The execution of API tests can be done rapidly, which, in turn, helps to identify and resolve bugs quickly and easily. According to research conducted by a reputed firm, it takes approximately seven minutes to run a UI test and just twelve seconds to run API tests. API testing allows development, quality assurance and operations teams so that testing can be initiated for an application's core functionality before the UI is ready.
Hence, weaknesses and errors can be easily identified in the initial stages of the software development process. One of the key aspects of API testing is that the API's capability is tested to perform under pressure.
Following are a few key reasons that depict the need to conduct API testing:
The dependency on APIs is checked by the expansion of an application in terms of application built-up
The desired load should be handled by API. The user requests are progressively increased, so that the API that handles loaded should be tested. For each load, the failure rate is measured
The data that is passed through the APIs should be aligned with security and compliance. A specific set of parameters is provided, so that the phishing attacks can be mimicked and also how APIs respond to such types of attacks should be checked
Frictionless API performance should be ensured across all platforms including web, mobile and desktop
The correct implementation of rules and business logic should be ensured at the API level
API testing ensures that the application endpoints and data-sharing functions work as expected.
