An API (aka. Application Programming Interface) enables you to send requests to a remote data set, like querying a database. The response will be sent in a predetermined manner back to your application. This allows you to concentrate on creating an app or gathering metrics for reporting rather than creating the underlying data set, which is incredibly beneficial. For instance, most weather applications use free APIs to obtain weather forecast data. For novices, free rest APIs are very helpful because they allow immediate API exploration. Web developers who want to easily access a sample data collection for their app will also find it beneficial.
An application interface (API or web API) that adheres to the constraints of the REST organizational style and makes it easier to communicate with RESTful web services is known as a REST API, sometimes referred to as a RESTful API. Software developer Roy Fielding coined the abbreviation REST, which stands for representational state transfer. This article will look at a few free APIs that will benefit beginners.
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What Is The Need For Rest APIs?
Due to its usage of already-existing protocols, REST or RESTful APIs provide several benefits. Although REST may be used with almost any protocol, it is frequently used in web APIs. As a result, while creating a REST API, developers do not need to install any additional programs or libraries.
One of its main advantages is how flexible it is. Because data is not bound to resources or functions, REST can handle many calls, return data in various forms, and even alter fundamentally with the appropriate integration of hypermedia. Due to this versatility, developers may construct an API that satisfies your and various other users’ demands. In addition, Rest APIs rely on the HTTP standard. Hence, you may utilize XML, JSON, HTML, and other formats. Because of this, REST APIs are quick and lightweight, which is essential for Internet of Things devices, mobile app projects, and more.
The independence of the client and server is another advantage of REST APIs. In other words, the REST protocol isolates the server from the UI and data storage. This implies that developers can work separately on various aspects of a project and test different developer environments. APIs like the Weatherstack API are quite secure. Handling security concerns will be easiest as it allows 256-bit HTTPS transactions and uses bank-level encryption. In addition, the API will become more secure as a result of giving users a special access key. Read more on HTTPS encryption.
Which Free APIs Can Enhance Your Website User Experience?
There are multiple free rest APIs available that will improve your website. Some of the hand-picked APIs are:
ipstack
Scalability and user-friendliness were priorities in the design of the ipstack API. Implementation takes less than ten minutes. One of the top IP to geolocation APIs and global IP database services are provided by ipstack globally. Thousands of developers, SMBs, and major organizations utilize its real-time geolocation API service worldwide. Some features of ipstack include identifying customer location based on IP, coverage of over 200,000 cities worldwide, accurate and consistent data at any day, technical support available twenty-four hours, seven days a week, and much more. ipstack is globally trusted, and its extensive documentation will help you start without delay. A use case example of using ipstack to lookup, you just need to attach an IPv4 or IPv6 address to the base URL as shown below:
https://api.ipstack.com/134.201.250.155
? access_key = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
These are the required commands. There are other optional commands as well. An example of the use of the optional command is shown below:
https://api.ipstack.com/134.201.250.155
? access_key = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
& fields = country_code
Which returns the following response:
{
"country_code": "US"
}
Domain Name Discovery API
Selecting a unique domain name expresses your identity, so make the most of it! People will encounter it first on your website, so make the most of it! Given the number of domain names registered on the Internet, a manual search for a domain name may be taxing and time-consuming.
We’ve developed Domain Name Discovery API to ensure you locate the right domain. For years, we’ve analyzed more than 500,000 lookups to locate an unregistered domain name that may be profitable. This API is the result of years of experience. The Domain Name Discovery API requires a search phrase. By utilizing various approaches, it evaluates the search word and provides the top domain name options. When customers contact our brand, we want them to feel good. Therefore, the API uses sentiment analysis to forecast the general sentiment of the created domain names and weed out the unfavorable ones. This special function is only made feasible via our API. You can even earn passive income with the API.
IP to Location API
The IP to Location API is a REST API that delivers crucial information from any IP address in JSON format via HTTPS. Information includes country, city, state, continent, latitude and longitude, local currency, Internet Service Provider (ISP) lookup, country calling code, and time zone.
Using IP to Location API is quite simple to use. Shown below is a sample code used for IP address 182.48.79.85.
curl --location --request \
GET 'https://api.apilayer.com/ip_to_location/182.48.79.85' \
--header 'apikey: YOUR API KEY'
Knowing how people access you increase your brand’s market reach and enables you to build a more precise consumer base. Any service that connects to a user’s location information comes to mind. However, some popular use-cases include content personalization based on geolocation, location-based notifications, location-based advertisement, etc.
URL Shortener API
URL Shortener API provides full privacy and ownership of your short URL service. It can create tens of thousands of URLs using a robust API and collect all the statistics privately. As a result, the API is the bestseller API.
Every word counts on social media platforms like Twitter, where you have a limited number of characters to describe yourself. You can cram more links into your article by employing short URLs. We are less likely to believe and click on a message, advertisement, or promotion with a lengthy URL made up of letters and numbers. Customized connections shortened with domain names make it simpler for us to remember and believe in a brand.
URL Shortner API has advantages, such as using a custom domain in your short URL service is free of further expense. In addition, the short links will continue to work even if you decide to stop using our service for whatever reason (if otherwise requested).
Recipe Search API
The Recipe Search API searches over 2.3 million recipes in English. You may incorporate this data into your mobile and web applications and browse through millions of online recipes. Our search system returns the most top-rated recipes on the web. Since we rank recipes based on their quality and cooking ability, your consumer can receive the greatest dishes! In addition, recipes can be filtered based on calories and the user’s diet preference.
What About Rest API Use In The Firm?
REST APIs have a lot of benefits, including excellent scalability. Data is not tied to a specific resource using REST. Instead, it responds to diverse requests, provides data in various formats, and even changes the system’s organizational structure to accommodate hypermedia. For the developers, these features have been nothing short of a breath of fresh air. Now that they know what you need, they can develop an API that meets your requirements and those of all of your clients.
REST supports dynamic flexibility in architectural design. You may, for instance, highlight the areas of your application and conceal the ones that aren’t essential. Caching might be given priority by default in REST APIs. This feature will improve your online experience.
You may boost overall web performance by reducing the latency of your web-based service or application. In the end, this will assist in keeping users of your software, greatly boosting its appeal.
Click here to discover relevant Rest APIs and enhance the user experience of your website!
