Pat
API provider review
I have been an API provider on RapidAPI for over two years. Overall, I like the platform and want it to improve, which is why I am writing this review. This perspective is from a provider, not a consumer. To keep things fair, I will split this review into three parts: the good, the questionable, and the bad. The Good: I have always received my payouts. Delays were rare and always resolved. Creating and updating APIs is easy. Uploading an OpenAPI specification or a Postman Collection saves time, reduces errors, and makes the process much smoother. The built-in testing suite is useful. I can test endpoints and run automated tests. Email reports show successes and failures, it would be better though if specific failed tests were included (there are also issues, more on that later). API versioning works well. Creating new versions, releasing them, and deprecating older versions is relatively simple. Messaging and announcements are helpful. Communicating directly with customers is a useful feature. Communication with RapidAPI staff has generally been pleasant, and issues I raised were mostly resolved. Questionable Aspects: Fees increased from 20% to 25%, without visible improvements to justify it. The platform overall feels relatively inactive, with few updates and little communication or social-media posts about changes. Some decisions are confusing. For example, messages were moved from Studio to Console without explanation. The MCP playground is risky. Automated agents already heavily bombarded my APIs, and without clear overage controls or refund policies, this adds risk for providers. Navigation is a major issue. Users are redirected to the playground instead of the main API page when clicking on a search result, and many never see the documentation. This leads to faulty requests and fewer direct messages with questions or feedback. There are also UX problems. Ratings default to one star, and users have to click their selected rating twice to prevent it from being submitted incorrectly. Messages and announcements are mixed together, which makes it difficult to find one-to-one conversations with users after sending announcements. Email notifications are inconsistent. Sometimes there are none, and sometimes the same notification is sent multiple times. The testing suite, while useful in theory, is unreliable. Tests sometimes fail even when endpoints are working and my own test scripts pass, which can negatively impact public metrics. The Bad: RapidAPI has serious problems with spam and scams. Many listings are not real APIs but redirect users to external platforms or questionable services. The scale of this issue is significant. For example, searching for “LinkedIn” returns around 1700 results, most of which are not actual APIs. Searching for “Buy LinkedIn accounts” returns over 1400 results consisting almost entirely of spam or scams. Similar problems exist for Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms. Crypto-recovery scams are also widespread. Searching for “crypto recovery” returns hundreds of results that follow the same pattern, redirecting users to external messaging platforms or suspicious websites. These scams also appear in discussions, and providers have to deal with them directly. (Quick side note: if you ever have crypto stolen, recovery services promising to get it back are scams and will take even more from you.) Refund policies are unclear, and overages are billed after usage rather than upfront. This creates situations where usage is never paid for. These spam and scam issues are known to RapidAPI. I reported it back in September 2025 in an email and received a response stating that such reports are taken seriously. However, the situation has not improved. This lack of quality control harms both users and providers and significantly damages the platform’s credibility. Conclusion: RapidAPI has good ideas and useful features, but the current state is disappointing. Between weak communication, inconsistent design decisions, and widespread spam and scams, the experience as a provider is frustrating. For a new consumer, it is likely even more confusing.