---
layout: post
title: Open Source API Billing and Traffic Control
image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/api-evangelist-logos/api-evangelist-butterfly-vertical.png
author:
  name: kinlane
tags:
  - Open Source
  - Open
---
I was writing a story for [ProgrammableWeb](http://www.programmableweb.com "ProgrammableWeb") tonight on the enhancements Google made recently to its API console.

I hadn't properly covered the [API Console](https://code.google.com/apis/console/ "API Console"), [API Explorer](http://code.google.com/apis/explorer/ "API Explorer") here on [API Evangelist](http://www.apievangelist.com "API Evangelist"), so I took the time, played with more, and wrote up overviews for each.

I noticed something while reviewing Google's recent efforts to organize their family of [88 APIs](http://www.programmableweb.com/apis/directory/1?company=Google "88 APIs"), and make it easier to discover, integrate, and manage for developers.

Google is taking a similar approach to managing their APIs, as [Apigee](http://www.apigee.com "Apigee"), [Mashery](http://www.mashery.com "Mashery"), and [3Scale](http://www.3Scale.net "3Scale") does for other API providers.

[Apigee](http://apievangelist.com/2010/10/10/apigee-api-services/ "Apigee"), [Mashery](http://apievangelist.com/2010/10/10/mashery-api-services/ "Mashery"), and [3Scale](http://apievangelist.com/2010/10/10/3scale-api-services/ "3Scale") provide a wealth of knowledge when it comes to API deployment that very few companies can touch.

Beyond expertise, they provide a set of [common building blocks every API should offer](http://apievangelist.com/2011/03/07/api-area-common-building-blocks/ "common building blocks every API should offer"). These are tools like forums and blogs you can find elsewhere, but these API service providers deliver in a neat bundle ready to go for your API.

But the real value they bring to the table, that you can't really find anywhere else is:

*   API Billing
*   API Traffic Controls
*   API Metrics & Analytics

And Apigee has one other piece that Mashery and 3Scale do not. They have an [API Explorer](http://apigee.com/about/products_togo.html "API Explorer").

[Google provides an API Explorer](http://apievangelist.com/2011/05/21/google-apis-explorer/ "Google provides an API explorer"), and they have open sourced the code, and [made it available at Google Code](http://code.google.com/p/google-apis-explorer/ "made it available at Google Code").

Next the [Google API Console](http://apievangelist.com/2011/05/21/google-apis-console/ "Google API Console") delivers billing and traffic controls, if this set of tools were made open source, this would be huge for the API community.

I've been a big proponent of the need for [open source API building blocks](http://apievangelist.com/2011/04/04/open-building-blocks-for-an-api/ "open source building blocks"). I say this not to devalue what Apigee, Mashery, and 3Scale bring to the table. Their stuff rocks. However there are many other API owners out there who aren't ready for a service like theirs, or can't afford, and a set of open source building blocks is needed.

That leaves metrics and analytics. I think an open source set of API analytics would be the biggest benefit to the industry. Some APIs don't need billing tools, but everyone needs to measure and control traffic. I have talked about the need for an [open source set of API metrics and analytics](http://apievangelist.com/2011/03/31/api-metrics-and-analytics/ "open source set of aPI metrics and analytics") before.

So I guess I'm saying to Google, Please open source your API Console, like you did the API explorer. It will benefit the community a great deal, we will deal with API analytics next.