API vs SDK: What’s the Difference?

Estimated Reading Time: 7 Minutes

APIs?

SDKs??

You’ve likely heard these acronyms used in your organization, but maybe you’re not exactly sure what they mean or what they do. Don’t fret! These common and popular technology terms are similar but different in their own unique way. One thing is true for both: they are becoming more commonplace for most companies, regardless of their industry, powering essential and engaging business tools and customer experiences.

Let’s explore these terms, their similarities and differences, the benefits of using one versus the other, and Iris’ APIs and SDKs available to our partners today.

Key Takeaways

• APIs and SDKs are essential tools for software development: APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) enable software applications to communicate with each other, while SDKs (Software Development Kits) provide instructions and tools for developers to create applications for specific platforms.
  
  
• Choosing between APIs and SDKs depends on the project scope: APIs are ideal for integrating third-party applications, while SDKs are more suited for building new applications quickly on a specific platform.
  
  
• Leveraging APIs and SDKs offers various business benefits: These tools can reduce development time, improve app performance, accelerate speed-to-market, enhance user experience, increase revenue, and help businesses fill product gaps with additional functionalities and services.
  
  
• Iris offers a wide variety of identity and personal cyber protection solutions via API and/or SDK, allowing our partners to seamlessly integrate identity protection into their existing digital environment.

APIs and SDKs: Two Essential Tools for Software Development

APIs and SDKs are two essential tools for developers that help businesses like yours create and integrate third-party software with their existing applications. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they differ in scope and functionality.

API: Application Programming Interface

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules or protocols that enables software applications to communicate with each other to exchange data, features, and functionality. APIs enable businesses to integrate their products and services with other applications, streamlining the development process and enhancing the application.

APIs also give application owners a simple and secure way of sharing only necessary information and data, an important aspect of product and data security. Instead of servers or devices exposing all collected data, APIs enable organizations to share small packets of data that are relevant to the specific request.

Most often, when APIs are referenced, the discussion is about a subcategory of APIs called web APIs. These web APIs are accessed using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is used for fetching and displaying web pages. There are four popular types of web APIs, including:

• Internal (or Private) APIs: These APIs are only used by certain people or departments within a company and are hidden from external users. So, developers working for the company who “owns” the internal API can use it; however, external developers cannot. Internal APIs (or private APIs) are meant to streamline data transfers between teams and systems.
  • For example, a company may decide to use an internal API to connect its HR system with its payroll system.
    
    
• Open APIs: Unlike internal APIs, open APIs (also known as public APIs or external APIs) are available to any developer – those within the company or external. They have relatively minimal restrictions and allow developers to access data that can then be used to enhance their own products and services.
  • For example, social media platforms provide open APIs for other organizations to integrate social functionalities into their applications.
    
    
• Partner APIs: These APIs are strategically shared externally, but only with those who have a business relationship with the company that owns the API. Security measures tend to be stronger with partner APIs than with public APIs. Businesses may choose to leverage partner APIs so they can have more control over who has access to their resources and how those resources are used.
  • For example, a travel agency may provide an API to hotel and airline partners to integrate booking functionalities.
    
    
• Composite APIs: Composite APIs combine multiple APIs to allow developers to bundle calls and requests and receive a unified response from different sources. These APIs help lighten the server load and result in faster systems overall, not to mention reduced complexity.
  • Here’s an example from Stoplight: Say you want to create an order within a shopping cart API, which may require several data sources:
    • Create customer
    • Create order for customer
    • Add item to order
    • Add another item
    • Change order status

Instead of creating five different API calls, developers can create one composite API for this process.

To help developers understand a particular API’s capabilities, technology organizations will create API documentation – think of it as a technical instruction manual – that provides details about the API and how to use it with other software applications and services.

SDK: Software Development Kit

SDK, or Software Development Kit, is a set of instructions, tools, libraries, and guidelines developers use to create applications for a particular platform. In short, they are a toolbox that allow developers to build quickly and are platform-specific (e.g., web SDKs, Android SDKs, etc.). Developers use SDKs to build and maintain applications without having to create everything from scratch. Most SDKs include at least one API. SDKs that include APIs house documentation on how to use the APIs, guides or tutorials, FAQs, sample graphics, and frameworks to help developers build applications faster. These resources are provided and clearly outlined to help developers learn how to use the new resource.

There are several uses for SDKs, including:

• Web development
• Mobile app development
• Cloud computing/storage
• Internet of Things (IoT) applications
• Game development

Depending on the use case, developers should choose the SDK that is most optimized for their specific needs. There are many free SDKs available; however, developers should confirm that the SDK is from a reputable source and doesn’t contain any harmful or malicious code. The SDK should be appropriately documented, supported, and updated regularly to ensure data security.

API or SDK: The Choice is Yours

Choosing between an API and an SDK largely depends on the scope and complexity of the software project. APIs are a good tool for integrating third-party applications, while SDKs are appropriate for creating new applications on a specific platform. For example, a brand might want to use an API to integrate its payment gateway with a third-party shopping application. But, if a business wants to create a new mobile app for its platform, then an SDK would be better suited.

Business Benefits in Leveraging APIs and SDKs

Utilizing APIs and SDKs reduces development time, improves app performance, and accelerates speed-to-market. Moreover, the benefits of using APIs or SDKs extend far beyond the development process. SDKs and APIs can enhance the user experience, increase revenue and retention, and help fill product gaps, enabling businesses to integrate additional value-added functionalities and services they may have yet to offer due to a lack of resources, expertise, or something else.

APIs and SDKs from Iris^® Powered by Generali

The Iris^® Platform enables businesses of all types to offer identity and personal cyber protection to their audiences – be it their customers, clients, members, or employees. Through the Iris platform, Iris offers our partners a wide variety of identity and personal cyber protection options via API, web SDK, and/or Android SDK to choose from. Iris’ protection solutions include:

• Identity Monitoring + Alerts
• Credit Services (Monitoring, Alerts, Report, & Score)
• High-Risk Transaction Monitoring
• Personal Web Defense (VPN)
• Specialty Finance Block
• Home Title Monitoring
• Telecom and Utilities Alert
• Caller ID Fraud Monitoring
• Social Media Monitoring
• Monthly Risk Email
• And more!
  

We also provide APIs for various enrollment methods – how you want your customers to gain access to the new features – which can be used to deliver other Iris micro-experiences like ScamAssist^® and more that are on the way!

Iris’ APIs give you the flexibility to seamlessly integrate identity protection into your existing digital environment, such as your member portal, mobile app, etc., offering you several benefits along the way, including:

• Expert support – Choose from several tiers of implementation support.
  
  
• Data pipeline services – Rely on Iris to aggregate and standardize alert data from numerous sources.
  
  
• Flexible data handling – Either pass data through your system to Iris’ via API or let Iris handle the data directly.
  
  
• Robust documents and implementation resources – Provide your team with the documentation they need to collect, receive, display, and track data and usage.
  
  
• Best practices guidance – Upon request, we can provide samples of user experience assets, such as emails and alert designs, to use as references as you build your own features.*
  
  
• World-class security – Iris safeguards user data via encryption and hashing at every moment throughout its journey with the highest security standards in the industry. We have passed current compliance audits for PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 2 Type 1, and CSA STAR Level 2 standards and have earned the Trusted Cloud Provider trustmark from the Cloud Security Alliance.

Ask us about our APIs and SDKs to learn how they can fit your product development needs and help your brand achieve its business goals. Contact us today to learn more.

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*Iris reserves the right to protect our intellectual property as appropriate when providing sample user experience assets.