1
SLA-Backed Reliability & Uptime
Public, documented SLA
Multi-AZ/region failover
Status page & incident history
enterprise API uptime99.9% SLAhigh availability
API Checklist
Commercial-grade APIs give teams the confidence to move fast without breaking things. They combine reliable uptime, enterprise-level security, and global scalability with developer-friendly documentation and predictable pricing. For managers, that means lower risk and faster delivery; for developers, it's a robust, well-documented foundation that just works at scale.
2
Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance
TLS 1.2+ in transit & encryption at rest
Key management (KMS)
Independent audits
SOC 2ISO 27001GDPRHIPAAdata encryption
3
Scalability & Low Latency Performance
Proven throughput benchmarks
Burst handling
Queueing/Backoff strategies
auto-scaling APIglobal edge networksub-100ms latency
4
Stable Versioning & Backward Compatibility
Clear version roadmap
Deprecation windows & alerts
Contract tests & change logs
API versioningdeprecation policysemantic versioning
5
Exceptional Developer Experience (DX)
Copy-pasteable examples
SDKs for major languages
Sandbox keys
API documentationSDKsquickstartPostman collection
6
Robust Authentication & Access Control
Fine-grained scopes/roles
Service accounts
IP allowlists & rate-limit tiers
OAuth 2.0JWTSSO/SAMLRBAC
7
Observability, Monitoring & Analytics
Real-time metrics & alerts
Per-key analytics
Exportable logs/webhooks
API analyticsaudit logsusage dashboards
8
Dedicated Support & Success Programs
Guaranteed response times
TAM/solutions architect
Migration/implementation help
24/7 supportenterprise supporttechnical account manager
9
Rich Integration Ecosystem
Prebuilt connectors (Zapier, iPaaS, major clouds)
Sample apps & templates
integrations marketplacepartner ecosystemwebhooks
10
Predictable Pricing & Commercial Assurances
No surprise overages
Annual discounts/commit tiers
Data residency & DPAs
transparent pricingvolume discountsenterprise terms