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API Blueprint vs Apiary: What are the differences?
Introduction In the realm of API documentation tools, API Blueprint and Apiary are two popular choices for developers. Understanding the key differences between these two can help choose the right tool for your project.
Syntax and Format: API Blueprint is based on Markdown syntax, making it easy for developers familiar with Markdown to start writing API documentation. On the other hand, Apiary has its unique syntax that is optimized for REST API documentation, with a focus on the structure and flow of API endpoints.
Mock Servers: Apiary offers built-in mock server functionality, allowing developers to simulate API requests and responses without writing backend code. API Blueprint, on the other hand, does not offer this feature natively, requiring developers to rely on external tools for mocking API endpoints.
Collaboration Features: Apiary provides robust collaboration features, allowing team members to review, comment, and suggest changes to API documentation within the platform. While API Blueprint supports collaboration through version control systems like Git, it lacks the real-time collaboration features offered by Apiary.
Customization Options: API Blueprint allows for greater customization of API documentation templates and styles, enabling developers to create documentation that fits their branding and design preferences. In comparison, Apiary offers less flexibility in terms of customization, providing a more standardized format for API documentation.
Deployment Options: When it comes to deploying API documentation, Apiary offers hosting solutions that simplify the process for developers. On the other hand, API Blueprint does not provide hosting services, requiring developers to find their own hosting solution for publishing API documentation.
Support and Community: Apiary has a larger community of users and resources, making it easier to find help, documentation, and tutorials when working with the platform. API Blueprint, while still popular, may have a smaller user base and fewer resources available for support and guidance.
In Summary, understanding the nuances of API Blueprint and Apiary can help developers choose the right tool based on their specific needs for API documentation.
From a StackShare Community member: "I just started working for a start-up and we are in desperate need of better documentation for our API. Currently our API docs is in a README.md file. We are evaluating Postman and Swagger UI. Since there are many options and I was wondering what other StackSharers would recommend?"
I use Postman because of the ease of team-management, using workspaces and teams, runner, collections, environment variables, test-scripts (post execution), variable management (pre and post execution), folders (inside collections, for better management of APIs), newman, easy-ci-integration (and probably a few more things that I am not able to recall right now).
I use Swagger UI because it's an easy tool for end-consumers to visualize and test our APIs. It focuses on that ! And it's directly embedded and delivered with the APIs. Postman's built-in tools aren't bad, but their main focus isn't the documentation and also, they are hosted outside the project.
I recommend Postman because it's easy to use with history option. Also, it has very great features like runner, collections, test scripts runners, defining environment variables and simple exporting and importing data.
Pros of API Blueprint
- Easy to use1
- Ecosystem of tools1
Pros of Apiary
- Easy to use29
- Free to use19
- Traffic inspector12
- Free11
- Collaboration10
- Mock API7
- Dashboard4
- Customization3
- 30 Days Trial2
- Access Control2
- Documentation2
- Validate API Documentation2
- API explorer1
- Clean syntax1
- Provisioning1
- Shared API blueprint templates1
- Github integration helps with collaboration1
- Code auto-generation1
