APILayer
APILayer operates a curated API marketplace with 100+ production-ready REST APIs across finance, geolocation, marketing, aviation, and web utilities, serving 445,000+ developers and enterprise customers via a single API key, freemium, subscription, and custom enterprise pricing tiers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What APILayer does
APILayer operates a curated API marketplace serving approximately 445,000+ developers and a base of enterprise customers globally. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Vienna, Austria with operations extending into the United Kingdom and United States, the company aggregates 100+ production-ready REST APIs across categories including finance (Currencylayer, Fixer, Coinlayer, Marketstack, Vatlayer), geolocation (IPstack, Positionstack, IPAPI), marketing intelligence (Mediastack, Numverify, Userstack, Serpstack), aviation (Aviationstack), weather (Weatherstack), and web utilities (Pdflayer, Screenshotlayer, Scrapestack, Countrylayer, Languagelayer). The platform is differentiated by a unified single-API-key access model, multi-language SDKs distributed via NPM (apilayer-fixer, apilayer-ipstack, apilayer-aviationstack, apilayer-marketstack, apilayer-coinlayer), Postman collections, and SwaggerHub documentation, all running on a container-based cloud architecture that processes 30M+ API calls per month.
The company operates a multi-tier revenue model that layers freemium self-serve acquisition (no credit card required) with paid monthly/annual subscription plans (e.g., Marketstack Starter at $43.99/mo billed annually), usage-based overage charges ($0.0019 per extra request on soft limits), and enterprise custom contracts offering 99.99% uptime SLA, dedicated 7/7 support, and priority bug fixes. Its go-to-market blends product-led growth (free tier for developer experimentation), community-led distribution (Public-APIs GitHub repository with 390K+ stars, the fourth largest GitHub repository, plus Discord and YouTube), a 3,000+ partner affiliate program paying 20% recurring commissions for 3 years, and a dedicated enterprise field sales motion. Distribution occurs through marketplace.apilayer.com (self-serve), industry-specific landing pages spanning Finance, Travel & Logistics, SaaS, E-commerce, and Data Scraping, and integrations with Postman, NPM, Zapier, and SwaggerHub.
APILayer is privately held with no disclosed external funding rounds, operates with a lean 11-50 employee headcount, and runs GDPR-compliant operations anchored in the EU under the IderaCorp legal umbrella. The company has built a portfolio of 22+ branded API sub-products, operates technology partnerships with Stripe (billing), Klaviyo (email), HubSpot (CRM), and Datadog (monitoring), and serves customer segments spanning individual developers, SaaS companies, e-commerce platforms, fintech, and travel/logistics firms, with named enterprise customers including InnovateTech, GlobeX Commerce, Nexa Solutions, and CloudWorks.
APILayer firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- APILayer
- Legal name
- APILayer
- Website
- https://apilayer.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- APILayer operates a curated API marketplace with 100+ production-ready REST APIs across finance, geolocation, marketing, aviation, and web utilities, serving 445,000+ developers and enterprise customers via a single API key, freemium, subscription, and custom enterprise pricing tiers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
APILayer industry classification
Industry- Product category
- API Marketplace
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Marketplace APIs & API Monetization Platforms (BPAMAOAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- API Management & Gateways (BPAMAOAA), API Documentation & Developer Portals (BPAMAOAH)
Keywords
Where APILayer is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
APILayer business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- API Subscription Plans: Monthly subscription fees for API access with tiered plans (Free, Basic, Professional, Enterprise). Each API has its own pricing structure with different rate limits. Paid plans offer higher request volumes with soft limits and overage pricing.
- Enterprise Custom Pricing: Tailored pricing for enterprise customers based on volume and usage requirements, with flexible billing structures and dedicated support.
- Freemium Access: Free plans available for all APIs allowing developers to test and integrate before purchasing, serving as a customer acquisition funnel.
- Overage Charges: Soft limit overage pricing (e.g., $0.0019 per extra request) for continued API access beyond plan limits, ensuring applications keep running.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Plan - Limited API calls with no credit card required |
| Subscription | Annual | Marketstack Starter Paid Plan - $43.99/mo yearly billed |
| Subscription | Monthly | Alpha Vantage comparison - $49.99/mo |
| Usage-based | Multi-year contract | Enterprise Custom Pricing - Volume-based tailored pricing |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
APILayer product offering
Product offeringCore offering
APILayer operates a curated REST API marketplace that aggregates 100+ production-ready APIs across finance, geolocation, marketing, communication, aviation, and utility categories, sold to developers and enterprises under a single unified API key. The platform offers freemium and tiered subscription access to APIs such as IPstack, Marketstack, Currencylayer, Fixer, Weatherstack, Aviationstack, and 15+ others, with SDKs, Postman collections, and browser-based live testing. The company also enables third-party API developers to monetize their APIs through the same marketplace infrastructure.
Product overview
APILayer is a highly curated API marketplace with over 15 years of experience, offering both proprietary APIs and enabling developers to monetize their own APIs. The platform provides a unified access point with a single API key for all APIs. The product portfolio spans multiple categories: Finance APIs (Currencylayer, Fixer, Coinlayer, Marketstack, Exchangerate, Exchangeratesapi, Vatlayer) for currency conversion, crypto rates, stock market data, and VAT validation; Geolocation APIs (IPstack, Positionstack, IPAPI) for IP geolocation and geocoding; Marketing APIs (Mediastack, Numverify, Userstack, Serpstack) for news, phone validation, user-agent detection, and SEO data; Communication APIs (Mailboxlayer) for email validation; Aviation APIs (Aviationstack) for flight data; Utility APIs (Weatherstack, Pdflayer, Screenshotlayer, Countrylayer, Languagelayer, Scrapestack) for weather, PDF conversion, screenshots, country data, language detection, and web scraping; plus AI/ML APIs (4 APIs) for machine learning capabilities. All APIs feature REST architecture, JSON responses, API key authentication, and comprehensive documentation with SDKs and Postman collections.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Aviationstack: Free, Real-time Flight Status & Global Aviation Data API
- Coinlayer
- Pdflayer
- Weatherstack
- IPstack
- Marketstack
- Currencylayer
- Fixer
- Numverify
- Screenshotlayer
- Serpstack
- Userstack
- Vatlayer
- Mailboxlayer
- Positionstack
- Scrapestack
- IPAPI
- Languagelayer
- Exchangerates
- Exchangeratesapi
- Countrylayer
- Mediastack
Products and services
- IPstack
Quantifiable outcome
- Revenue increase of over 20% for e-commerce customers using geolocation personalization
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use APILayer
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
APILayer technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature4 records
APILayer partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- StripecoreThird-party payment processing service used for billing and subscription management. Stripe handles credit card processing and payment collection on the APILayer marketplace platform.
- KlaviyocoreEmail marketing platform used for newsletter distribution and customer communication. Handles email campaigns and marketing automation.
- HubSpotcoreCRM and marketing platform used for customer relationship management and marketing automation across the platform.
- DatadogcoreMonitoring service used for tracking API performance, uptime, and infrastructure health across APILayer services.
- Referral CandyminorReferral marketing platform used for managing the affiliate program and tracking partner commissions.
- PostmancoreAPI development platform providing pre-built Postman collections for testing APILayer endpoints, visualizing responses, and getting started quickly.
- NPMcoreNode package manager hosting official APILayer SDKs including apilayer-fixer, apilayer-ipstack, apilayer-aviationstack, apilayer-marketstack, apilayer-coinlayer for easier integration.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
APILayer competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Kong: API gateway and service-mesh platform focused on enterprise developer infrastructure. Comparable in API management but targets platform teams rather than the API consumer marketplace APILayer serves.
- Algolia: Developer-first search-as-a-service API. Comparable business model (subscription API, developer-led) and represents the kind of vertical specialist APILayer competes against or hosts in its marketplace.
- Mashape / Kong Cloud: Pioneer in the API marketplace category (now part of Kong). Direct historical peer in the curated API marketplace space APILayer operates in.
Others
- Stripe: Public API-first platform for payments. APILayer uses Stripe as its billing provider, but Stripe also represents the gold-standard developer API business model APILayer aspires to replicate at smaller scale.
- Postman: API development and testing platform with a public API network. APILayer distributes via Postman collections, making Postman an enabling peer rather than a direct marketplace competitor.
Direct peers
- RapidAPI: The largest independent API marketplace, connecting developers to thousands of APIs with unified billing and analytics. Directly competes with APILayer on the same PLG, developer-first marketplace model.
Broad incumbents
- Amazon Web Services (API Gateway + Data Exchange): Hyperscaler offering API Gateway, Marketplace, and bundled data APIs as part of its broader cloud platform. Competes indirectly by packaging API access into enterprise cloud contracts.
- Twilio: Public communications API platform (SMS, voice, email validation). Adjacent to APILayer's Mailboxlayer/Numverify offerings and competes for developer adoption in the communications API niche.
- Google Cloud (Apigee): Apigee API management platform plus Google Cloud's data APIs (Maps, Translation, etc.). Broad incumbent that overlaps with APILayer on developer-facing APIs and gateway capabilities.
- Microsoft Azure API Management: Enterprise API gateway plus Azure Marketplace data APIs. Competes for enterprise developer mindshare and bundles APIs into cloud agreements.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
APILayer social profiles
Digital presenceAPILayer compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
APILayer financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
APILayer leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
APILayer funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
APILayer M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about APILayer
What does APILayer do?
APILayer operates a curated REST API marketplace that aggregates 100+ production-ready APIs across finance, geolocation, marketing, communication, aviation, and utility categories, sold to developers and enterprises under a single unified API key. The platform offers freemium and tiered subscription access to APIs such as IPstack, Marketstack, Currencylayer, Fixer, Weatherstack, Aviationstack, and 15+ others, with SDKs, Postman collections, and browser-based live testing. The company also enables third-party API developers to monetize their APIs through the same marketplace infrastructure.
Is APILayer a public or private company?
APILayer is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was APILayer founded?
APILayer was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is APILayer based?
APILayer is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does APILayer make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. API Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Custom Pricing, freemium Access and overage Charges.
Who are APILayer's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Kong, Algolia and Mashape / Kong Cloud. Others are Stripe and Postman. RapidAPI is listed as a direct peer. Broad incumbents are Amazon Web Services (API Gateway + Data Exchange), Twilio, Google Cloud (Apigee) and Microsoft Azure API Management.
Does APILayer have an API?
Yes. APILayer offers a unified REST API marketplace with JSON responses. All APIs use API key authentication sent via the 'apikey' header. The platform provides rate limiting with daily and monthly limits (e.g., X-RateLimit-Limit-Day, X-RateLimit-Limit-Month headers). Node.js SDKs available via NPM (apilayer-fixer, apilayer-ipstack, apilayer-aviationstack, apilayer-marketstack, apilayer-coinlayer). Live Demo feature allows browser-based testing with auto-populated API keys and multi-language code samples. Postman collections available for endpoint testing. Developer documentation is at docs.apilayer.com.
What industry is APILayer in?
APILayer's product category is API Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAOAM, Marketplace APIs & API Monetization Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMAOAA, API Management & Gateways. Its NAICS code is 518 and its SIC code is 7370.