REST (Representational State Transfer) API and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) API are both protocols used for communication between different software systems.
Comparing SOAP and REST APIs:
| Feature | SOAP API | REST API |
| Protocol | Uses Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). | Uses Representational State Transfer (REST). |
| Data Format | Typically uses XML for message exchange. | REST supports XML, JSON, plain text, HTML. |
| Performance | SOAP messages are larger, which makes communication slower | REST has faster performance due to smaller messages and caching support. |
| Flexibility | Less flexible, often requires more effort for cross-platform compatibility. | More flexible, works well with various programming languages and platforms. |
| Use case | SOAP is useful in legacy applications and private APIs. | REST is useful in modern applications and public APIs.
|
| Bandwidth | SOAP requires more bandwidth and resource than REST. | REST requires less bandwidth and resource than SOAP. |
| Security | Works over HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, XMPP | Works over HTTP and HTTPS |
| Preferred | SOAP is less preferred than REST. | REST more preferred than SOAP. |
