Shortcuts to easy API integrations
Many web and mobile applications rely on API based services, some commonly used API based services are social login, cloud storage and payment gateways.
These services can either add capabilities to the applications, or be an alternative to developing the features from scratch. A good example is social logins, which has become a very popular way to sign up for a service, or sign in to an application. It’s easy, fast and convenient for users.
Another example is cloud storage, by using services like Amazon S3 or Dropbox, the application can have access to file storage without the headaches of running your own file server, developing middleware etc.
One of the pain points of working with API based services is, that even though some services might seem very similar on the surface, like storing a file in Amazon S3 versus storing a file in Dropbox, might be very different to integrate. So what you learn from integrating one service, doesn’t always translate to another. There’s always a learning curve when integrating a new API, methods can be different, response can be different and authentication can be different, to mention a few.
Keeping track of API changes and keeping the code up to date can be another pain point, as some API services are better than others to notify you of changes.
Fortunately there are solutions, which can make our lives as developers easier. Two similar solutions are CloudRail and RapidAPI. Both integrate and unify popular API services, both have SDKs available for web and mobile applications, in different programming languages/frameworks, and both are available in free versions.
CloudRail

CloudRail offers integrations for a lot of the most popular APIs. All integrations are developed and maintained by CloudRail, and unified for easy implementation.
Pros
- Unified APIs, similar APIs are implemented the same way
- SDKs for both web and mobile, with more options for mobile
- All integrations are developed and maintained by CloudRail
Cons
- Fewer API integrations available
- Fewer programming languages/frameworks supported
- Fewer tutorials, sample apps etc. by developers available
RapidAPI

RapidAPI makes use of a Marketplace, which has a collection of API integrations. API developers can add their API integration to the marketplace, and application developers have a lot of API integrations to choose from.
Pros
- Integrations available for a large number of APIs
- SDKs for a large number of programming languages and frameworks
- Well documented
Cons
- Similar APIs can be implemented in different ways
- The integrations are created by 3rd party developers
- APIs are not unified, there can still be a learning curve
Summary
Integrating 3rd party APIs in your application doesn’t have to be complicated, or require hours and hours of studying different API service providers’ documentation. API integration solutions like RapidAPI and CloudRail can reduce development time and cost, and at the same time offer a robust and flexible API integration.
There are pros and cons, RapidAPI has a large number of API integrations in their marketplace, but even same types of services can be implemented in different ways, because they are created by 3rd party developers. CloudRail develops all API integrations, and unifies the APIs, making it easier and faster to integrate multiple APIs in your application. There are fewer API integrations to choose from though.
RapidAPI has SDKs for more web programming languages, and CloudRail is stronger in mobile languages and frameworks.
Which one is best for your project, highly depends on your project. Both are available in free editions, so it’s possible to get familiar the solutions before committing to one.