Native Integration, iPaaS or Custom API: Choosing the Right Route
Every integration project has three options, and choosing the wrong one usually only becomes apparent a year later.
Three routes
Native integration. An official connection between apps, usually fastest to set up and cheapest to maintain. Its limitation is that it is what it is: if it does not support your need, it cannot be forced.
An integration platform (iPaaS). A tool that connects many apps with visual flows. Flexible and quick to build, carries a subscription cost, and needs monitoring because failures often happen quietly.
A custom API build. Purpose-written code. Most flexible, most expensive to build and maintain, and it needs someone to look after it.
How to choose
- Start from the data need: what moves, in which direction, how often, and what happens if it fails.
- Use native integration if it meets the need, even imperfectly.
- Use iPaaS when the flow branches and changes often.
- Use custom code only when volume is high, logic is complex, or there is no alternative.
Commonly forgotten
- Failure handling. Who finds out when the sync stops overnight?
- Duplicate data. Two-way syncs without a winner rule overwrite each other.
- API rate limits at high volume.
- Ownership. Who maintains it after the builder leaves.
Start with one flow
Build one data flow, run it for a month, watch how it fails, then add the next. See our integration service and Zoho Creator.