APIGravity

APIGravity is a proposed, hypothetical metric intended to quantify the overall appeal and ease of adoption of an application programming interface (API) from a developer's perspective. It combines factors such as onboarding complexity, documentation quality, reliability, performance, ecosystem richness, and cost into a single score.

The score is typically normalized to a 0–100 scale and computed as a weighted aggregation of submetrics. Common components include onboarding ease (SDKs, sample code, interactive docs), documentation quality (completeness and searchability), reliability and performance (uptime, latency, error rate), endpoint coverage (resources and methods), ecosystem engagement (community support, libraries), security posture (auth schemes, audit readiness), and total cost of usage (pricing, rate limits).

Data sources for APIGravity may include telemetry from API clients, provider dashboards, developer surveys, and external benchmarks. Weights reflect user or organizational priorities and can be adjusted over time. The approach emphasizes comparability across APIs while acknowledging context and usage differences.

Applications include vendor selection, API product management, and developer experience optimization. Tracking APIGravity over time can help providers identify improvements and benchmark against peers, while consumers may use APIGravity as one input in decision making alongside features, pricing, and compliance.

Limitations include subjectivity in weighting, variability by use case, and potential data biases. A high APIGravity does not guarantee suitability for all applications, and real-world performance, security, and legal considerations should also inform decisions.