Developers ask AI: What's the best tool for API design and testing?
Representative prompt — one of many ways developers ask this questionPostman, Swagger, and Kong hold the top three spots, unchanged from last month.
The biggest mover is APIMatic, jumping 25 spots from #48 to #23. Tyk had the steepest drop, falling 6 positions from #14 to #20.
| Rank Ordered by prominence across all models, compared to September 2026. | Product Company or product name that appeared in model responses for this category. | Prominence Prominence (1–100) weights how often a product is ranked ahead of others. Hover a score for average position and visibility. | Models Per-model prominence. Ring fill shows each model's prominence score. Hover a dot for prominence, average position, and visibility. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — | 100 |
|
|
| 2 — |
SmartBear
|
90 |
|
| 3 — | 79 |
|
|
| 4 ▲1 | 76 |
|
|
| 5 ▲2 |
SmartBear
|
73 |
|
| 6 ▲2 | 73 |
|
|
| 7 ▼3 | 69 |
|
|
| 8 ▲1 | 62 |
|
|
| 9 ▲2 |
Google
|
56 |
|
| 10 — |
Kong
|
54 |
|
|
ALSO RANKED
|
|||
| 11 ▼5 |
Salesforce
|
53 |
|
| 12 ▲11 | 51 |
|
|
| 13 ▲3 | 49 |
|
|
| 14 ▲5 | 40 |
|
|
| 15 ▼3 | 39 |
|
|
| 16 ▲1 | 36 |
|
|
| 17 ▲1 | 27 |
|
|
| 18 ▲15 |
SmartBear
|
25 |
|
| 19 | 24 |
|
|
| 20 ▼6 |
Tyk Technologies
|
21 |
|
| 21 ▼6 | 20 |
|
|
| 22 ▲13 | 16 |
|
|
| 23 ▲25 | 14 |
|
|
| 24 — | 13 |
|
|
| 25 ▲20 |
Oracle
|
13 |
|
| 26 ▼6 | 12 |
|
|
Also tracked
These products appeared in at least one model response but did not meet the threshold to rank. This is not a comprehensive list. Many factors influence whether a product appears in AI-generated results. Rankings reflect AI model behavior at time of testing. Appearance or absence does not constitute an endorsement or evaluation by LLM Rank.
Top 10 over time
October 2026How standings changed across April 2026 → May 2026 → June 2026 → July 2026 → August 2026 → September 2026 → October 2026. Hover a point or product name for details.
Dashed lines = months outside the top 10.
The top API Development tools, according to…
October 2026 · top 5 per model
-
1
Postman 100
-
2
Swagger 90
-
3
Kong 85
-
4
Stoplight 80
-
5
Hoppscotch 78
-
1
Postman 100
-
2
Swagger 90
-
3
Kong 84
-
4
Apidog 80
-
5
Hoppscotch 76
-
1
Postman 100
-
2
Swagger 90
-
3
Stoplight 81
-
4
Apidog 78
-
5
Hoppscotch 76
API Development developers also ask about…
What are the best open-source API development tools? Representative prompt — one of several specialized views within API Development
Rankings for a specialized prompt within API Development.
| Rank Ordered by prominence across all models. | Product Company or product name that appeared in model responses for this category. | Prominence Prominence (1–100) weights how often a product is ranked ahead of others. Hover a score for average position and visibility. | Models Per-model prominence. Ring fill shows each model's prominence score. Hover a dot for prominence, average position, and visibility. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 93 |
|
|
| 2 |
Swagger
2
SmartBear
|
92 |
|
| 3 |
Kong
3
|
88 |
|
| 4 |
Bruno
8
|
85 |
|
| 5 |
Tyk
20
Tyk Technologies
|
72 |
|
| 6 |
Gravitee
NR
|
66 |
|
| 7 |
WSO2
NR
|
57 |
|
| 8 |
Hasura
NR
|
55 |
|
| 9 |
Redocly
17
|
55 |
|
| 10 |
HTTPie
12
|
55 |
|
What are the best API client tools? Representative prompt — one of several specialized views within API Development
Rankings for a specialized prompt within API Development.
| Rank Ordered by prominence across all models. | Product Company or product name that appeared in model responses for this category. | Prominence Prominence (1–100) weights how often a product is ranked ahead of others. Hover a score for average position and visibility. | Models Per-model prominence. Ring fill shows each model's prominence score. Hover a dot for prominence, average position, and visibility. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Postman
1
|
100 |
|
| 2 |
Bruno
8
|
82 |
|
| 3 | 81 |
|
|
| 4 |
HTTPie
12
|
75 |
|
| 5 |
Kong
3
|
73 |
|
| 6 | 72 |
|
|
| 7 |
Insomnia
10
Kong
|
70 |
|
| 8 |
Swagger
2
SmartBear
|
68 |
|
| 9 |
Apidog
7
|
67 |
|
| 10 |
RapidAPI
6
|
63 |
|
What are the best API design tools? Representative prompt — one of several specialized views within API Development
Rankings for a specialized prompt within API Development.
| Rank Ordered by prominence across all models. | Product Company or product name that appeared in model responses for this category. | Prominence Prominence (1–100) weights how often a product is ranked ahead of others. Hover a score for average position and visibility. | Models Per-model prominence. Ring fill shows each model's prominence score. Hover a dot for prominence, average position, and visibility. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Postman
1
|
99 |
|
| 2 |
Swagger
2
SmartBear
|
91 |
|
| 3 |
Kong
3
|
77 |
|
| 4 |
SmartBear
|
76 |
|
| 5 |
Salesforce
|
69 |
|
| 6 |
Apidog
7
|
68 |
|
| 7 |
Redocly
17
|
66 |
|
| 8 |
ReadMe
13
|
63 |
|
| 9 |
Apiary
25
Oracle
|
59 |
|
| 10 | 56 |
|
Full report & dataset
Need to work with this data?
Complete per-model results and every individual model run in a spreadsheet, a PDF for citing with a written read on what moved.
In the October 2026 export
- 43 ranked products
- 3 models ranked in full
- 120 runs, with verbatim replies
- 3 prompt variants scored
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API Development · October 2026
The full dataset behind the leaderboard, ready for your next deck
For analysts and marketers who need to work with these rankings, not just read them: complete per-model results and every individual model run in a spreadsheet you can pivot and chart, a PDF laid out for citing, with a written read on what moved — enough to build the slide before the meeting.
What you'll do with it
- Pivot and filter to find your own cut of the story
- Chart one product against the whole field
- Drop the rankings straight into a leadership deck
- See how consistently a product ranked, not just its average
- Cite a dated snapshot that won't shift next month
In the export
- All 43 ranked products, sortable and pivot-ready
- Complete rankings from all three models, not the top-10 slice charted here
- All 120 runs, each with its verbatim response and parsed ranking
- Three prompt variants scored in full
Data Trove XLSX
Every ranked product with complete per-model results, plus every individual model run and the ranking it produced, in sortable, pivot-ready sheets. (sample)
Data Dossier PDF
The full leaderboard laid out for reading, citing, and lifting into a deck, with the per-model breakdown the page only charts and a written read on what moved this month. (sample)