Web Services: SOAP vs REST
There is a permanent discussion going on and I have seen quite a lot of answers. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) vs. REST (Representational State Transfer) Which one to use and when? Let’s see first the main characteristics of both: S.No SOAP REST 1. SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. REST stands for Representational State Transfer. 2. SOAP is a protocol. It defines some standards that should be followed strictly. REST is an architectural style. It doesn’t define so many standards like SOAP. 3. SOAP is highly secure as it defines its own security. REST inherits security measures from the underlying transport(SSL, TLS). 4. SOAP message request is processed slower as compared to REST. REST message request is processed faster as compared to SOAP. 5. SOAP supports only XML data format. REST supports data formats like plain text, XML, HTML, JSON, etc. 6. SOAP is not very easy to implement. You need to call methods in an API. REST is easier to implement. You need to call paths on a server (usually). 7. SOAP requires more bandwidth and resources. REST requires less bandwidth and resources. 8. In java SOAP web services are implemented using JAX-WS API. In java RESTful web…