All production APIs must have defined service level agreements (SLAs) that specify uptime, availability, latency, and throughput commitments for each plan tier, providing consumers with the confidence needed to build reliable applications on top of API services.
APIs Have Clear Service Level Commitments
Policies
SLA (Experience)
Require that every API published for consumers carries a clear service level agreement stating its uptime target, expected performance, support commitments, and what happens when we fall short. I p...
Plans
Plans are all about being explicit and transparent with all of the access for an API, breaking down the tiers, rate limits, features, and pricing that is available for API consumers, standardizing ...
Elements
Offering other elements or features of an API that are included or not included within a plan to help API consumers understand scope of what is available.
Metrics
Providing details regarding the metrics available for each plan, outlining how the usage of digital resources and capabilities are being measured.
Rate Limits
Providing details of rate limits being applied as part of each plan, and what is available to consumers as part of their application usage.
Time Frame
Break down usage for for consumers based upon second, minutes, days, weeks, months, or other relevant time-frame for them to understand their usage.
Regions
Providing regional details available for access API resources and capabilities in different geographical regions as part of API plan usage.
Status
Making an API status page, monitoring reports, or other real-time updates regarding the uptime and availability of an API, providing current, but also the historical status of API, helping maintain...
Experiences
Trust
Establish trust with API consumers will evolve and build over time, and is something that can be lost in a very short period of time. Trust will depend on other experiences like quality and reliabi...
Reliability
If an API isn’t reliable, consumers will eventually look for alternatives. Reliability starts with the platform and infrastructure where the API is deployed, but it also depends heavily on the pace...
Quality
The quality of HTTP APIs powering an enterprise tends to decline as the number of ungoverned APIs grows across internal, partner, and public landscapes. Low-quality APIs lead to poor downstream exp...
Performance
Performance is the experience of how fast and consistently an API responds under real-world conditions. Latency, throughput, and predictability directly shape how consumers perceive an API and whet...
Money
Money is the experience of the business model behind an API, whether the currency is dollars from external customers or budget allocated to internal teams. Plans, pricing, rate limits, and billing ...
