Alternatives to OpenAPI logo

Alternatives to OpenAPI

JsonAPI, Postman, GraphQL, OData, and RAML are the most popular alternatives and competitors to OpenAPI.
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What is OpenAPI and what are its top alternatives?

It is a publicly available application programming interface that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service.
OpenAPI is a tool in the API Tools category of a tech stack.
OpenAPI is an open source tool with 19.5K GitHub stars and 7K GitHub forks. Here’s a link to OpenAPI's open source repository on GitHub

Top Alternatives to OpenAPI

  • JsonAPI
    JsonAPI

    t is a format that works with HTTP. A main goal of the specification is to optimize HTTP requests both in terms of the number of requests and the size of data packages exchanged between clients and servers. ...

  • Postman
    Postman

    It is the only complete API development environment, used by nearly five million developers and more than 100,000 companies worldwide. ...

  • GraphQL
    GraphQL

    GraphQL is a data query language and runtime designed and used at Facebook to request and deliver data to mobile and web apps since 2012. ...

  • OData
    OData

    It is an ISO/IEC approved, OASIS standard that defines a set of best practices for building and consuming RESTful APIs. It helps you focus on your business logic while building RESTful APIs without having to worry about the various approaches to define request and response headers, status codes, HTTP methods, URL conventions, media types, payload formats, query options, etc. ...

  • RAML
    RAML

    RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML) makes it easy to manage the whole API lifecycle from design to sharing. It's concise - you only write what you need to define - and reusable. It is machine readable API design that is actually human friendly. ...

  • gRPC
    gRPC

    gRPC is a modern open source high performance RPC framework that can run in any environment. It can efficiently connect services in and across data centers with pluggable support for load balancing, tracing, health checking... ...

  • REST
    REST

    An architectural style for developing web services. A distributed system framework that uses Web protocols and technologies. ...

  • Insomnia REST Client
    Insomnia REST Client

    Insomnia is a powerful REST API Client with cookie management, environment variables, code generation, and authentication for Mac, Window, and Linux. ...

OpenAPI alternatives & related posts

JsonAPI logo

JsonAPI

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A specification for building apis in json
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+ 1
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PROS OF JSONAPI
    Be the first to leave a pro
    CONS OF JSONAPI
      Be the first to leave a con

      related JsonAPI posts

      Postman logo

      Postman

      92K
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      Only complete API development environment
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      1.8K
      PROS OF POSTMAN
      • 490
        Easy to use
      • 369
        Great tool
      • 276
        Makes developing rest api's easy peasy
      • 156
        Easy setup, looks good
      • 144
        The best api workflow out there
      • 53
        It's the best
      • 53
        History feature
      • 44
        Adds real value to my workflow
      • 43
        Great interface that magically predicts your needs
      • 35
        The best in class app
      • 12
        Can save and share script
      • 10
        Fully featured without looking cluttered
      • 8
        Collections
      • 8
        Option to run scrips
      • 8
        Global/Environment Variables
      • 7
        Shareable Collections
      • 7
        Dead simple and useful. Excellent
      • 7
        Dark theme easy on the eyes
      • 6
        Awesome customer support
      • 6
        Great integration with newman
      • 5
        Documentation
      • 5
        Simple
      • 5
        The test script is useful
      • 4
        Saves responses
      • 4
        This has simplified my testing significantly
      • 4
        Makes testing API's as easy as 1,2,3
      • 4
        Easy as pie
      • 3
        API-network
      • 3
        I'd recommend it to everyone who works with apis
      • 3
        Mocking API calls with predefined response
      • 2
        Now supports GraphQL
      • 2
        Postman Runner CI Integration
      • 2
        Easy to setup, test and provides test storage
      • 2
        Continuous integration using newman
      • 2
        Pre-request Script and Test attributes are invaluable
      • 2
        Runner
      • 2
        Graph
      • 1
        <a href="http://fixbit.com/">useful tool</a>
      CONS OF POSTMAN
      • 10
        Stores credentials in HTTP
      • 9
        Bloated features and UI
      • 8
        Cumbersome to switch authentication tokens
      • 7
        Poor GraphQL support
      • 5
        Expensive
      • 3
        Not free after 5 users
      • 3
        Can't prompt for per-request variables
      • 1
        Import swagger
      • 1
        Support websocket
      • 1
        Import curl

      related Postman posts

      Noah Zoschke
      Engineering Manager at Segment · | 30 upvotes · 2.7M views

      We just launched the Segment Config API (try it out for yourself here) — a set of public REST APIs that enable you to manage your Segment configuration. A public API is only as good as its #documentation. For the API reference doc we are using Postman.

      Postman is an “API development environment”. You download the desktop app, and build API requests by URL and payload. Over time you can build up a set of requests and organize them into a “Postman Collection”. You can generalize a collection with “collection variables”. This allows you to parameterize things like username, password and workspace_name so a user can fill their own values in before making an API call. This makes it possible to use Postman for one-off API tasks instead of writing code.

      Then you can add Markdown content to the entire collection, a folder of related methods, and/or every API method to explain how the APIs work. You can publish a collection and easily share it with a URL.

      This turns Postman from a personal #API utility to full-blown public interactive API documentation. The result is a great looking web page with all the API calls, docs and sample requests and responses in one place. Check out the results here.

      Postman’s powers don’t end here. You can automate Postman with “test scripts” and have it periodically run a collection scripts as “monitors”. We now have #QA around all the APIs in public docs to make sure they are always correct

      Along the way we tried other techniques for documenting APIs like ReadMe.io or Swagger UI. These required a lot of effort to customize.

      Writing and maintaining a Postman collection takes some work, but the resulting documentation site, interactivity and API testing tools are well worth it.

      See more
      Simon Reymann
      Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH · | 27 upvotes · 4.6M views

      Our whole Node.js backend stack consists of the following tools:

      • Lerna as a tool for multi package and multi repository management
      • npm as package manager
      • NestJS as Node.js framework
      • TypeScript as programming language
      • ExpressJS as web server
      • Swagger UI for visualizing and interacting with the API’s resources
      • Postman as a tool for API development
      • TypeORM as object relational mapping layer
      • JSON Web Token for access token management

      The main reason we have chosen Node.js over PHP is related to the following artifacts:

      • Made for the web and widely in use: Node.js is a software platform for developing server-side network services. Well-known projects that rely on Node.js include the blogging software Ghost, the project management tool Trello and the operating system WebOS. Node.js requires the JavaScript runtime environment V8, which was specially developed by Google for the popular Chrome browser. This guarantees a very resource-saving architecture, which qualifies Node.js especially for the operation of a web server. Ryan Dahl, the developer of Node.js, released the first stable version on May 27, 2009. He developed Node.js out of dissatisfaction with the possibilities that JavaScript offered at the time. The basic functionality of Node.js has been mapped with JavaScript since the first version, which can be expanded with a large number of different modules. The current package managers (npm or Yarn) for Node.js know more than 1,000,000 of these modules.
      • Fast server-side solutions: Node.js adopts the JavaScript "event-loop" to create non-blocking I/O applications that conveniently serve simultaneous events. With the standard available asynchronous processing within JavaScript/TypeScript, highly scalable, server-side solutions can be realized. The efficient use of the CPU and the RAM is maximized and more simultaneous requests can be processed than with conventional multi-thread servers.
      • A language along the entire stack: Widely used frameworks such as React or AngularJS or Vue.js, which we prefer, are written in JavaScript/TypeScript. If Node.js is now used on the server side, you can use all the advantages of a uniform script language throughout the entire application development. The same language in the back- and frontend simplifies the maintenance of the application and also the coordination within the development team.
      • Flexibility: Node.js sets very few strict dependencies, rules and guidelines and thus grants a high degree of flexibility in application development. There are no strict conventions so that the appropriate architecture, design structures, modules and features can be freely selected for the development.
      See more
      GraphQL logo

      GraphQL

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      A data query language and runtime
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      PROS OF GRAPHQL
      • 75
        Schemas defined by the requests made by the user
      • 63
        Will replace RESTful interfaces
      • 62
        The future of API's
      • 49
        The future of databases
      • 13
        Self-documenting
      • 12
        Get many resources in a single request
      • 6
        Query Language
      • 6
        Ask for what you need, get exactly that
      • 3
        Fetch different resources in one request
      • 3
        Type system
      • 3
        Evolve your API without versions
      • 2
        Ease of client creation
      • 2
        GraphiQL
      • 2
        Easy setup
      • 1
        "Open" document
      • 1
        Fast prototyping
      • 1
        Supports subscription
      • 1
        Standard
      • 1
        Good for apps that query at build time. (SSR/Gatsby)
      • 1
        1. Describe your data
      • 1
        Better versioning
      • 1
        Backed by Facebook
      • 1
        Easy to learn
      CONS OF GRAPHQL
      • 4
        Hard to migrate from GraphQL to another technology
      • 4
        More code to type.
      • 2
        Takes longer to build compared to schemaless.
      • 1
        No support for caching
      • 1
        All the pros sound like NFT pitches
      • 1
        No support for streaming
      • 1
        Works just like any other API at runtime
      • 1
        N+1 fetch problem
      • 1
        No built in security

      related GraphQL posts

      Shared insights
      on
      Node.jsNode.jsGraphQLGraphQLMongoDBMongoDB

      I just finished the very first version of my new hobby project: #MovieGeeks. It is a minimalist online movie catalog for you to save the movies you want to see and for rating the movies you already saw. This is just the beginning as I am planning to add more features on the lines of sharing and discovery

      For the #BackEnd I decided to use Node.js , GraphQL and MongoDB:

      1. Node.js has a huge community so it will always be a safe choice in terms of libraries and finding solutions to problems you may have

      2. GraphQL because I needed to improve my skills with it and because I was never comfortable with the usual REST approach. I believe GraphQL is a better option as it feels more natural to write apis, it improves the development velocity, by definition it fixes the over-fetching and under-fetching problem that is so common on REST apis, and on top of that, the community is getting bigger and bigger.

      3. MongoDB was my choice for the database as I already have a lot of experience working on it and because, despite of some bad reputation it has acquired in the last months, I still believe it is a powerful database for at least a very long list of use cases such as the one I needed for my website

      See more
      Nick Rockwell
      SVP, Engineering at Fastly · | 46 upvotes · 3.2M views

      When I joined NYT there was already broad dissatisfaction with the LAMP (Linux Apache HTTP Server MySQL PHP) Stack and the front end framework, in particular. So, I wasn't passing judgment on it. I mean, LAMP's fine, you can do good work in LAMP. It's a little dated at this point, but it's not ... I didn't want to rip it out for its own sake, but everyone else was like, "We don't like this, it's really inflexible." And I remember from being outside the company when that was called MIT FIVE when it had launched. And been observing it from the outside, and I was like, you guys took so long to do that and you did it so carefully, and yet you're not happy with your decisions. Why is that? That was more the impetus. If we're going to do this again, how are we going to do it in a way that we're gonna get a better result?

      So we're moving quickly away from LAMP, I would say. So, right now, the new front end is React based and using Apollo. And we've been in a long, protracted, gradual rollout of the core experiences.

      React is now talking to GraphQL as a primary API. There's a Node.js back end, to the front end, which is mainly for server-side rendering, as well.

      Behind there, the main repository for the GraphQL server is a big table repository, that we call Bodega because it's a convenience store. And that reads off of a Kafka pipeline.

      See more
      OData logo

      OData

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      35
      A REST-based protocol for querying and updating data
      57
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      PROS OF ODATA
      • 7
        Patterns for paging, sorting, filtering
      • 5
        ISO Standard
      • 4
        Query Language
      • 3
        RESTful
      • 3
        No overfetching, no underfetching
      • 2
        Get many resources in a single request
      • 2
        Self-documenting
      • 2
        Batch requests
      • 2
        Bulk requests ("array upsert")
      • 2
        Ask for what you need, get exactly that
      • 1
        Evolve your API by following the compatibility rules
      • 1
        Resource model defines conventional operations
      • 1
        Resource Modification Language
      CONS OF ODATA
      • 1
        Overwhelming, no "baby steps" documentation

      related OData posts

      RAML logo

      RAML

      142
      155
      39
      RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML) makes it easy to manage the whole API lifecycle from design to sharing
      142
      155
      + 1
      39
      PROS OF RAML
      • 15
        API Specification
      • 7
        Human Readable
      • 6
        API Documentation
      • 3
        Design Patterns & Code Reuse
      • 2
        API Modeling
      • 2
        Automatic Generation of Mule flow
      • 2
        Unit Testing
      • 1
        API Mocking
      • 1
        SDK Generation
      CONS OF RAML
        Be the first to leave a con

        related RAML posts

        gRPC logo

        gRPC

        2.3K
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        A high performance, open-source universal RPC framework
        2.3K
        1.3K
        + 1
        63
        PROS OF GRPC
        • 24
          Higth performance
        • 15
          The future of API
        • 13
          Easy setup
        • 5
          Contract-based
        • 4
          Polyglot
        • 2
          Garbage
        CONS OF GRPC
          Be the first to leave a con

          related gRPC posts

          Dylan Krupp
          Shared insights
          on
          gRPCgRPCGraphQLGraphQL

          I used GraphQL extensively at a previous employer a few years ago and really appreciated the data-driven schema etc alongside the many other benefits it provided. At that time, it seemed like it was set to replace RESTful APIs and many companies were adopting it.

          However, as of late, it seems like interest has been waning for GraphQL as opposed to increasing as I had assumed it would. Am I missing something here? What is the current perspective regarding this technology?

          Currently, I'm working with gRPC and was curious as to the state of everything now.

          See more
          Shared insights
          on
          gRPCgRPCSignalRSignalR.NET.NET

          We need to interact from several different Web applications (remote) to a client-side application (.exe in .NET Framework, Windows.Console under our controlled environment). From the web applications, we need to send and receive data and invoke methods to client-side .exe on javascript events like users onclick. SignalR is one of the .Net alternatives to do that, but it adds overhead for what we need. Is it better to add SignalR at both client-side application and remote web application, or use gRPC as it sounds lightest and is multilingual?

          SignalR or gRPC are always sending and receiving data on the client-side (from browser to .exe and back to browser). And web application is used for graphical visualization of data to the user. There is no need for local .exe to send or interact with remote web API. Which architecture or framework do you suggest to use in this case?

          See more
          REST logo

          REST

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          A software architectural style
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          PROS OF REST
          • 4
            Popularity
          CONS OF REST
            Be the first to leave a con

            related REST posts

            Insomnia REST Client logo

            Insomnia REST Client

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            The most intuitive cross-platform REST API Client 😴
            778
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            + 1
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            PROS OF INSOMNIA REST CLIENT
            • 16
              Easy to work with
            • 11
              Great user interface
            • 6
              Works with GraphQL
            • 4
              Cross platform, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux
            • 3
              Opensource
            • 2
              Vim and Emacs key map
            • 2
              Preserves request templates
            • 0
              Does not have history feature
            CONS OF INSOMNIA REST CLIENT
            • 4
              Do not have team sharing options
            • 2
              Do not store credentials in HTTP

            related Insomnia REST Client posts

            Jason Barry
            Cofounder at FeaturePeek · | 4 upvotes · 2.3M views

            We've tried a couple REST clients over the years, and Insomnia REST Client has won us over the most. Here's what we like about it compared to other contenders in this category:

            • Uncluttered UI. Things are only in your face when you need them, and the app is visually organized in an intuitive manner.
            • Native Mac app. We wanted the look and feel to be on par with other apps in our OS rather than a web app / Electron app (cough Postman).
            • Easy team sync. Other apps have this too, but Insomnia's model best sets the "set and forget" mentality. Syncs are near instant and I'm always assured that I'm working on the latest version of API endpoints. Apps like Paw use a git-based approach to revision history, but I think this actually over-complicates the sync feature. For ensuring I'm always working on the latest version of something, I'd rather have the sync model be closer to Dropbox's than git's, and Insomnia is closer to Dropbox in that regard.

            Some features like automatic public-facing documentation aren't supported, but we currently don't have any public APIs, so this didn't matter to us.

            See more