control over these workspaces, so they can easily adapt projects to match their specific needs.

The workflow of the Postman system follows three critical stages. Designing and mocking up APIs can be handled directly through the Postman interface, and once you have your code in place, you can lean in on debugging and automated testing to make sure that everything will run well out in the wild. The ability to publish your API is also built right in, and once your software is up and running, they continue to offer support through monitoring and documentation tools. It's a product that's committed to helping developers through every phase of a project.

Three different editions of Postman are available, and they scale to the needs of everyone from hobbyists to enterprises. Best of all, they're all affordably priced, so you don't need to worry about straining your pocketbook to make your APIs shine.

Pros

• An IDE committed solely to the development of APIs
• Pricing plans that are all reasonably priced and include a free option for individuals

Cons

• Requires a pretty extensive understanding of APIs from day one