Filter criteria for APIs

---
title: Filter criteria for APIs
description: Filter criteria contains filter conditions or queries that are used as policy inputs for an authentication policy. Policy inputs are used to group one or more filter criteria and define the policy conditions of an authentication policy. For example, IP filter criteria define an IP address in the Classless Inter-Domain Routing \(CIDR\) format or a range of IP addresses.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/platform-security/authentication/filter-criteria-apis.html
release: australia
product: Authentication
classification: authentication
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [SOAP API access policies, API access policy, Authentication, Access Management]
---

# Filter criteria for APIs

Filter criteria contains filter conditions or queries that are used as policy inputs for an authentication policy. Policy inputs are used to group one or more filter criteria and define the policy conditions of an authentication policy. For example, IP filter criteria define an IP address in the Classless Inter-Domain Routing \(CIDR\) format or a range of IP addresses.

You can create filter criteria based on the user's IP address, role, and the user group to which they belong.

**Note:** You also use the filter criteria created from the **Adaptive Authentication** module. For more information, see [Adaptive authentication](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/authentication/adaptive-authentication.md).

You can create filter criteria for APIs using the same process as filter criteria for adaptive authentication. For details, see [Filter criteria](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/authentication/adaptive-auth-filter-criteria.md).

**Related topics**  


[Create IP filter criteria](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/authentication/create-ip-filter-criteria.md)

[Create role filter criteria](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/authentication/create-role-filter-criteria.md)

[Create group filter criteria](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/platform-security/authentication/create-group-filter-criteria.md)