The time has arrived when we disclose our API ratings for August 2020. We recently launched API.expert as a simple way to provide everybody with insights into the API economy and the leading APIs in different categories in particular.
The basic service is free and will remain free, but other, related services will be built on top of it, including your very own API.expert dashboards if you want them!
Each week, month and year we’ll look at the APIs we track in a variety of sectors for their quality CASC score (using our patented (US Patent 10,644,962, if you fancy a little light bedtime reading) that allows you glance to see the Api rating and compare it to other ones, as well as factors like uptime and availability.
If something is missing in our API ratings that you think should be here, don’t hesitate to drop us a line!
Now, onto what the past month tells us about the state of API ratings at the end of the second third of 2020.
API Performance Headlines
To compile our API ratings, we look at more than 200 APIs. Then we pull all the metrics together to give you a general feeling for API quality in a particular category.
We do see that certain providers consistently vie for top spot in their API ratings category, including GitHub and Google. Others do less well, such as Halifax and the NHS.
Top API Ratings – CASC Score
Month of August, 2020
Category |
Organization |
CASC score
|
Corporate
|
GitHub |
9.55 |
COVID-19 |
ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) |
8.97 |
Cryptocurrency
|
Coinpaprika |
9.00 |
Fintech
|
Stripe |
9.37 |
Search
|
|
9.34 |
Social Networks
|
|
9.69 |
Open Banking – PSD2
|
Nordea Bank |
9.91 |
Open Banking – UK
|
Royal Bank of Scotland (Sandbox) |
9.82 |
Open Banking – UK Open Data
|
Bank of Ireland |
9.80 |
UK Government
|
Police.UK |
9.17 |
Us Government
|
Department of Justice |
9.61 |
We have rearranged the API ratings categories slightly recently to reflect better which APIs are direct peers of others. There are therefore a number of additional changes and new entries this month.
- ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) replaces COVID-19 API (nubentos.com) in COVID-19
- Stripe a new entrant in the new category of Fintech
- Twitter replaces Google in Social Networks
- Royal Bank of Scotland (Sandbox) a new entrant in the new category of Open Banking – UK
- Bank of Ireland replacing Danske Bank in Open Banking – UK – Open Data
- Department of Justice Federal Communications Commission in US Government
Six out of the 11 API ratings categories are topped by an API with a CASC score of over 9.50, which is an excellent showing on their parts.
Nordea Bank takes the overall top spot with a first class CASC score of 9.91, up from 9.89 last month.
ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) tops the COVID-19 API ratings, but with a CASC score of less than 9.00, although at 8.97 it is solidly in the Green Zone.
Top API Ratings – Latency
Month of August, 2020
Category |
Organization |
Median Latency
|
Corporate
|
Microsoft Office |
230 ms |
COVID-19 |
CDC Tools |
156 ms |
Cryptocurrency Exchanges
|
Coinbase |
149 ms |
Fintech
|
Stripe |
301 ms |
Search
|
|
317 ms |
Social Networks
|
|
58 ms |
Open Banking - PSD2
|
Railsbank |
110 ms |
Open Banking - UK
|
Royal Bank of Scotland (Sandbox) |
149 ms |
Open Banking - UK Open Data
|
HSBC |
80 ms |
UK Government
|
Police.UK |
89 ms |
Us Government
|
Department of Justice |
51 ms |
Worst API Quality Overall
Month of August, 2020
Category |
Organization |
CASC Score
|
Corporate Infrastructure
|
Cisco Spark |
7.79 |
COVID-19 |
Coronavirus Data API (thevirustracker.com) |
5.40 |
Cryptocurrency Exchanges
|
Oasis Dex |
5.87 |
Fintech
|
Open Bank Project (Sandbox) |
7.66 |
Search
|
Nobody below 8.00! |
|
Social Networks
|
Nobody below 8.00! |
|
Open Banking - PSD2
|
Nobody below 8.00! |
|
Open Banking - UK
|
Nobody below 8.00! |
|
Open Banking - UK Open Data
|
HSBC |
7.81 |
UK Government
|
GOV.UK |
6.62 |
Us Government
|
Department of Commerce |
6.05 |
- Open Bank Project (Sandbox) a new entrant in the new API ratings category of Fintech
- Barclays (Sandbox) a new entrant in the new category of Open Banking – UK
- HSBC replacing Barclays in Open Banking – UK- Open Data
- GOV.UK replacing NHS in UK Government
- Federal Communications replacing Commission Department of Commerce in US Government
Something of Interest
Google Social Networks is usually the fastest API we monitor.



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