Best Practices with API Deprecation

API deprecation is a natural progression in the API lifecycle, and is often forgotten about both by API creators as well as API consumers. As APIs, integrations, and use cases grow and increase in number, so do the number of APIs getting deprecated.

Famous API retirements include the Netflix public API, the Google Earth API, or more recently, the Hangouts API. It’s important to study how various organizations handled their API deprecation, and learn from their strengths and mistakes.

Since an API is a contract between the service provider and consumer, it’s important to treat this relationship with care and honesty, which is why API retirement can be a tricky. There have been numerous cases in the past when an unplanned API deprecation left developers frustrated, or in some cases, out of business.

In this blog post on SwaggerHub, we explore API deprecation and understanding when and how to do it, while still being mindful of your API’s end users.

For more information on how SwaggerHub can help your API lifecycle needs, visit https://swaggerhub.com

For more information on the Swagger framework, visit https://swagger.io