---
title: Authentication methods
slug: n3ge4046
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/n3ge4046/
collection: apis
source_format: adoc
---
# Authentication methods
The Coveo REST APIs support the following authentication methods:

* [API key](https://docs.coveo.com/en/1718/) authentication is the most basic form of authentication.

* [Platform token authentication](https://docs.coveo.com/en/n3ge0020/) involves creating special, expiring tokens which can temporarily grant user-specific [privileges](https://docs.coveo.com/en/228/).

* A [Coveo access token](https://docs.coveo.com/en/123/) can be used for authentication.
You should only use this method for testing, however, and not in a real application.

> **Note**
>
> The Search API [supports a different set](https://docs.coveo.com/en/102/) of authentication methods.