SmartBear released the results of its 2023 State of Software Quality | API survey,
which garnered responses from over 1,100 API practitioners in more than
17 industries. Although microservices continue to be the main driver of
API growth, 38% of respondents say artificial intelligence (AI) is
emerging as an increasingly influential driver in future growth of APIs.
First published in 2016, SmartBear has regularly surveyed the API
community to identify industry benchmarks, including trends, best
practices, methodologies, and tools used by developer teams to manage
the API lifecycle.
"As the API industry continues to rapidly evolve, we are excited to
share the most up-to-date API development and management trends, and the
factors contributing to its growth now and in the years ahead," said
Sean Butler, Vice President of API Product Management at SmartBear .
"There are several interesting findings this year, including APIs
supporting event-driven API architectures has increased, we are seeing a
positive trend in API documentation, and API standardization and
security continue to be the top challenges for development teams
worldwide."
Key insights of the 2023 State of Software Quality | API survey include:
-
APIs supporting event-driven API architectures have increased (62%)
while web APIs remain the top experience that APIs are supporting (88%)
with mobile close behind.
-
62% of respondents attribute microservices as the top driver for API
growth while 53% believe the top challenge for the success of
microservices hinges on having the right experience and skills.
-
90% of respondents have documentation in place or plan to have it in
place in the future, while 60% of organizations agree or strongly agree
that having documentation processes ensure their APIs are secure.
-
With rapid API growth introducing fragmentation in how APIs are
designed, built, and secured, API standardization (51%) and security
(40%) continue to be the top challenges that organizations want to
solve.
-
Organizations are making strides to have formal testing processes in
place. In 2023, we saw a 15% increase in companies making formal testing
a priority.
Other findings showed that as teams try to do more with less, APIs are
seen as a means to improve automation across the delivery process.
Practitioners also expect API tooling to integrate better with existing
tooling as APIs cover most organizational capabilities.
The 2023 State of Software Quality | API survey report is available at:
https://smartbear.com/state-of-software-quality/api/