Blobr vs Apigee

When we work in the API space, we often hear about Apigee, a solution that was integrated with Google Cloud a few years ago. How to choose between the very large company and the small startup for API topics?
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Overview

What does Blobr do?

Blobr is a no-code SaaS to create your API developer portal. API providers can manage, document and distribute API products from one place on their terms. Each portal is unique and each API provider has its own. They can add their branding and link it to their website. Blobr has been made so that both technical and non-technical profiles can succeed.

What does Apigee do?

Apigee is Google Cloud’s API Management Platform. By fronting services with a proxy layer, Apigee provides a facade for backend service APIs. Apigee provides security, rate limiting, quotas, analytics. It also enables companies to create their own developer portal.

Blobr’s API Portal

See Blobr's API Portal as your own API marketplace. From your website, you define how public you want your API Portal to be. As Blobr handles user management, you can thoroughly define whom accesses what among your customers. Your products are displayed in tiles, each with a brief description of what it does. Each has a custom API documentation that helps your API consumers navigate between the selected endpoints. Subscriptions and billing are handled directly on the platform.

Apigee API Management and Portal

Apigee (on-premises or SaaS) enables organizations to deliver, manage and analyze APIs inside and outside an organization. Like Blobr, Apigee works with a proxy to manage security and permissions. With Apigee, two types of API portals can be created. An "integrated portal" that can be provisioned instantly and where changes can be made using simple markdown formatting. Apigee also offers a "Drupal-based portal" option, which allows for full customization but requires more work from developers. Often you have to go through a specialized agency. Like Blobr, Apigee handles API documentation and API analysis for end users.

Comparaison table

Pricing
Subscription-based models.Starts for free (up to 25 million calls/ month) with a 10% commission on monetized APIs. The commission decreases as the number of calls increases.
Starts for free (with a 300$ credit on Google). From 500$ to 2250$ per month, only convenient for large companies.
Branding
Logo, colours, custom domain name (API and API Portal), SSO.
Full branding options are not possible with the free trial option.
API Display
APIs are productized on a customized portal, displayed on the API Provider’s terms.
APIs are productized on a branded portal.
API Documentation
API versioning is handled on a product level. API Consumers get personalized changelogs.
APIs can be documented using OpenAPI specifications and Apigee SmartDocs.
End Developer Experience
UI is simple and clear. Support integrations possible so that no questions are unanswered.
UI is poor and hard to use. No real support on the portal for end-developers.
Software set-up
Very easy set-up. Support team available every day.
Complex set-up. There is no real help for people setting up the API portal. It's so complicated that you have to take long courses on the Internet.
Pricing
Starts for free (up to 5,000 calls) with a 10% commission on monetized APIs. The commission decreases as the number of calls increases.
Branding
Logo, colours, custom domain name (API and API Portal), SSO.
API Display
APIs are productized on a customized portal, displayed on the API Provider’s terms.
API Documentation
API versioning is handled on a product level. API Consumers get personalized changelogs.
End Developer Experience
UI is simple and clear. Support integrations possible so that no questions are unanswered.
Software set-up
Very easy set-up. Support team available everyday.

Blobr’s advantage:
Same API Product logic but different means

While it looks like a complete API Management solution, Apigee has major drawbacks:

- Made from developers to developers: complex architecture to set up;
- Too costly for entrepreneurs and small companies;
- GUI is not user-friendly nor intuitive;
- No agnosticism with Apigee. Part of the Google Ecosystem and trying to push users towards more products.

Blobr has taken a different approach:

while it shared the same API Product approach, the tool has been made so that both technical and non-technical profiles can succeed. Blobr is also part of the no-code mouvement and combines what’s best in terms of API Management, API gateway and API Portal. This means:
- An API portal that respects your brand image;
- The ability to create use-case based products from one single API;
- API versioning handled so that API consumers only get to see what impacts them;
- Clear and Interactive docs generated from your APIs with step-by-step workflows possibilities;
- An API Portal that supports your business: monetization fees decreasing as you grow.

Choose Blobr and start a new API experience

Start sharing or monetizing your API today, or talk with our experts about your use case.