---
layout: post
title: Developing More Meaningful API Metrics
image: >-
  http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-site/blog/api-metrics.jpg
author:
  name: kinlane
tags:
  - Metrics
---
API metrics are an essential, but what should we measure? There are two metrics that seems to dominate discussions about success of the API industry:

*   Number of New API Registration
*   Number of Daily and Monthly API Calls

Every API I’ve consulted with, use the same two metrics, if they have any at all. The tech blogosphere (driven by [API service providers](http://apievangelist.com/serviceproviders/ "API service proviers")) have created a so call [billionaires club](http://blog.programmableweb.com/2011/05/25/who-belongs-to-the-api-billionaires-club/ "billionaires club"), showcasing APIs that have over a billion API calls within a day or month.

Investors are even using the number of API calls as a [metric to consider the valuation of a company](http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/03/kleiner-klout-30-million/ "considered a metric you can use to consider the valuation of a company by investors"), and seen as a good indicator of the demand for a company’s services.

I agree that new registrations and number of API calls are a start, but we should be able to identify many other metrics to truly measure the activity and success of an API and the sentiment of it's API developer community.