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Google Cloud Endpoints vs Swagger UI: What are the differences?
Google Cloud Endpoints and Swagger UI are both tools used for documenting and testing APIs. However, there are key differences between the two that developers should be aware of.
Framework Support: Google Cloud Endpoints is specifically designed for building APIs on the Google Cloud Platform. It provides seamless integration with other Google Cloud services such as App Engine, Compute Engine, and Cloud Functions. On the other hand, Swagger UI is a framework-agnostic tool that can be used with any API implementation, regardless of the platform or programming language.
Code Generation: Google Cloud Endpoints offers built-in code generation capabilities. It can automatically generate client libraries for Android, iOS, JavaScript, and other platforms based on the API specification. This simplifies the process of consuming the API for developers working on different client applications. Swagger UI, on the other hand, does not provide this feature out-of-the-box. Developers have to rely on third-party code generators or manually implement client libraries based on the Swagger specification.
Authentication and Authorization: Google Cloud Endpoints integrates seamlessly with the authentication and authorization mechanisms provided by Google Cloud Platform. It supports authentication using OAuth 2.0 and provides fine-grained access control using Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies. Swagger UI, on the other hand, does not natively support authentication and authorization. Developers have to implement these mechanisms themselves or rely on other tools or frameworks.
API Monitoring and Analytics: Google Cloud Endpoints provides built-in monitoring and analytics for APIs hosted on the Google Cloud Platform. It collects and displays important metrics such as API latency, error rates, and usage patterns. This helps developers in identifying performance bottlenecks and optimizing their APIs. Swagger UI does not include monitoring and analytics capabilities. Developers have to rely on separate tools or services to gather and analyze API usage data.
Deployment Options: Google Cloud Endpoints can be easily deployed on the Google Cloud Platform. It supports deployment on Compute Engine, App Engine, and Kubernetes Engine, providing scalability and reliability out-of-the-box. Swagger UI, on the other hand, does not provide specific deployment options. Developers have to host and manage the Swagger UI documentation themselves, either on their own servers or using third-party hosting solutions.
Community and Ecosystem: Google Cloud Endpoints is part of the larger Google Cloud Platform ecosystem, which includes a wide range of developer tools, services, and resources. It has a strong and active community of developers and provides extensive documentation, tutorials, and support. Swagger UI, on the other hand, is part of the Swagger tooling ecosystem, which also includes tools like Swagger Editor and Swagger Codegen. It has a large and vibrant community as well, with extensive resources and support available.
In Summary, while both Google Cloud Endpoints and Swagger UI are useful tools for documenting and testing APIs, Google Cloud Endpoints offers deeper integration with the Google Cloud Platform, built-in code generation, authentication and authorization support, API monitoring and analytics, specific deployment options, and a strong community and ecosystem. Swagger UI, on the other hand, is framework-agnostic, provides flexibility in deploying on any platform, and has a large and active community.
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 Google Cloud Endpoints
- Android Integration1
Pros of Swagger UI
- Open Source49
- Can execute api calls from the documentation34
- Free to use29
- Customizable19
- Easy to implement in .Net14
- Mature, clean spec13
- API Visualization12
- Coverage9
- Scaffolding6
- Easy to use6
- Vibrant and active community5
- Elegant4
- Adopted by tm forum api3
- Clear for React2
- Api1
- Can deploy API to AWS API Gateway and AWS Lambda1
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Cons of Google Cloud Endpoints
Cons of Swagger UI
- Need to learn YAML and RAML3
- Documentation doesn't look that good2
- Doesn't generate code snippets in different languages1
- You don’t actually get in-line error highlighting1
- Does not support hypermedia1