Open APIs Monetization/Monetisation - Truth or Myth | Practical Next Steps

[nathanaw]

Hi all, like to understand if monetizing Open APIs is a truth or a myth? Since these APIs are open for all to use, how does one monetize them?

What open APIs can be so differentiated that others will pay to use them? Just thinking aloud.

Apologise in advance if the question comes across as shallow, silly and ignorant.

Thank you.

Nathan Aw

[cjking]

I think when most people talk about "Open APIs" they're talking about publicly documented APIs based on open standards. That doesn't mean that these APIs have no restrictions on their use - an API can have registration and payment requirements and still be open IMHO.

Volume is one way to differentiate free/paid. Having a free tier allows developers to try out the API and build a proof of concept easily before moving to a paid plan.

You can see some examples of how other Apigee customers have monetized their APIs on the Apigee blog, eg https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/customers/its-raining-apis-how-accuweather-shares-data-with-dev... and https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/api-management/telstra-apigee-powering-up-an-api-driven-trans...