How much does an API integration cost?

The short answer

An integration here means two systems connected in production: data mapped both ways where needed, retries, reconciliation for anything missed and monitoring that tells a person when something needs attention. A script that calls an API once is a smaller thing. The table shows how scope maps to price with us. These are our typical prices, not a quote.

• The price is per integration between two systems in production, including retries, reconciliation and monitoring.
• When the scope is clear, a 30-minute call is enough for a written fixed quote. A paid scoping sprint is only for larger projects with an open scope.
• Paid API plans, platform fees and hosting are billed to you directly.

What moves the price

Two integrations between the same pair of systems can differ in price by a factor of two. These are the things that usually explain the gap.

Failure handling is also the part that is easiest to leave out of a quote. In the booking integration we built as part of a guest benefits platform, bookings arrive by signed webhook, changes and cancellations flow through as versioned updates, and a queue-driven worker with retries, dead-letter queues and a scheduled safety net re-sends anything that did not arrive.

• Number of objects. Contacts alone is a small job. Contacts, companies, deals, orders and invoices each need their own mapping, validation and tests.
• Direction of sync. One-way is the simple case: one system owns the data and the other receives it. Two-way sync needs rules for which side wins when both change the same record, and protection against updates bouncing back and forth.
• Volume. A few hundred records a day fits comfortably within most rate limits. Tens of thousands needs batching, queues and care with the provider's quotas.
• Failure handling. Retries, duplicate protection, updates that arrive out of order, a place where failed records wait for a person and a scheduled check that catches anything missed. This is in our price by default.
• Sandbox availability. With a sandbox account and test data, the integration can be tested end to end before it goes live. Without one, testing takes longer and needs more care around production data, which raises the price.
• API quality. Clear documentation, webhooks and stable identifiers make the work faster. Without webhooks the integration has to poll for changes; without an API it may need file exports or browser automation.

Zapier or Make vs a custom API integration

An automation platform is often the right first choice. For low volumes and simple mappings, a flow built in an afternoon beats a custom build on both cost and time. We also build on Zapier, Make or n8n when one of them is the better fit.

A custom integration pays off when the flow has to be reliable rather than convenient: delivery with retries and reconciliation, complex mapping, high volume or platform fees that grow with usage. As an illustration, if a platform plan costs $300 a month at your volume, that is $10,800 over three years, more than a typical custom integration costs to build. A custom integration has hosting costs too, but for one integration they are usually small.

• A platform fits: low volume, one-way, simple mapping, and a failed run is an inconvenience rather than a lost order.
• Custom fits: a missed or duplicated record costs money, the sync goes both ways, the mapping is complex or the volume is high.
• A mix is common: keep the simple flows on the platform and move the critical one to code.

Three example budgets

Online orders into accounting: each paid order creates an invoice in the accounting system, one way, with a daily check that every order has its invoice. Both systems offer sandboxes. Roughly $3,500–4,500 and one week.

CRM and billing in two-way sync: customers and contracts kept consistent between a CRM and a billing system, with rules for which side wins and a queue of conflicts for a person to resolve. Roughly $5,500–7,000 and two weeks.

Booking changes into a partner system: bookings arrive by webhook and must stay correct when they are moved, resized or cancelled, with duplicate protection and a scheduled re-send for anything that did not arrive. The partner offers only limited sandbox access. Roughly $6,500–8,000 and three weeks.

These are illustrations of how scope maps to price, not quotes or past projects. A real estimate comes after a look at the actual APIs and test accounts.

Ongoing costs and maintenance

An integration has running costs after launch, and the APIs it depends on keep changing. Plan for both.

• Hosting: a queue, a small worker and a database in your own cloud account, billed to you directly.
• Provider fees: some APIs charge per call or need a paid plan for API access. Check this before the build, because it can decide between options.
• API changes: providers version and retire endpoints. Someone has to read the change notices and update the integration before the old version stops working.
• Credentials: tokens expire and keys need rotating. Production credentials belong in your own secrets manager, never in code.
• Monitoring: alerts go to a named person who knows which actions are safe to retry.
• Bug fixes are included for 30 days after acceptance. After that, our monthly support starts at $1,200 for 20 hours, or your team takes over with the handover documentation.

How to compare integration quotes

Integration quotes often describe different things. A low one may cover only the happy path, where data moves when everything works. Before comparing totals, ask the same questions of each.

• Is the price for one integration between two systems, or per direction or record type?
• Which records and fields are mapped, and in which direction?
• What happens when a system is down or a message arrives twice?
• Is there reconciliation that catches records that went missing?
• Who receives alerts, and what can they safely retry?
• Are platform fees, paid API plans and hosting included or billed separately?
• Who owns the code and the credentials?

Frequently asked questions