Whether you’re building out an entire application workflow or just need some added functionality in your web and mobile apps, the first thing you look for is an API service. Now you deserve to be aware of at least the 5 most popular, secure, and feature-rich APIs services so you can compare them against each other as well as against API integration services that you’re already familiar with.
Let’s get started, the first one being our showcased and preferred API service.
Table of Contents
1. ZEGOCLOUD
site: https://www.zegocloud.com/
One of the most performant selections of APIs, SDKs, UI Kits, and other components is ZEGOCLOUD for video, voice, chat, and more. This elite API service is reasonably priced by participant minutes or streaming minutes and offers a wide array of features and services to help developers deploy 4K or HD video conferencing, in-app chat, voice calls, and more.
The extensive collection of tools enables faster time-to-market with your audience engagement, brand-building, and sales funnels. In addition, you can take advantage of world-class latency, high availability, and full support options as you muscle up your application.
UIKits offer an efficient way to cut down your go-live timelines, while the powerful SDK uses low-level core APIs to give you the freedom to create complex workflows and highly customizable interfaces. As API services go, this is a top-notch SaaS platform any way you slice it.
Key Features of ZEGOCLOUD
● Extensive cross-platform SDK/API library for voice, video, audio, live streaming, AI effects, avatar creation, cloud recording, and other solutions – deployed in minutes to hours, not weeks to days
● Industry-specific solutions for social, telehealth, education, eCommerce, fitness, etc.
● Allows 10,000 free minutes evert month for excellent SDK and API integration
● Rapid deployment with UIKits – go live in as little as 30 minutes
● Industry-best latency with a high-uptime guarantee
● Support over 15,000 end-user device types for seamless cross-functionality
Pricing
Pricing for communication services is based on a per-thousand-minute basis, which is either the number of users (MAUs), participants, or recording time, as the case may be. Here’s a quick view of various prices:
● Voice Calls – $0.99 per 1000 participant minutes
● Live Streaming – $0.39 per 1000 minutes
● Video Calls – $3.99 per 1000 participant minutes
● Cloud Recording – $0.59 per 1000 recording minutes
● Super Board (Online Whiteboard) – $1.99 per 1000 participant minutes
2. MirrorFly
site: https://www.mirrorfly.com/
MirrorFly is another highly-rated API service that offers in-app chat, video, voice, and other solutions. The platform’s SDKs and APIs are complemented by UIKits to ship your in-app chat and other services rapidly and with minimal disruption to your existing interactive services.
The service is quite different from ZEGOCLOUD in many ways. Although most of what the latter can do are also available as features, there are some key components that Mirror-Fly doesn’t offer, such as avatar creation, AI effects, and live streams.
That’s not the only difference. With MirrorFly, the upfront monthly payment is fairly expensive, and it limits your usage to a few thousand minutes that are included in the plan. Overages are charged extra by the minute. Though reasonable, this might be unsuitable for start-ups and solo entrepreneurs working on shoestring budgets due to the high upfront costs.
In comparison, ZEGOCLOUD follows a usage-based model where there’s no hefty plan fee. There’s no doubt MirrorFly is among the top API services available today, but again, “top” is relative to the user’s specific needs and capital outlays.
Key Features
● Highly functional chat APIs offer essentials such as read receipts and message search but also subtle enhancements like auto-translation, real-time message translating, and location updates
● High-quality voice calls with call history, muting, connection status, group calls, output selection (audio), and other core functions
● HD video calling with features like adaptive bitrate/framerate, media storage, one-to-one video calling, frame capture (screen grab), and so on
● Analytics tools to gain audience insights, call data, etc.
● 3 seconds – API response time
● High uptime commitment
Pricing
As briefly mentioned, MirrorFly charges an upfront fee for its chat, video, and comprehensive solutions. The chat API service is only free for up to 10 users, unlike ZEGOCLOUD, which offers a free solution for up to 100 MAUs. Here’s a breakup of MirrorFly pricing for different services:
In-app chat (over 10 users) – $299 per month
Chat, Voice, Video Bundle – $699 per month with overages above 5000 minutes charged at $1.00 per 1000 minutes for voice and video calls
Group Call Bundle – $999 per month with overages above 7500 minutes charged at $1.00 per 1000 minutes of voice or $1.50 per 1000 minutes of video
3. Agora
site: https://www.agora.io/en/
Agora is also a well-known API service designed for developers. It offers features that are very similar to MirrorFly but not quite as extensive as ZEGOCLOUD. The offerings are segregated into core products, extensions, and tools. While the core components comprise the actual solution, such as implementing voice calling, video calling, and other capabilities, the extensions give developers additional resources such as AI-based noise suppression, analytics, recording, 3D spatial audio, and so on.
Along with an extension marketplace for third-party add-ons and the ability for developers to build their own extensions to offer in the marketplace. The core tools comprise no-code and low-code components as well as code libraries in the form of SDKs.
Key Features
● Voice calling with noise suppression and 3D spatial audio
● Crystal-clear video calling with low latency
● Fully customizable SDKs with flexible APIs and UI Kits to build capabilities quickly
● Cross-platform availability – mobile, web, desktop, Flutter, React Native, Unity, etc.
● Multiple real-time features – noise suppression, media services, analytics, and so on
Pricing
Agora pricing options are quite extensive and flexible so you can get just what you need without additional costs and incidentals. In fact, the platform offers 10,000 participant minutes free of cost every month, which is excellent for smaller companies with tight budgets or anyone looking to start building their real-time customer experiences without a cost overhang. A brief overview of various prices are shown below:
Voice Calling – $0.99 per 1000 participant minutes
Video Calling – $3.99 per 1000 participant minutes for HD and $8.99/1000 for Full HD
Interactive Live Streaming – Hosts: $0.99 to $8.99 per 1000 participant minutes; Users (audience): $0.59 to $4.59 per 1000 participant minutes for higher latency (1500 to 2000ms) and $0.99 to $8.99 per 1000 participant minutes for lower latency (400 to 800ms)
Signalling or RTM – $14.50 per monthly peak DAUs when you exceed the free allowance of 1000 DAUs
Interactive Whiteboard – $1.40 per 1000 minutes for just the whiteboard access and $0.50 per 1000 minutes extra for file conversion
4. Sendbird
site: https://sendbird.com/
Sendbird focuses more on the chat aspect but it does have video and voice calling solutions as well. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a robust API service exclusively to develop your app’s live chat capabilities and tools, Sendbird might be one of the best API integration services for you to consider. The platform is also developing some products in an attempt to unify communication and simplify cross-platform functionality.
One great example of a new product is the Unified Inbox, which aggregates customer conversations and messages across multiple applications and displays everything in a single mobile app interface.
From a business viewpoint, this is extremely useful because customers don’t have to jump from messaging to email to SMS to make sense of their communication with a particular business. Everything from order updates to customer support conversations is available under one roof so the customer never has to leave your app.
Key Features
● Strong chat solutions but video and voice calling API services are also available
● Extensive developer resources – SDKs, APIs, UI Kits, sample apps, tutorials, etc.
● Centralized dashboard for developers to manage deployment, get analytics data, etc.
● High availability (six global regions)
● High concurrency with low latency and stable transmission
● Compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, ISO, and other security and privacy standards
Pricing
Chat – Starts at $399 per month for 5000 MAUs, of which 5% can be concurrent users
Voice – Billed on a per minute per user basis – $0.0010 (P2P) and $0.0015 (Server-relayed)
Video – Similarly billed – $0.0014 and $0.0035, respectively
5. Twilio
site: https://www.twilio.com/
Twilio is probably the most well-known name in this group because it was an early mover, releasing the now-iconic Twilio Voice API to rave reviews way back in 2008. Today, Twilio is a vast communication API ecosystem with a focus on omnichannel solutions across voice, video, chat, and email.
The company is well-known for its unique business continuity capabilities, which were exhibited during a major AWS outage back in 2011. Twilio was one of very few services that managed to stay online during the outage and subsequently received high praise from the IT community.
Key Features
● Integrated omnichannel solutions
● Unique tools such as Trust Activation, Twilio Flex, etc.
● Robust applications for marketing, operations, and customer service
● Serverless environment to run applications
● Industry-specific solutions for healthcare, financial, real estate, and more
Pricing
Voice (programmable) – $0.0085 per minute to receive and $0.014 per minute to make a call
Messaging – $0.0079 to send or receive a message
Email – $14.95/month for up to 40,000 emails. Free up to 100 emails a day
WhatsApp Business API – $0.0042 for a template message and $0.005 for a session message
Also read: This Free and Simple Video Editing Software is A Good Alternative to More Expensive Tools
