It is impossible to create a business on free APIs.
Some people think that free software interfaces to web services are good by definition, like open source in the software industry. Like, using open source (foreign API), the developer receives only a lot of pleasure and additional profit. Recently, Google and Amazon vividly demonstrated the depth of this delusion, writes Nat Thorkington.
Here are some things that every developer who is going to use other people's APIs should know about.
* Free APIs are not a natural phenomenon that exist in nature by itself. Companies publish software interfaces, guided by their own selfish motives. If you have used someone's API, but do not bring benefits to this company, then you may well be denied access.
* If you have built your own business on foreign APIs, then you will have to consolidate the stability of the business in the future with the agreement. Such a contract usually costs money.
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* If you find a way to get something from the site that was not originally intended for distribution, then you will have to fight for the right to use it if the owner of the API does not benefit from this direct benefit. [Obviously, this is a conclusion from a recent dispute between owners of Alexa statistics and an innovative startup that has found a way to build new convenient charts based on these statistics, getting it through free APIs. After that, he immediately closed access to the service. - approx. trans.] .
* API owners will find it more convenient to independently implement some services and functions over the API, than to look at your implementation. Therefore, you need to create something really difficult to copy, something more complicated than ordinary interface settings or basic functions like searching. We need to ensure that API owners cannot easily copy your development when they see its popularity.
* This is why free APIs are a very bad replacement for your own program code and data, and this is why they completely control your application.
* For these reasons, there is no such thing as a free API if you want to create a business.
Here are some things that every developer who is going to use other people's APIs should know about.
* Free APIs are not a natural phenomenon that exist in nature by itself. Companies publish software interfaces, guided by their own selfish motives. If you have used someone's API, but do not bring benefits to this company, then you may well be denied access.
* If you have built your own business on foreign APIs, then you will have to consolidate the stability of the business in the future with the agreement. Such a contract usually costs money.
')
* If you find a way to get something from the site that was not originally intended for distribution, then you will have to fight for the right to use it if the owner of the API does not benefit from this direct benefit. [Obviously, this is a conclusion from a recent dispute between owners of Alexa statistics and an innovative startup that has found a way to build new convenient charts based on these statistics, getting it through free APIs. After that, he immediately closed access to the service. - approx. trans.] .
* API owners will find it more convenient to independently implement some services and functions over the API, than to look at your implementation. Therefore, you need to create something really difficult to copy, something more complicated than ordinary interface settings or basic functions like searching. We need to ensure that API owners cannot easily copy your development when they see its popularity.
* This is why free APIs are a very bad replacement for your own program code and data, and this is why they completely control your application.
* For these reasons, there is no such thing as a free API if you want to create a business.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31012/
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