3 Ways to Receive External Data Without a Developer

Hi, I'm Chae-won.

Your partner wants to send you data, but you don't have a developer on staff. This situation is more common than you'd think. As I've mentioned in previous posts, it's the pattern I've seen most over the years.

Today, let's compare 3 approaches for this situation. I'll be honest about the pros and cons of each, so you can pick what fits.

Method 1: Email + Spreadsheets

The most traditional approach. Your partner emails you a spreadsheet, and you manually review and organize it.

Pros:

• No additional cost
• No IT knowledge required
• Start immediately

Cons:

• Not real-time — data can arrive late
• Manual work — someone has to open, check, and organize files
• Error-prone — copy-paste mistakes happen
• Doesn't scale — beyond 100 items a day, it's unmanageable

Best for: A few items per week, and real-time isn't important.

Method 2: Outsourced development

Hire a dev agency to build an API server. You get a system tailored exactly to your needs.

Pros:

• Fully customized — build exactly what you want
• Complex business logic is possible
• Deep integration with your existing systems

Cons:

• Expensive — starts at several thousand dollars
• Time-consuming — weeks to months
• Ongoing maintenance — server costs, updates, and incident response after launch
• Hard to change — format changes mean more dev costs

Best for: Complex business logic is needed, and you have the budget and time.

Method 3: API relay service

Use a service like 3Min API to create API endpoints without coding.

Pros:

• Fast — setup in minutes
• No coding required — configure through a dashboard
• Zero maintenance — the service handles servers and incidents
• Flexible — easily change data formats
• Monitoring included — real-time dashboard

Cons:

• Can't handle complex business logic directly
• Service dependency — though you can export data anytime

Best for: Receiving, storing, and forwarding data is the main goal, and you want to start fast.

Comparison table

At a glance:

	Email + Spreadsheet	Outsourced Dev	API Relay
Initial cost	None	$3,000+	Free to ~$30/mo
Setup time	Instant	Weeks to months	Minutes
Real-time	No	Yes	Yes
Automation	No	Yes	Yes
Maintenance	Manual effort	Ongoing costs	None needed
Scalability	Low	High	Medium to High

My recommendation

All three can be the right choice depending on your situation.

But if you're in the "a partner wants to send API data right now, and we don't have a developer" situation, I'd recommend starting with Method 3.

The reasons are simple:

• You can start today
• Virtually no cost burden
• If you later switch to outsourced development, your data carries over

When a business opportunity arrives, speed is what matters most. Opportunities can pass while you wait weeks. Start fast, watch the data, then decide.

As our third post discussed, data deserves a plan. But to plan, you first need data. Choose the approach that gets you that first step as lightly as possible.