What is a developer portal? How SaaS platforms scale integrations

Have you built an integration for a prominent SaaS company like HubSpot, Dropbox, or Zapier? If so, you’ve already used a developer portal.

But if you’re looking to build your own, you probably have a few questions:

• What, truly, is a developer portal?
• What should mine include?
• How can I pitch one to my executive team?
• What are my options for building it?

This post answers all of the above—and breaks down the needs and scope of launching a developer portal for your team and partners.

What is a developer portal?

A developer portal is a place where third-party (not in-house) developers can build apps or integrations for your SaaS product. Through the portal, they can:

• Create an account
• Access APIs and documentation
• Submit their integration
• Build and manage an app marketplace listing

Developer portals can vary widely depending on how they’re built and what your external developers need. Some are custom-built in-house; others are launched using a platform like Partner Fleet.

Third-party developer portal vs. internal developer portal

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s clarify one critical point of confusion:

• A third-party developer portal (our focus here) is an external-facing platform. It’s built to onboard and empower the outside developer community—think partners, customers, or third-party dev shops.
• An internal developer portal is designed for your own engineering teams, serving as an internal catalog of services, microservices, or APIs.

Since we’re talking about launching an external-facing developer ecosystem, we want to be crystal clear that this is not about building an internal dev portal for internal microservices. (That’s a whole different ballgame.)

So you’ve got an API & docs. Now what?

In our presentation on evolving from a product to a platform, we talk about the stages of platform growth. Early on, SaaS companies build custom integrations in-house—usually for big-name partners like Salesforce—while they’re still validating use cases.

Eventually, they open up their first ✨ APIs and documentation ✨. Customers are asking for them. The goal? To scale beyond one-off builds and become the kind of platform others want to integrate with.

At this point, one of two things usually happens:
A flood of interest—or total silence.

In the best case, developers are eager to build, but your team has no system to manage them. You’re stuck juggling spreadsheets, responding to inbound emails, hopping on calls… and still, only a few integrations actually ship.

In the worst case, no one builds anything.

A developer portal solves both problems. It gives you a centralized, self-serve destination to send interested developers. They can access your APIs, submit legal forms and project scopes, upload their integration, and even submit a marketplace listing for review.

You streamline the process—and control the touch points that matter—without drowning in manual effort.

So, if you’re building a developer portal… what exactly should it include?

I’m building a developer portal. What does it need to include?

In late 2024, Partner Fleet decided to build a third-party developer portal product to help customers grow their ecosystems. They had marketplaces and APIs, but were having a hard time expanding the number of integrations being built, despite the interest being there.

I’ll be honest, there are as many different developer portals as their are software products – and the all offer different things in slightly different ways.

So you might look at HubSpot’s developer portal and think, we absolutely don’t have time and resources to build that. And you’re probably right: they have an entire team managing the developer portal alone.

But there are iterations and variations that can solve your core needs, before you make things complex:

• Give third-party developers a good user experience
• Improve the brand impression (and therefore adoption) of your APIs
• Reduce follow-up workloads from in-house staff
• Make your ecosystem scalable

So I’ve broken down developer portal needs into three stages:

1. Foundational must-haves
2. Collaboration & support tools
3. Advanced technical capabilities

1. Foundational must-haves: Get developers building

These are the foundational features you should prioritize from day one:

• Developer resource repository: Reference docs, SDKs, sample code, templates, and best practices
• Developer applications: Let developers apply to your program and access the portal (either automatically or with approval)
• Stages and gates: Built-in steps to move from development → testing → production
• App submissions and versioning: Enable app submissions, version tracking, and rollbacks
• Multi-step review process: Approval workflows for product, partnerships, QA, and marketing
• App development tracking: Let your team monitor developer progress throughout onboarding and submission
• Webhooks and automations: Trigger event-based workflows to keep things self-serve
• Developer workflow support: Allow for PRs, QA checks, test paths, and iteration steps

2. Collaboration & support tools: Hands off help

These tools help your external devs connect and communicate—but they’re often heavier lifts. Add them once your essentials are in place.

• Communication tools: In-app messaging, feedback loops, and status updates from your team
• Community forum: Peer-to-peer support, dev Q&A, and shared problem-solving
• Interactive chatbots or support widgets: Provide instant answers, documentation help, and onboarding guidance
• Partner-to-partner collaboration: Let developers discover and connect with one another inside your ecosystem

3. Advanced technical capabilities: Empower at scale

These are powerful—but complex—features. They’re often desired, but can turn a quick rollout into a six-month engineering project. Tackle them after your core infrastructure is live.

• Self-service API credentialing: Allow developers to retrieve API keys and OAuth tokens directly
• Built-in sandbox accounts: Give devs test environments for building and validating integrations
• Integration analytics: Track install volume, usage patterns, crash rates, and retention metrics
• Custom workflows and approval gates: Add layers for legal, security, design, or brand compliance reviews
• Create and manage marketplace listings: Let developers publish their app with descriptions, categories, and visuals directly to your public marketplace

What’s out there: Popular developer portals

Let’s do a quick peek at some of the leading third-party developer portals out there (to see how they’ve taken shape at larger organizations). These are all in the "Advanced technical capabilities" category, but worth looking at to

Zoom's Developer Platform is thorough, yet simple. It is advanced and offers app credentials, OAuth information, local testing, and much more. Zoom now offers app monetization, as well.

HubSpot for developers is one of the main developer portals we used to inspire our product. It give developers everything they need to build and submit a HubSpot integration. Plus you can apply to get it listed on their marketplace.

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Box Developers Platform is simple and offers API docs, SDKs, a link to their community, and a way to submit finished applications.

These companies have entire teams and budgets dedicated to sustaining—and innovating—these platforms. For smaller-scale SaaS organizations, it’s often better to stand on the shoulders of giants by using a well-built, preexisting developer portal solution.

Pitching to your CXOs: Make the case for a developer portal

You might already be convinced. Now it’s time to bring your executive team along. Here are the key value points they’ll care about most:

A platform ecosystem growth lever
A developer portal makes it easier for partners to build on your product. That means more integrations, delivered faster. It’s a core piece of infrastructure for scaling your ecosystem.

Reduced internal burden
With a portal in place, developers can self-serve. Your engineering, support, and product teams spend less time answering repetitive questions—and more time focused on core innovation.

Stickier product = lower churn
When your product connects easily with the rest of a customer’s stack, it becomes harder to replace. A growing ecosystem increases your product’s value and makes it more “embedded” in every account.

Co-marketing and monetization potential
Partners often promote their integrations (and your brand) alongside their own. Some companies go even further—monetizing their ecosystem through revenue sharing or paid listings.

Clear ROI you can point to
A strong developer portal drives faster time to market, reduces support costs, and boosts customer retention. It can also unlock new revenue and user acquisition—without expanding your internal team.

Customer spotlight: Launching a developer portal—fast

Real-world examples speak volumes.

One Partner Fleet customer needed to launch a third-party developer portal quickly. Their internal team of 30 engineers was already fully focused on core product work—so instead of building from scratch, they opted for a ready-made solution.

• Timeline: They had a functional portal live in just a few weeks (not a year).
• Maintenance: Partner Fleet handled updates, so their engineers stayed focused.
• Community growth: A 40% increase in partner-built integrations within six months.

The result? A thriving developer ecosystem—without overwhelming the team or delaying other priorities.

(Read the full story: Ways a Partner Fleet Customer Optimized Their Third-Party Developer Portal).

Get your own third-party developer portal

If you’re ready to explore a developer portal solution that won’t require a team of developers for a year, we’d love to help. Get a demo of Partner Fleet and see how our platform can empower your external developer ecosystem—without the headache of building from the ground up.