The truth about Free APIs (via Nat Torkington, O’Reilly Radar)
Posted on April 29th, 2007 in Business, Technology |
Nat Torkington has a great post about free APIs. Like, the elusive free lunch, there’s no such thing as a free API. Given Google’s decision to deprecate the Search API and the Alexa/Statsaholic situation, Nat’s post is timely and spot-on.
For these reasons, there’s no such thing as a free API if you’re looking to build a business.
This is a basic truth. Businesses don’t do things out of the goodness of their hearts, they do things that benefit them. There’s nothing wrong with that. It would be irresponsible if that weren’t the case. Any business using someone else’s API to deliver services should make sure there’s a Plan B. You’re entitled to what you pay for…
2 Responses
[...] apps can put in the mini-feed (1 per user per day.) Like any other application built on a free api - you have no rights. You get what you pay [...]
[...] feature add for the platform on which you’re dependent. As I’ve written about before, with free APIs - you get what you pay for. There are no guarantees that you won’t be made obsolete [...]