How Much Does API Development Cost?
Production-grade REST or GraphQL APIs with authentication, rate limiting, versioning, and auto-generated documentation.
Project type: API / Backend Service
Feature Breakdown
| Feature | Hours | Description |
|---|---|---|
| API Design & Schema | 10 | OpenAPI/GraphQL schema design with endpoint planning, data modeling, and versioning strategy. |
| Core CRUD Endpoints | 20 | Full create, read, update, delete operations with validation, pagination, and filtering. |
| Authentication & Authorization | 14 | JWT/OAuth2 token-based auth with scoped permissions, API keys, and refresh token rotation. |
| Rate Limiting & Caching | 8 | Request throttling per client, Redis-backed response caching, and cache invalidation logic. |
| Webhooks & Event System | 12 | Outbound webhook delivery with retry logic, event logging, and subscription management. |
| Documentation & SDK | 8 | Auto-generated interactive docs (Swagger/GraphQL Playground) and optional TypeScript SDK. |
| Testing & CI/CD | 8 | Integration test suite, contract tests, and automated deployment pipeline. |
Total estimated hours: 80
Pricing Tiers
- AI PM: $2/hr — Total: $160
- AI-managed project execution
- Automated milestone tracking
- Daily progress reports
- Quality assurance checks
- Live PM: $3/hr — Total: $240
- Dedicated human project manager
- Weekly strategy calls
- Priority support channel
- API architecture review
- Security audit coordination
- Live PM + Dev: $5/hr — Total: $400
- Dedicated PM and senior developer
- Real-time pair programming sessions
- Code review on every pull request
- Load testing & performance tuning
- Post-launch support included
Agency Comparison
| Approach | Typical Cost | Typical Timeline | Bookuvai Cost | Bookuvai Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Agency | $15,000 – $50,000 | 2 – 4 months | $160 – $400 | 2 – 3 weeks |
| Freelancer | $5,000 – $18,000 | 1 – 3 months | $160 – $400 | 2 – 3 weeks |
| In-House Team | $30,000 – $80,000 | 2 – 4 months | $160 – $400 | 2 – 3 weeks |
Frequently Asked Questions
- REST or GraphQL — which should I choose?
- REST is simpler and widely understood. GraphQL is better when clients need flexible queries across complex data. We can advise based on your use case at no extra charge.
- Does the cost include hosting?
- No. Hosting is billed by your cloud provider (AWS, GCP, etc.). We configure the deployment pipeline so your API is ready to deploy on day one.
- Can the API handle high traffic?
- Yes. We design for horizontal scaling with stateless services, connection pooling, and caching layers. Load test results are included with the Live PM + Dev tier.