api monetization - myth?

[nathanaw]

Hello! I have not seen companies which have successfully done api monetization.

Is api monetization a mere myth? Or if someone can provide a strategy and concrete plan on API monetization?

Thank you

Nathan Aw (Singapore)

[dchiesa1 · Accepted solution]

No, not a myth.

I don't know what you mean by "a concrete plan".

Some of our customers build monetization plans around their APIs. Each customer is a little different.

If you have information that is directly monetizable, you can speak with an Apigee Architect about how you might proceed.

[nathanaw]

Thanks! What will be the best/logical next step?

[#4]

when considering strategy or monetization plan look what exact payment method is embedded into your solution.

Usually big systems provide like post-paid billing and invoicing thingy. This fits well only to selected and trusted partners. But what if you want to reach all the world and many anonymous clients?

For mass pre-paid models usual offer is prepaid card solution like Visa, Mastercard, Union Pay etc. But this as well limits you only to some part of the world which is eligible to use credit card, has proper liquidity there etc.

One of the best future options for global monetization is crypto currencies. They have no borders, your clients - other developers very probably already familiar with technology. Smart contracts solves trust problem between the parties locking small pieces of prepaid amount and consumes it based on real API usage.

Remember Libra thing? - 2 billion people in the world still have now access to the payments...

Check it out for possible solution working on Ethereum at https://apipay.dev. There is published Apigee integration script:

https://apipay.dev/step-3-integrate-apipay-connector/

So you can start monetization in a couple of days IMO.