Report:
The Forrester Wave™: API Management Software, Q3 2024
How does Forrester define the API Management Software market in 2024?
API management software enables organizations to manage relationships between API providers and API users across enterprise boundaries. The market is driven by APIs becoming central to business strategy, with increasing demand from AI agents and need for API product management, automated governance across gateways, and cloud-native solutions. Organizations have varying use cases from internal efficiency to external monetization, requiring different breadth and depth of features. Key selection factors include alignment with API strategy (tech-led vs. business-led), API user engagement and governance needs, and planning for future evolution scenarios.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: API Management Software, Q3 2024 in 2024
- Publication Date: 30-Jun-2024
- Document ID:
- Summary: In our 24-criterion evaluation of API management software providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps IT professionals select the right one for their needs.
- Authors: David Mooter, Chris Gardner, Caroline Provost, Kara Hartig
How did the API Management Software market evolve in 2024?
- API strategy is a core part of business strategy for most enterprises
- APIs optimize customer experiences, extract value from legacy systems, and expand product capabilities
- AI agents are increasing API demand as the primary means of AI-driven commerce and agent-to-agent communication
- APIs are key for providing data to model training and retrieval-augmented generation
- Organizations need increasing API product management, automated API governance across gateways, and cloud-native gateways
- API programs have widely varying use cases, governance styles, business models, and delivery processes
- The market shows broad variation in breadth and depth that buyers need from API management software
- 15 vendors were evaluated in this Forrester Wave assessment
- Evaluation materials were submitted by April 30, 2024
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- A complete API management product. The vendor must offer a product or product bundle that has all three core elements in Forrester's definition of API management at a minimum: an API consumer portal suitable for engaging an external developer audience, administration portal for API providers, and API gateway.
- A standalone API management product. The vendor's solution must be credible as a standalone product and separate from any associated products such as an application platform or business application (i.e., it must be credible for buyers to include on their shortlists even if it is the only product they buy from the vendor).
- Revenue of at least $11 million. Forrester estimates each vendor has earned at least $11 million in API management solution revenue in the prior year.
- At least 90 enterprise customers. Each vendor has at least 90 enterprise customers, where an enterprise customer is defined as having 1,000-plus employees.
- Relevancy to Forrester's enterprise clients. Forrester clients frequently mention the product as one they are considering or shortlisting prior to a purchase. We have heard about the product from our clients in the form of inquiries, advisories, consulting engagements, and other interactions over the past 12 months, and other vendors frequently mention this vendor as a competitor in the market. Or Forrester suggests the product to our clients due to differentiating features that extend beyond basic publishing for REST APIs.
What are the common features of top products in the API Management Software space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Vendors with incomplete API management products lacking consumer portal, administration portal, or API gateway
- Products that are not credible as standalone solutions separate from larger platforms
- Vendors with less than $11 million in API management revenue
- Vendors with fewer than 90 enterprise customers (1,000+ employees)
- Products not frequently mentioned by Forrester clients or lacking market relevance
- Specialist vendors offering only individual components (design tools, testing tools, monetization) available as standalone products
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- Complete API management product with API consumer portal, administration portal, and API gateway
- Standalone API management product credible as separate from associated products
- Revenue of at least $11 million in API management solution revenue
- At least 90 enterprise customers with 1,000+ employees
- Relevancy to Forrester's enterprise clients through frequent mentions in inquiries and advisories
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Portal for API consumers — 12%
- API user engagement — 11%
- REST API specification design and validation — 5%
- REST API proxy mediation — 6%
- REST API documentation — 5%
- Beyond REST API management — 11%
- Microservices support and integration — 6%
- Versioning and delivery tooling — 2%
- API creator teams and organizations — 2%
- Formal lifecycle management — 6%
- API policy and security — 10%
- API product management — 10%
- Architecture and deployment options — 6%
- Analytics and reporting — 6%
- Federated gateway management — 2%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 20%
- Innovation — 15%
- Roadmap — 15%
- Partner ecosystem — 10%
- Adoption — 15%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 10%
- Supporting services and offerings — 15%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 15 API management software providers across 24 criteria grouped into three categories: Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence. The evaluation examines vendors' capabilities for managing relationships between API providers and users, supporting various API strategies including API product management, automated governance, cloud-native gateways, and protocols beyond REST. It includes detailed vendor profiles with strengths and weaknesses across Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, and Challengers categories.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: IT professionals and technology decision-makers selecting API management software should use this research as a starting point for vendor evaluation. It is particularly valuable for organizations determining their API strategy alignment needs, API user engagement and governance requirements, and planning for future evolution. Buyers should adapt the evaluation criteria weightings using the provided Excel tool to match their specific requirements, whether focused on business-led digital transformation, technical engineering, security, microservices, or multi-protocol API management.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: All vendors included in this evaluation must provide a complete API management product containing three core elements: (1) an API consumer portal suitable for engaging external developer audiences, (2) an administration portal for API providers to manage APIs, and (3) an API gateway for traffic management and security. The solution must be credible as a standalone product independent of other vendor offerings. Additionally, vendors must demonstrate market viability with at least $11 million in API management revenue, serve at least 90 enterprise customers with 1,000+ employees, and show relevance to Forrester's enterprise clients through frequent consideration in purchase decisions or unique differentiating features beyond basic REST API publishing.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Incomplete product offering missing one or more core components (consumer portal, admin portal, or gateway)
- Product not credible as standalone solution, only viable when bundled with broader platform
- Insufficient revenue - less than $11 million in API management solution revenue
- Limited customer base - fewer than 90 enterprise customers with 1,000+ employees
- Low market relevance - infrequent mentions by Forrester clients and limited competitive positioning
- Specialist vendors offering only individual API management components without complete solution
- Vendors focusing primarily on basic REST API publishing without differentiating features
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Align API management selection with your specific API strategy - one size does not fit all, and simpler strategies may be better served by lower-rated vendors
- Determine your approach to API user engagement (internal vs. external) and required portal sophistication level
- Define your governance model - from hands-off to structured lifecycles with approval policies - and whether federated governance is needed
- Consider if you have or will have multiple API gateways from different vendors requiring unified management
- Evaluate support for protocols beyond REST if you need GraphQL, asynchronous events, or other API styles
- Assess whether you need API productization and monetization capabilities for business-led strategies
- Plan for likely evolution scenarios (M&A, internal to external shift, scaling to hundreds of APIs) and ensure the vendor can support them
- Consider best-of-breed approach by bundling specialist tools for specific functions with core API management
- Evaluate pricing models (consumption-based vs. instance/CPU-based) for alignment with your usage patterns
- Assess the vendor's innovation trajectory, roadmap clarity, and ability to support emerging needs like AI integration
Q: How has the API Management Software market evolved in 2024?
A:
- API strategy is becoming part of business strategy for most enterprises
- AI agents are increasing API demand as the primary means of AI-driven commerce and agent-to-agent communication
- APIs are key for providing data to model training and retrieval-augmented generation
- Growing need for API product management and automated API governance across different gateways
- Shift toward cloud-native gateways and microservices architectures
- Evolution from REST-focused programs to include asynchronous events
- Transition from IT-led internal API strategies to business-led external consumption models
- Federated governance models required for scaling in large organizations
- Multiple gateway environments creating governance complexity
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Strength of Offering evaluates the current capabilities and features of the vendor's API management product across 15 criteria including portal functionality, API management capabilities, security, governance, and technical features. Strength of Strategy assesses the vendor's future direction and market positioning across 7 criteria including vision, innovation roadmap, partner ecosystem, adoption approach, pricing model, and supporting services. Offering focuses on 'what the product can do today' while Strategy focuses on 'where the vendor is headed and how they support customers.'
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: API Management Software, Q3 2024, 30-Jun-2024, ID
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