What is Cloud Endpoints?
Cloud Endpoints is Google’s API management service. The platform enables development, deployment, and monitoring of APIs on Google Cloud backends. Developers define APIs via OpenAPI specifications.
Core Features
- OpenAPI integration: API definition via standardized OpenAPI specs
- Authentication: Built-in support for API keys, OAuth, and JWT
- API monitoring: Logs, metrics, and traces in Cloud Console
- Developer portal: Automatically generated API documentation
- Quota management: Quotas and rate limiting per API consumer
Common Use Cases
Mobile and Web Backends
Provide APIs for mobile apps or single-page applications. Cloud Endpoints handles authentication and protects against abuse.
Partner APIs
Provide APIs for external partners with API keys and quotas. The developer portal documents the API automatically.
Microservice Communication
Secure and monitor gRPC APIs between microservices with Cloud Endpoints. Authentication happens via service accounts.
Benefits
- No separate API gateway to operate
- Native integration with GCP compute services
- Detailed logs and metrics automatically
- OpenAPI standard for portability
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you with Cloud Endpoints: API design, authentication strategy, developer portal, and migration from other API gateways.
Available Tiers & Options
Standard
- OpenAPI support
- Built-in authentication
- API monitoring
- Limited rate limiting features
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cloud Endpoints?
Cloud Endpoints is Google's API management platform. It enables development, deployment, protection, and monitoring of APIs on GCP backends.
Which API specifications are supported?
Cloud Endpoints supports OpenAPI 2.0 (Swagger) and gRPC. The API configuration is generated from the OpenAPI spec.
Which authentication methods are available?
Cloud Endpoints supports API keys, Firebase Auth, Google Sign-In, and custom JWT tokens for authentication.
How does Cloud Endpoints differ from Apigee?
Cloud Endpoints is optimized for GCP-native APIs and simpler. Apigee offers advanced features for enterprise API management.
Can I use Cloud Endpoints with Cloud Run?
Yes, Cloud Endpoints works with Cloud Run, GKE, App Engine, and Compute Engine as backends.
