API.expert June 2020 Wrap Up
We have stumbled out of the first half of the year(!) and into another month of the COVID-19 crisis. And that time has arrived when we must discourse on the State of the APIs in June 2020 and publish our API ratings. We recently launched API.expert (http://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 (using our patented (US Patent 10,644,962, if you fancy a little light bedtime reading) CASC score, which allows you at a glance to see the performance of an API and compare it to other ones) as well as factors like uptime and availability.
If something is missing 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 the world of APIs at the end of the first half of 2020…
API Performance Headlines
We look at over 200 APIs but pull all the metrics together to give you a general feeling for the service quality for an organization’s APIs in a particular category.
We do see that certain providers consistently vie for top spot in their category including GitHub and Google with others doing less well such as Cisco’s Spark services.
Top Performers based on overall quality in each category were:
Month of June 2020
| Category | Organization | CASC score |
| Corporate Infrastructure | GitHub | 9.47 |
| Covid-19 | COVID-19 API (nubentos.com) | 9.01 |
| Cryptocurrency Exchanges | Coinpaprika | 9.25 |
| PSD2 Banks | ABN AMRO Bank | 9.73 |
| Search | 9.46 | |
| Social Networks | 9.62 | |
| UK Open Banking (Open Data) | Bank of Ireland | 9.63 |
| UK Government | GOV.UK | 9.57 |
| US Government | Federal Communications Commission | 9.52 |
Another volatile month in June, with seven out of the nine categories changing hands with GitHub replacing Heroku in Corporate Infrastructure, COVID-19 API (nubentos.com) replacing ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) in Covid-19, Coinpaprika HitBTC in Cryptocurrency Exchanges, ABN AMRO Bank Nordea Bank in PSD2 Banks, Google Twitter in Social Networks, GOV.UK Police.UK in UK Government and the Federal Communications Commission the FDA in US Government.
As in April and May, in 5 out of the 9 categories, the top API has managed to sustain as CASC score of over 9.50 for a whole month, which is an excellent showing on their parts. ABN AMRO Bank is top overall CASC score of 9.73.
Top Performers by latency
Month of June 2020
| Category | Organization | Median latency |
| Corporate Infrastructure | Microsoft Office | 220 ms |
| Covid-19 | CDC tools (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) | 179 ms |
| Cryptocurrency Exchanges | Coinbase | 145 ms |
| PSD2 Banks | Nordea Bank | 185 ms |
| Search | 286 ms | |
| Social Networks | 69 ms | |
| UK Open Banking (Open Data) | HSBC | 82 ms |
| UK Government | Police.UK | 75 ms |
| US Government | Department of Justice | 81 ms |
Two changes in June with Coinbase replacing perennial competitor FTX (down to third) in Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Facebook Google in Search. Google in Social Networks is fastest overall with a median latency of 69 ms.
Wooden Spoon – worst quality across all categories
Month of June 2020
| Category | Organization | CASC score |
| Corporate Infrastructure | Cisco Spark | 7.89 |
| Covid-19 | Coronavirus Data API (thevirustracker.com) | 5.29 |
| Cryptocurrency Exchanges | Oasis Dex | 4.60 |
| PSD2 Banks | BBVA | 7.28 |
| Search | Foursquare | 6.59 |
| Social Networks | Nobody below 8.00! | |
| UK Government | NHS | 5.08 |
| UK Open Banking (Open Data) | Halifax | 6.58 |
| US Government | Department of Commerce | 5.80 |
A few changes in June with Cisco Spark replacing Salesforce in Corporate Infrastructure, BBVA a new entry in PSD2 Banks and Foursquare a new entry in Search. The overall wooden spoon for June goes to Oasis Dex again albeit with a slightly improved CASC score of 4.60.
Something of interest….
ABN AMRO took the overall top spot from Nordea Bank in June with a CASC score of 9.73. This compares to Nordea’s winning CASC score of 9.88. How do things look in PSD2 Banks?
ABN AMRO Bank again shows that, in terms of CASC score, what matters is being a strong all-rounder. ABN AMRO doesn’t have the highest pass rate (Capital One (STS)), the fewest outliers (TrueLayer) or the lowest median latency (Nordea Bank), but it’s combo of a high pass rate (joint second out of 10), few outliers (second out of 10) and a reasonable median latency (third out of 10) that has proven unbeatable.
Note that nine out of 10 are in the Green Zone and four out of 10 have a CASC score above 9.00. Only BBVA is struggling with a CASC score of 7.28. The opposite of ABN AMRO Bank is that BBVA’s performs less well in several categories (joint second in pass rate, but 8th in outliers and 5th in median latency). That’s why it’s crucial to keep an eye on all the metrics that affect API performance in order to ensure the best overall API quality.
See you again in a month as we assess how matters have gone as move into July and the second half of this extraordinary year.
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