10 Best API Testing Tools to Use in 2024 – (SOAP and REST Tools) [Updated]

Last updated on January 30th, 2024

API testing has become a must with the rise of cloud applications and connected platforms. Many of the services we use every day depend on multiple APIs that work together. If even one of them stops working, the whole service is at risk. API tests are now required for software developers to ensure that APIs work as expected.

There are a lot of API testing tools on the market today, so how do you choose the best one? Don’t worry; we’ve compiled a list of the best API testing tools to make your work go faster. Before we look at the top 10 API Testing Tools in 2024, let’s go over the basics of API testing.

What Should You Know About the API?

An API is an Application Programming Interface, a piece of code that makes it easy for two software programs to talk to each other and share data. APIs are a crucial part of the software development lifecycle (SDL). They let software applications, like Shipping API Integration, talk to each other and other services. APIs are essential to the software development life cycle because they let software programs talk to each other and other services.

Most of the time, APIs let software programs talk to other services like databases or web services. The service provider sends the request when a user asks an API for information. The service provider then responds, which is sent back to the user. The best way to think about an API is as a set of instructions that let two programs or applications talk to each other.

The other common way APIs are used in mobile app testing is when they let two programs or apps talk to each other. When a user asks an API for information, the request goes to the service provider. The service provider then makes a result, which the API sends back to the user.

Best Tools for Testing API (SOAP And REST API Test Tools)

• Postman
• GetAPI
• Katalon
• ACCELQ
• Tosca Tricentis
• RapidAPI
• Postwoman
• PowerShell
• Swagger.io
• Airborne

1. Postman

Developers, testers, and project managers use Postman, one of the world’s most popular API testing tools. It is used to test APIs and services that work with APIs, send and receive HTTP requests, make and send HTTP POST requests, and do much more.

You can send HTTP requests to web services through the Postman API and get JSON responses back. It has robust testing and monitoring tools, and you can make powerful API test suites by combining Postman API testing with Katalon Studio testing.

What’s Important

• Makes it possible to do Boolean tests without a command line.
• Postman’s interface can be used to get API data.
• Comes with tools for automating tests, debugging, monitoring API, running requests, and managing workspaces.
• A REST client that is easy to use.

2. GetAPI

ReadyAPI Price: SoapUI (starts at $659 per year), LoadUI Pro (starts at $5999 per year), ServiceVPro (starts at $1199 per year), and ReadyAPI (custom pricing) are the different ways to pay for ReadyAPI. Get a quote). The ReadyAPI is free to try for 14 days.

SmartBear offers the ReadyAPI platform for testing RESTful, GraphQL, SOAP, and other web services for functionality, security, and load.

You get four powerful tools in one easy-to-use platform: API security testing, API functional testing, API performance testing, and API and Web virtualization. This platform will help you make sure that all web services are good from start to finish.

It gives you various automated ways to add API testing to your CD/CI pipeline during every build. You will be able to make API tests that are complete and based on data.

Features:

• You can add ReadyAPI to any environment.
• It has a Smart Assertion feature that lets you quickly create assertions for a large number of endpoints.

It works with Jenkins, Git, Azure, Docker, etc., right out of the box.

• It also works with the command line to help automate testing.
• It lets functional tests run in parallel and enables jobs to wait in a queue.
• It has functions and features that let you reuse functional tests and create real-world load scenarios.
• ReadyAPI also has ways to eliminate dependencies while testing and building.

3. Katalon

Katalon is one of the best API load testing tools. It makes it easy for people who don’t know how to code to run API tests without a lot of trouble. This tool can be used on the web, on your computer, and your phone.

Katalon is becoming one of the best API testing tools for 2021 because it has a simple user interface and accessible API services for developers and testers.

What’s important:

• It works with SOAP requests, SSL client certificates, and REST.
• API test data can be set up with UI testing
• Your tests can be easily imported from Swagger, WSDL, Postman, and WADL.
• It works with AsserJ, so you can easily make a BDD-style assertion.
• Gives more reliable tests and better test coverage
• It helps teams work together better because test report dashboards are helpful.

4. ACCELQ

ACCEL is the only cloud-based platform for continuous testing that automates API and web testing without writing a single line of code. IT teams of all sizes use ACCELQ to speed testing by automating critical lifecycle parts, such as test design, planning, generation, and execution.

Customers of ACCELQ usually save more than 70% of the money they would have spent on testing changes and maintenance. This solves one of the biggest problems in the industry. This is made possible by ACCELQ, which has a core powered by AI and can do things like automating self-healing.

Design and user experience are at the heart of ACCELQ’s approach to continuous innovation. The company works hard to speed up testing and improve the quality of what it delivers to its customers.

Important Skills:

• API Test Automation on the Cloud with No Code
• API and UI test automation in a single, easy-to-understand flow
• API Test Case Management, Planning, Execution, and Governance Tracking
• Dynamic Environment management
• Connect API tests for real end-to-end validation
• Change impact analysis of the API Test suite is easy and can be done automatically.
• Planning for regression suites with tracking of requirements tied to business processes
• Tracking of execution with complete visibility and tracking of defects
• Link directly the business process and the API that goes with it for full coverage
• Easy integration of CI/CD and Jira/ALM with natural traceability
• No vendor lock-in, open-source framework that can be added to

5. Tosca Tricentis

Tricentis Tosca makes adding continuous testing to Agile and DevOps easy. It is a tool for testing software that works with HTTP, AMQP, SOAP, and many other protocols.

This method analyzes GUIs and APIs from a business point of view by combining different parts of software testing, such as test case design, automation, data generation, and analytics. It gives test cases full functionality, so the test management process works well. It lets you automate your tests from start to finish without writing any code or scripts.

The best parts are:

• With model-based test automation makes the most of reuse and simplifies scrip maintenance.
• Allows API tests on mobile, cross-browser, and packaged apps so that end-to-end testing can be done.
• Makes sure that regression tests are done quickly and well.
• Test managers can do manual testing with this tool instead of setting up Tosca environments.
• Makes it possible to use new technology to make automation last.

6. RapidAPI

If you want to test RESTful services in Java, you might want to look into Rest-assured. It’s an open-source platform with Java-based domain-specific languages that make testing REST services easier. It is often used to test applications that use JSON or XML.

The best parts are:

• It has built-in features, so users don’t have to write code from scratch.
• It has several ways to test and validate a secure API’s authentication.
• It works with all HTTP methods, and it also works with commands like POST, GET, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, and PATCH.
• Helps the Serenity automation framework fit together smoothly.
• It supports the Given/Then/ When test notation, making it easy for humans to read your tests immediately.

7. Postwoman

Postwoman, a new tool that can be used instead of Postman, has become more popular over the past few months. It has a clean and modern user interface that makes it easy and quick to send API requests.

Some of the things that make Postwoman famous are:

• Being able to do everything on the Internet (no installation required)
• Support for a wide range of platforms and devices
• Being able to get to it anywhere
• Easy to make your own

This tool is for you if you want to start testing APIs but don’t want to deal with installing bulky software on your machine. It has almost 15,000 stars on GitHub, which is a good sign that people find it useful.

8. PowerShell

With the rise of DevOps in Windows-based companies, PowerShell is a great way to automate many tasks from the command line.

Some of the benefits of testing APIs with PowerShell are:

• To import your Web Services Description Language, you only need one line of code.
• To send your request and get your output, you only need one line of code.
• It is pre-installed on all Windows computers, so all your employees can use it.
• You can learn it quickly.
• It’s very fast because it runs from the command line and doesn’t have to deal with a user interface.

PowerShell is a Microsoft product that is free to use. So, you should use PowerShell whenever you want to use the command line or automate something, like API tests inside the Windows ecosystem (or any Microsoft product).

9. Swagger.io

For two users, the Team plan costs $30 per month. For this plan, you can choose from 2, 5, 10, 15, or 20 users. As the number of users goes up, so will the price.

The third plan is for a business. The enterprise plan is for 25 users or more. Get in touch with the company to learn more about it.

The Swagger tool will help you with every step of an API’s lifecycle. This tool will let you test API for functionality, speed, and security.

Swagger Inspector helps developers and quality assurance testers manually test and explore cloud APIs. LoadUI Pro is used to test for load and performance. It will let you use the functional tests that come with SoapUI more than once. Swagger has many tools that are free to use.

Features:

Swagger has the following things to do with API:

• API design and development
• API documentation
• Tests of APIs
• Virtualizations and API Mocking
• Managing and keeping an eye on APIs

10.Airborne

Airborne is an API test automation framework that is free for anyone. It is a Ruby-based framework that RSpec drives. This tool has no user interface. It only gives you the text file where you can write the code.

Features:

• Rails-written APIs can be used with it.
• You need to know how Ruby and RSpec use this tool.
• It can be used with Rack apps.

Are You Looking for  API Testing Tools for Your Software Testing?

In the last few years, API testing has become very popular. To make continuous integration work, choosing the right and best API tool for the correct API solutions is essential. You can pick any one of the API tools based on what you need.

Frequently Asked Questions For API Testing Tools

1. What are the best API load testing tools in 2024?

By definition, load testing ensures that the performance of your app is at par with the acceptable standards even if more and more users start using your app at the same time.

Given below are some of the top load testing tools that are doing well in 2024. Please take a look –

• JMeter –

It is a Java-based testing software that tests app performance by measuring the loading time of the app

• nGrinder –

       The software is specifically designed to create and conduct tests for checking the performance of enterprise apps

• Locust –

       Like JMeter, Locust also gauges the performance of an application by measuring its response time. However, unlike JMeter, Locust is based upon Python

• Gatling –

       Based on Scala, Gatling tests the scalability of your app by measuring its performance if the user load gets amplified on the app

• k6 –

       An open-source tool, k6 is specifically designed to keep a check on the performance of the backend of your application

2. What are the top API automation testing tools of 2024?

We have listed below the top five API testing tools for you. Take a look-

• Postman –

Compatible with both Mac and Windows, Postman can be used to conduct both automated and exploratory testing onto your app

• REST-assured –

      Based on Java language, REST-assured conducts simple tests on your application to check its performance and response

• Apigee –

       A cross-cloud testing tool, it makes sure that your app’s third-party integrations are up to the mark and tests its support to the app

• Soap UI –

       Soap UI simply tests the compatibility of the API integration with the hardware element of your application.

• Assertible –

      This API testing tool used CI/CD pipeline framework to conduct automated testing to check your application performance