Postman’s 2022 State of the API Report Finds APIs Dominate Software Development

World's largest survey of more than 37,000 developers and API professionals finds most development efforts now centered on APIs, with an API-first approach yielding benefits

Postman, the world’s leading API platform, today released the results of its 2022 State of the API Report, the largest and most comprehensive annual study of APIs in the world. It surveyed more than 37,000 developers and API professionals on a range of topics, including their organizations' priorities, how they get their work done, and where they see the industry going. This year, the questions expanded to include the economy, employment, and remote work to gain insight into how the tech sector views today’s most pressing business concerns.

“Because of its scope, the annual State of the API survey provides a wide spotlight on industry-wide developments, challenges, and perspectives,” said Abhinav Asthana, co-founder and CEO of Postman. “This year, we found not only are most organizations’ development efforts focused on APIs, but firms that go even further and establish an API-first approach tend to outperform and have a more optimistic business outlook. As organizations navigate an uncertain economy, API-first strategies are becoming the backbone that allows organizations to respond rapidly and seamlessly.”

When combined with data observed on the Postman API Platform, the 2022 State of the API Report builds a robust picture of the current and future state of APIs. Findings include:

• Organizations are now spending a majority of their development efforts on APIs: Some 51% of respondents said that more than half of their organizations’ development effort is spent on APIs—compared with 40% of respondents in 2020 and 49% last year—underscoring APIs’ role as the building blocks of modern software.
• API investments to remain strong, despite economic headwinds: Investments in APIs will increase or stay the same over the next 12 months, said 89% of global respondents. When polling just executives, a similar level of confidence emerged among 1,400 CEOs, CIOs, and CTOs. These forecasts come even as two out of three respondents indicated a negative view of today’s economy.
• API-first leaders outperform: While only 8% of respondents identified themselves as API-first leaders, this elite group produces APIs faster, deploys more often, has fewer failures, and recovers sooner when failures occur. They also have brighter business outlooks—they were more likely to forecast an increase in hiring, employee retention, and internal spending over the next 12 months.
• Remote work is “very important”: Much of the world views remote work as critical. In North America, 78% of developers and API professionals called it “very important,” exceeding the global figure of 72%. Other regions, such as Asia and Europe value it less highly. The findings come as many remote employees resist a return to the office.
• API security incidents occur monthly at many companies: Some 20% of respondents reported API security incidents or breaches at least once a month at their organization. While the overall picture was more reassuring—52% said incidents happen less than once a year—the data underscores the importance of incorporating security early in the API lifecycle.

Produced by Postman, the 2022 State of the API Report is based on two sources: a survey of 37,332 developers and API professionals from around the world and anonymized, aggregated data from the Postman API Platform. The survey was fielded over approximately four weeks in June and July 2022.

Learn more about the findings in the interactive 2022 State of the API Report at https://www.postman.com/state-of-api/.

About Postman

Postman is the world’s leading API platform, used by more than 20 million developers and 500,000 organizations for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration, enabling users to create better APIs faster. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has an office in Bangalore, where it was founded. Postman is privately held, with funding from Nexus Venture Partners, CRV, Insight Partners, Coatue, Battery Ventures, and BOND. Learn more at postman.com or connect with Postman on Twitter via @getpostman.

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