API development services
Accelerate your business momentum with Vention’s custom API development services. Our specialists support every business domain and are ready to help you pinpoint the technologies, models, and benefits best suited to solving your challenges.
Core reasons why companies need APIs
The numbers are solid: 56 percent of developers find APIs helpful when building better digital products. The reasons? It speeds up innovation cycles, integrates systems efficiently, and creates business value. The more significant the companies are, the more frequent their API use is — especially on mobile.
Other reasons to praise API include:
Integration and efficiency
APIs streamline operations and improve efficiency by serving as the “interpreter” between different services within your company. They can be integrated with communication platforms, CRM systems, HR inventory, and external business partners.
Expansion and accessibility
APIs can quickly expand service offerings and reach through complementary applications developed by third parties. These extra access points and services increase the number of customers (and their satisfaction), opening new avenues for revenue.
Innovation and service enhancement
Modern APIs leverage cloud-based services to optimize data storage and analysis, simplifying scaling and reducing infrastructure costs. Adding new functionalities also becomes significantly more accessible than developing an application from scratch.
Scalability and performance
Properly designed APIs allow for better handling of load variances. It’s also easier to scale operations efficiently without significant changes to the backend infrastructure.
Compliance and reporting
With data collection APIs, it’s far simpler to automate compliance reporting and keep tabs on the adherence to industry regulations.
Our API development services
API strategy consulting
Kickstart your API development with a comprehensive implementation strategy. Our consultants help you identify key objectives based on your target audiences, outlining the full scope of which API functionalities you need.
We advise on best practices and architectural styles like REST, GraphQL, and SOAP, delivering secure, compliant APIs aligned with industry standards.
Custom API development
Benefit from API development services tailored to your company. Vention’s experts design scalable, high-performing custom API solutions that optimize communication between your applications, systems, and third-party services.
Whether you aim to enhance internal operations, extend your service offering, or innovate within your market, our teams work closely to ensure you’ll receive tangible business value.
API modernization
Future-proof your business by upgrading any legacy APIs. We develop modernization strategies, adopt new architectures, bolster security, optimize performance, and ensure seamless integration capabilities.
Our detailed approach removes the cobwebs from outdated API infrastructures and allows businesses to keep up with current and future demands efficiently.
API integration
Streamline the connection of your business systems, applications, and third-party services. We integrate APIs to enable smooth data exchange and functionality sharing across your digital ecosystem.
While you unlock new value from existing technology investments, your customers benefit from enriched user experiences, wherever they might be in your ecosystem: Cloud services, SaaS platforms, or custom applications.
API maintenance and support
Safeguard your APIs with our premier maintenance and support services. Our teams proactively monitor API performance, apply necessary updates, and quickly solve issues to minimize downtime.
We also provide consistent enhancements to API functionality to anticipate the natural evolution of tech landscapes. With our support, you can focus on your core business operations, confident that your API infrastructure is in expert hands.
Additional services to consider
API development is a cog in a giant machine. Here are some other associated services you might be interested in:
Custom API types we build
As a rule of thumb, APIs are chosen based on at least one of the following characteristics:
Business needs
When your organization needs to solve specific operational issues:
Open APIs
Publicly available for broad use by consumers or developers.
Internal APIs
Used within an organization to improve internal efficiency.
Partner APIs
Exclusively shared with business partners.
Composite APIs
Multiple APIs combined to perform any necessary complex operations at once.
Functionality
When your business needs to provide or access a specific service:
Payment APIs
Integrate payment processing into applications.
Authentication APIs
Ensure secure user access and identity verification.
Data APIs
Access to datasets like social media stats or the weather.
Geolocation APIs
Enable location-based services and logistics.
AI APIs
Access to pre-trained AI models, including generative ones.
Communication APIs
Enable in-app messaging, email, and voice calls.
Social media APIs
Allow integration with platforms for posting and analytics.
Cloud storage APIs
Provide file storage and retrieval in the cloud.
Technology
When your company needs to tap into a specific technology:
RESTful APIs
Utilize HTTP requests, which are lightweight and straightforward.
SOAP APIs
Structured and secure architectures suitable for enterprises.
GraphQL
Allows clients to request particular data, maximizing precision.
WebSockets
Enable real-time, two-way communication between systems.
The benefits of custom APIs
Custom APIs are designed to meet the unique requirements of your business. Unlike off-the-shelf solutions, which often don’t align fully with the company's processes, the best custom APIs can perfectly fit your technical and operational needs.
Enhanced integration capability
Think fluid integration of disparate systems, software, and technologies within your organization or with external partners. This streamlines workflows and improves data exchange across the board.
Improved efficiency
Custom APIs can reduce manual work by automating tasks and facilitate efficient data exchange — hallmarks of increased productivity.
Competitive advantage
When APIs are specifically tailored to offer unique functionalities or superior performance, they offer operational and commercial competitive edges and set your business apart from competitors.
Increased data control and security
Custom APIs provide better control over how data is accessed, shared, and used, enabling businesses to implement more robust security measures and comply with regulatory standards specific to their industry.
Personalized user experience
Creating tailored services and experiences for your users becomes more manageable when your own APIs are personalized. The detailed insights from your systems and data boost customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Cost efficiency
Although the initial development requires investment, custom APIs reduce operational costs over time with incremental improvements to efficiency. They also reduce a business’s reliance on multiple software platforms (and their subscription costs).
We bridge gaps in your industry
Our expertise, like custom APIs, plays a crucial role across several industries. While custom APIs enable systems, applications, and devices to connect and communicate efficiently, API developers leverage these to solve complex challenges down to detail.
Fintech
APIs in fintech enable secure financial transactions in real-time, either through access to banking services or integration with various payment gateways. Furthermore, they can pull financial data analytics from multiple sources and simplify requirements for regulatory compliance.
Vention’s specialist fintech developers have deep experience crafting secure APIs for payments, open banking services, trading platforms, and financial data analysis, helping fintech companies innovate and deliver enhanced user experiences.
Healthtech
Healthcare-centric APIs facilitate healthcare data exchange between systems, support telehealth services, and monitor patient health through wearables. They must do so while upholding compliance with privacy regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR.
Our healthcare development experts know it and help our customers to ensure that API exchanges sensitive data effectively, securely, and compliant with relevant legislation — without ever cutting corners.
Ecommerce and retail
Ecommerce APIs streamline online shopping experiences for both companies and consumers. They allow businesses to connect to shipping services, manage inventory, and personalize the customer journey to their favorite payment system.
We develop APIs that enhance ecommerce solutions, from payment integration and inventory logistics to personalized shopping experiences, helping businesses grow and satisfy their customers simultaneously.
Marketing and adtech
APIs in adtech and marketing are powerful data analysis allies. When coupled with data analytics tools (many of which are intrinsic to adtech solutions,) they enable next-gen targeted advertising and personalized B2B and B2C marketing campaigns.
Our marketing and adtech expertise taps into the best data analytics practices to deliver APIs that measure your campaign performances thoroughly to enhance user engagement.
Real estate
Real estate APIs focus heavily on simplifying deal closure. They connect buyers with property listings, support virtual property tours, and even integrate mortgage prediction calculators.
We develop real estate solutions, including custom APIs, that do all of the above while tapping into market data analysis for insights into trends and valuations.
Edtech
APIs in edtech support integrating educational content, learning management systems (LMS), and student information systems (SIS). These enable personalized learning experiences and are particularly helpful for remote education.
Our edtech experience includes seamless API integrations for LMS and SIS systems, oriented on accelerating the digital transformation of edtech companies.
Logistics and transportation
Logistics APIs are all about the supply chain. Management, tracking, route optimization, and real-time visibility of goods. Plus, the extra operational efficiency.
They allow for better delivery accuracy and integration with third-party services.
We smartly integrate logistics APIs, especially in IoT devices, to elevate the accuracy of supply chains — from origin to delivery.
Need reliable API development services?
We manage everything from strategy to refinement, efficiently and affordably.
End-to-end API development, step-by-step
While every API is unique, custom API development itself must be systematic. Our time-tested method of developing APIs is the blueprint for a reliable, secure, and scalable final product.
Planning
First, we chat. By talking to you, we identify your business objectives to understand the purpose of the API, its target audience, and its intended role in your business strategy.
This is also our starting point for technical considerations of your API. We’ll detail the requirements, functionalities, data models, and endpoints needed, as well as the API’s scope, limitations, and expected load.
API design and architecture
Then, we move on to pen and paper. Our specialists blueprint a pristine API architecture for intuitive use and efficient performance, including its capacity to handle various loads and transmit data safely.
We also draft the initial documentation, which includes the endpoints, parameters, and example requests and responses, to facilitate early feedback when testing.
Development phase
Here, coding starts in earnest. We prepare the dev environment with all the necessary API development tools and frameworks, choosing the tech stack based on the API requirements.
Our engineers develop the API functionalities according to the technical and business specifications, with special attention to data processing and possible integrations with other services or databases.
API testing and QA
Once the API is completed, our QA specialists conduct comprehensive API testing to ensure the final product meets its design specifications and performs flawlessly. The extensive testing process stresses the API from five different angles: functionality, reliability, load, security, and compatibility.
We take your feedback seriously, actively listening to all stakeholders to incorporate the feedback given and continuously improve your API.
Deployment
After the API is approved, we deploy it to a staging environment that closely replicates the production environment for final testing before it goes live.
Once this final testing is complete and the API is deemed fully stable and ready, it’s time to release it to the real world.
Monitoring and management
But there’s still work to do. Post-launch, our experts use monitoring tools to track the API’s performance, usage patterns, and potential errors in real-time. This is essential for ongoing support and for planning improvements based on user feedback.
To round it up, we keep the API documentation updated with any changes or new features, managing different versions of the API carefully to enable rollbacks if needed without disrupting your user base.
Secure your competitive advantage with us
API security is the top concern of developers. We are no different.
Head of Delivery at Vention
“When there are no security checks on the API side, all the app’s user information is in peril. The potential harm is enormous: personal data compromised, customers losing money, and the inevitable lawsuits that come when that happens. API security is a must.”
We know how vulnerable APIs can be when badly implemented. Yet, the best counter-strategy can be summed up in a single word: diligence. Custom APIs can and should have multiple layers of defense.
That starts with robust security measures, including authentication, authorization, encryption, and data validation, to protect APIs from unauthorized access and threats. Furthermore, we help our customers to ensure that APIs comply with the most common relevant industry regulations and standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS.
Vention’s cybersecurity experts also conduct consistent security and penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities proactively.
Our approach to API development services
Agile development
-
Flexible, rapid, continuous
We employ an iterative and incremental approach to development.
-
Collaboration and feedback
We collaborate closely with stakeholders to ensure alignment with business goals and correct as needed.
CI/CD
- Automated testing
We consistently automate the testing of code changes in a shared repository to find and fix bugs early.
-
Rapid deployment
We also automate the delivery of applications to selected infrastructure environments for quick feature deployment.
API security
-
Authentication and authorization
We implement robust clearance mechanisms to control and limit API access to authorized users.
-
Data encryption
We use encryption protocols to secure data in transit and safeguard sensitive information against interception and breaches.
-
Regular audits and checks
We routinely verify security and compliance in our APIs to curb vulnerabilities and ensure adherence to industry standards.
Scalability
-
Microservices architecture
We build and deploy API services independently to be scaled individually based on demand.
-
Load balancing
We distribute incoming API requests across multiple servers to prevent bottlenecks regardless of load.
Performance optimization
-
Caching strategies
We apply caching to temporarily store copies of frequently accessed data and buffer against huge loads and response times.
-
Performance monitoring and tuning
We monitor your API metrics to fine-tune your system accordingly.
For companies, API design is beyond just ‘important.’ Out of every 100 applications we develop, maybe one won’t have any APIs — maybe.
There’s no modern application development without it. It’s an integral part of the client-server architecture and thus present in our daily lives directly or indirectly every day.”
Do you know how integral APIs are to your next project?
We can help you pinpoint your API strategy, implementation, and maintenance routine.
Why Vention
Years of experience implementing solutions
Cooperation models to meet your needs
Guidance on selecting stacks that reduce both initial and ongoing maintenance costs
Successfully delivered projects
Delivery on time, on budget, and on scope
Robust security measures endorsed by an ISO 27001 certification
What our clients say
“After determining the best market fit, we built out the entirety of our technical infrastructure. That included API integrations and documentation… Everything was completed on time, and delays and downtime were sporadic. I was really impressed by that, previously thinking this was unachievable.”
Jeff Shek
VP of Engineering at HistoWiz
“From the very beginning, our experience with them has been nothing short of exceptional. As our business gradually expanded, we relied more heavily on their team of skilled contractors who consistently exceeded our expectations…The contractors provided invaluable support, going above and beyond to ensure the successful completion of our projects. Their expertise and dedication were instrumental in achieving remarkable results.”
Joe O'Connell
VP of Product at Seed-stage Startup
“Their Python developer worked on various backend APIs on our website as well. The API allows our partners to push information into our platform so our customers would have a seamless experience…The Python developer also developed an API from scratch with various endpoints for our partners to connect to… The partner's API contributed 20% of our revenue growth in 2019. Vention has been instrumental for those partnerships.”
Our tech stack
Here’s a list of the API-related technologies and tools we favor the most:
Programming languages
Node.js
Ruby
Java
Golang
JavaScript
PHP
.NET
Python
C++
API architectures and microservices
REST
raphQL
SOAP
API protocols and standards
HTTP/HTTPS
WebSocket
OAuth 2.0
Development and deployment tools
Docker
Kubernetes
API Gateways
API management tools
AWS API Gateway
Azure API Management
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Google Cloud’s Apigee
Kong
API testing tools
Postman
SoapUI
Swagger Tools
OpenAPI
JMeter
Insomnia
Cloud services
AWS
Azure
Heroku
Google Cloud Platform
Advanced technologies
AI / ML / Computer Vision
Blockchain
IoT
VR/AR
Case studies
All cases
FAQ
Which key features are commonly associated with APIs?
-
Authentication and authorization – Ensures that only authorized users can access the API.
-
Rate limiting – Prevents abuse by limiting the number of requests a user can make within a specific timeframe.
-
Caching – Improves response times and reduces server load by temporarily storing frequently accessed data.
-
Error handling – Provides meaningful error messages and codes to help developers fix issues.
-
Data format – Uses standard formats like JSON for lightweight, easy-to-parse responses.
-
Versioning – Manages changes without disrupting existing clients, allowing controlled updates.
-
Documentation – Offers comprehensive guides on endpoints, parameters, and usage to facilitate integration.
-
Security measures include HTTPS, input validation, and data encryption to protect the API and its users.
-
Webhooks – Sends real-time notifications to other applications upon specific events.
What is the main difference between a custom API and a standard API?
-
Custom API – Explicitly designed for an individual business or project, tailored to meet unique requirements, and integrate seamlessly with existing systems.
Custom APIs are built from scratch, allowing complete control over functionality, security, and scalability to match specific operational needs. They provide a high level of flexibility and can be adapted to evolving business requirements over time. -
Standard API – Also known as "off-the-shelf" or public APIs, these are developed to meet the general needs of a broad audience rather than tailored to specific use cases.
External organizations pre-built and maintained standard APIs, offering standardized functionalities allowing easy integration with widely used services and platforms. They are designed to adhere to common standards and practices, ensuring compatibility and ease of use. Still, they may lack the flexibility to meet a specific business's unique needs.
How much time does it take to develop an API?
The time to develop an API varies based on complexity, endpoints, integrations, and team expertise. Rough estimates are:
-
Simple API – Basic features with limited endpoints; a few weeks to 1 month.
-
Medium Complexity API – More features and moderate endpoints; 1-3 months.
-
Complex API – Advanced features, extensive integrations, high security; 3-6 months or more.
Factors affecting development time include requirement changes, development methodology, testing depth, and documentation efforts. Accurate timelines require detailed planning with the development team.
How much does it cost to build an API? Which factors do the cost impact?
The cost of building an API varies significantly, influenced by complexity, integrations, security, the expertise of the API development company, and the API technology stack. Simple APIs may start from a few thousand dollars, whereas complex APIs can escalate to tens or hundreds of thousands.
Factors like the project scope, testing and quality assurance, documentation, and maintenance are crucial in determining the overall cost. Our team is ready to provide a detailed assessment and estimation for a precise cost estimation tailored to your project's specific requirements and goals, ensuring transparency and alignment with your objectives.