Glossary

Environment - An environment is a place that an API Version is deployed in, it can be e.g. Sandbox, Development, Test, Production - any number of environments can be configured.
Rate Limit Group - A Rate Limit Group contains limitations on how often an API can be accessed, it could e.g. be 100 calls per week, but at most 10 per second.
Subscription Plan - A subscription plan is a specific type of subscription which references a Rate Limit Group. If subscription is required to an API, you can select among the different configured subscription plans.
API Profile - an API Profile allows you to specify e.g. security settings that are shared across APIs - it also allows you to limit various choices for API Designers so they get less options to choose from.
API Group - an API Group is a container, it can also be thought of as a category for APIs - it can contain any number of APIs which in turn contains API versions.
API - An API exists in a particular API Group, and contains API Versions. Access to an API can be limited by subscriptions and subscription plans.
API Version - An API version is a specific version of an API - it contains information about the API itself, its structure, input/output data and its implementation.
API Partner - An API Partner has information about a partner or consumer of APIs - A partner can be thought of as a specific group or organisation that has applications which use your published APIs.
API Partner Application - An API Partner can have a number of applications defined for him - each application can subscribe to different APIs.
Developer - A Developer can login to the developer portal and manage his API Partner and applications and perform actions such as subscribing to an API. One Developer can have access to multiple API Partners and applications.
API Designer - An API Designer designs APIs, creates new APIs and API Versions that are exposed to your Partners.