Restfull webservices vs soap services

 

🌐 What is a RESTful Web Service?

REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style used to design lightweight, scalable, and stateless web services.

✅ Key Characteristics:

• REST uses HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE

• REST returns data in the form of JSON, XML, etc. (JSON is most common)

• REST is Stateless means, each request contains all the info needed

• REST is easily accessible via web browser, mobile apps, etc.

• It uses URLs to access resources

📦 Example:

GET https://api.example.com/employees/101

Response:

{
  "id": 101,
  "name": "John",
  "salary": 50000
}

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🧼 What is a SOAP Web Service?

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a protocol for exchanging structured information using XML messages between systems over a network.

✅ Key Characteristics:

• Soap always uses XML for both request and response

• Soap strictly defined with WSDL (Web Services Description Language)

• Soap Can use HTTP, SMTP, or other protocols

• Soap supports built-in security, transactions, and reliable messaging

• Soap is often used in enterprise-level applications (banking, telecom, etc.)

📦 Example:

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soapenv:Body>
      <getEmployee>
         <id>101</id>
      </getEmployee>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

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🔁 RESTful Web Services vs SOAP Web Services (Comparison Table)

Feature	🌐 RESTful Web Services	🧼 SOAP Web Services
Protocol	REST can be sent over HTTP only	SOAP can be sent over HTTP, SMTP, TCP
Format	JSON, XML, Text, etc.	XML only
Speed	Faster (lightweight)	Slower (heavy XML)
Security	Custom (HTTPS, JWT, OAuth)	Built-in (WS-Security)
Statefulness	Stateless	Can be stateless or stateful
Standards	Loosely defined	Strict (WSDL, XML Schema)
Error Handling	HTTP codes (404, 500, etc.)	SOAP Fault
Best For	Mobile apps, Microservices	Enterprise integrations

✅ In Simple Words

REST	SOAP
Simple, fast, and flexible	Complex, strict, and secure
Mostly used in modern APIs	Used in legacy/enterprise systems
JSON is common	XML is mandatory
Good for web and mobile apps	Good for financial/secure systems