--- title: "Unified.to Wins Best Business Software API at the 2026 API Awards" img: https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/unified-article-images/unified_wins_best_business_software_api_at_the_2026_api_awards-icon.png date: 2026-09-17T13:07:00.000Z updated: 2026-09-17T13:14:42.466Z tag: Product description: "Unified.to's Real-Time Unified API has won the 2026 API Award for Best Business Software API. The API World Advisory Board selected the winner after a public..." url: "https://unified.to/blog/unified_wins_best_business_software_api_at_the_2026_api_awards" --- # Unified.to Wins Best Business Software API at the 2026 API Awards ------ _September 17, 2026_ Unified.to's Real-Time [Unified API](/technology) has won the 2026 API Award for Best Business Software API. The API World Advisory Board selected the winner after a public nomination round, and the award was presented at API World 2026 in Santa Clara, California, on September 1, 2026. ![Best_Business_Software_API.jpg](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/unified-article-images/unified_wins_best_business_software_api_at_the_2026_api_awards-0.jpg) ## What is the Best Business Software API award? Best Business Software API is one of 26 categories in the 2026 API Awards, produced by DevNetwork alongside the API World conference. DevNetwork says winners were selected by its API Advisory Board based on technical innovation, industry impact, adoption within the API community, and contribution to API technologies and best practices. DevNetwork lists all winners on the [2026 API Awards page](https://apiworld.co/awards). > "APIs have evolved from integration tools into the core infrastructure powering AI-native applications, autonomous agents, and intelligent digital experiences," said Jonathan Pasky, Executive Producer & Co-Founder of DevNetwork, producer of API World and the API Awards. "The 2026 API Award winners are helping define what's next for the API ecosystem, and Unified.to Real-Time Unified API's recognition reflects its meaningful contribution to the industry's continued innovation and growth." ## What does the Unified.to Real-Time Unified API do? The Unified.to Real-Time Unified API gives B2B SaaS products read and write access to their customers' integrations across categories such as CRM, accounting, and ATS. Reads and writes go to the source API when your product makes the call, not to a stored copy. That design shows up in four places: - **Reads:** Requests pass through to the source API and are transformed in memory. The only data that persists is the connection ID and minimal operational metadata, encrypted at rest. - **Writes:** Create and update calls execute against the source API at request time. - **Request handling**: [Pagination](/docs/reference/pagination), query parameters, and payloads are transformed at request time, so your product uses one paging model across every integration. - **[Webhooks](/blog/replacing_polling_with_unified_webhooks_and_virtual_streams):** Virtual webhooks detect changes on an interval you set and deliver events that carry the changed records. Native webhooks forward events from the source on the same event model. Failed deliveries are retried by re-reading from the source, so nothing is stored even when a delivery fails. Virtual webhooks mainly support created and updated events; delete events require native webhooks. ## Why does real-time access matter for integrations? Real-time access matters most for writes. On an integration that stores a copy of customer data, your write lands in that copy first, and the customer's accounting or HR software finds out on the next sync. Until then, your product tells the user one thing and the software their staff work in says another. A stale read shows someone old information; a pending write gives two answers to the same question. Unified pass-through architecture removes that gap. There is no stored copy in the middle, so a write reaches the customer's software when your product makes it, and a read returns what the source API returns. ## Why does this matter for AI products? For AI agents, the cost of old data is higher than it is for analytics. In analytics, one bad data point among millions is noise. For an agent, it's a wrong decision that costs money. The [Unified MCP server](https://unified.to/mcp) gives agents the same reads and writes as the Real-Time Unified API, scoped to one customer connection, with the option to strip PII before results reach the model. Your agent reasons on what's true now, not twenty-four hours ago. ## What did Unified.to say about the award? > "Awards aren't as important as customers, but this one is nice to get. The recognition belongs to the product teams who trust us with the integrations their own customers depend on," said Roy Pereira, CEO of Unified.to. Thank you to our team, and to every customer who put their integrations in our hands. To see how the Real-Time Unified API works, [read the Unified.to docs](https://docs.unified.to/). → [Start your 30-day free trial](https://app.unified.to/login) → [Book a demo](https://calendly.com/d/cph9-g8n-jzg/connect-with-unified) --- Author Written by Mallory Greene Mallory Greene is Head of Marketing at Unified.to. She writes about integration infrastructure, unified APIs, and MCP for technical teams. Based in Toronto.