Knit vs Merge: How to decide between the two unified APIs

As you look to leverage a unified API solution to add customer-facing integrations to your product, you might end up deciding between Knit and Merge. And while the two solutions look similar on the surface, they differ in meaningful ways.

We’ll break down their differences so that you can better understand which is the better fit for your integration strategy.

Note: This article was written on 9/27/2024. The information below is subject to change.

Knit overview

Knit offers a unified API that supports just shy of 100 integrations across a few software categories—assessment, communication, ATS, CRM, accounting, and HRIS.

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Pros of Knit

• They provide a relatively cheap solution. You can get started at just $399/month 

• They offer integrations with assessments and communications platforms. This includes Slack, Teams, Perspect AI, and The Predictive Index

• They’re well positioned to support organizations based in India. Their team works and lives in India, making it convenient for organizations in the region to work with them

Cons of Knit

• They don’t cover the long-tail of integrations. For example, they don’t support Lano, an HRIS that’s popular in Europe; and they don’t cover Justworks, an HR software that’s widely used in the U.S.

• They generally don’t work with enterprise organizations. As a result, their integrations haven’t been battle tested and will likely have bugs if and when bigger companies try them

• They don’t have the funding necessary to support your integration needs long-term. Knit has only received a million dollars in seed funding and has a small team (less than 50 employees). Taken together, they likely can’t make meaningful investments in their integrations and their monitoring features over time

Related: Kombo's top competitors

Merge overview

Merge also offers a unified API solution that lets you add more than 200 integrations across HRIS, ATS, file storage, ticketing, CRM, and accounting solutions.

Pros of Merge

• Provides a richer set of integrations across their supported categories. Whether your customers are based in certain regions, industries, or are of a certain size, you can likely integrate with the applications they use

• Offers go-to-market support. Merge's team can not only guide you through building to its unified API quickly but also offer guidance on pricing, marketing, and supporting your integrations effectively over time

• Has reliable, battle-tested integrations. Merge works with thousands of companies, many of which are enterprise organizations. As a result, they’ve encountered and addressed countless edge cases

Cons of Merge

• They may not be as cheap as Knit. Given all of the features and functionality Merge supports—both with their integrations and their integration observability features—they'll likely come at a higher price point than Knit

• They may not support the integration categories you’re interested in. The team at Merge is heavily focused on improving and providing best-in-class integrations across its existing categories. That said, they often expand to new ones and will continue do so going forward

Given all the pros and cons of both solutions, in can be hard to decide between the two. We'll make it easier by comparing them directly in the following section.

Related: Common alternatives to Apideck

Merge vs Knit

If you’re looking to build many integrations across several software categories and receive enterprise-grade support, Merge will be a better option. However, if you're a small business and can’t afford to invest more than $5k per year on integrations, Knit may be a better fit.

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