#GRAPHQL VS REST PERFORMANCE UPDATE#
#GRAPHQL VS REST PERFORMANCE CODE#

Internally, GraphQL sends every client request as a POST HTTP request. Subscription to receive event-based or streaming data updatesĪ data format describes how you would like the server to return the data, including objects and fields that match the server-side schema.In contrast, here’s what GraphQL requests use:

#GRAPHQL VS REST PERFORMANCE UPDATE#

Parameters and values to parse, if you want to create or modify an object within an existing server-side resourceįor example, you use GET to get read-only data from a resource, POST to add a new resource entry, or PUT to update a resource.A URL that identifies the resource on which to action the HTTP verb.Meanwhile, GraphQL’s focus has been on API performance and flexibility. In addition, REST development has been more focused on making new APIs. GraphQL operates over a single endpoint using HTTP. On the other hand, GraphQL is a specification, an API query language, and a set of tools. Queries can return the exact data in only one API request and response exchange.Ī REST API is an architectural concept for application communication. GraphQL emerged as a query-based solution.

#GRAPHQL VS REST PERFORMANCE CODE#

Social media developers had to write a lot of code just to process API requests, which affected performance and user experience. The URL /person would return the phone number and the URL /purchase would return purchase history. Similarly, if you wanted to know a person’s phone number and last purchase, you would need multiple REST API requests. You would get all of this data even if you only needed a phone number. For example, from a person object in the REST API, you would receive the person’s name, date of birth, address, and phone number. This rigid structure is easy to use, but it’s not always the most efficient means to exchange exactly the data needed. The REST API requires client requests to follow a fixed structure to receive a resource. Next, we discuss some of the challenges they faced. Developers found that existing API architectures, like REST, were too lengthy and structured to produce news feeds efficiently. GraphQL emerged in 2012 as a response to the need for speed in emerging social media platforms. This makes them highly interoperable with any application. Read about JSON » Language and database neutralityīoth GraphQL and REST APIs work with any database structure and any programming language, both client-side and server-side. So, clients and servers can cache frequently accessed data to increase speed of communication. Similarly, REST and GraphQL both support caching. Other data formats are available but less commonly used, including XML and HTML. The server returns JSON data to the client.

JSON is the most popular data exchange format that all languages, platforms, and systems understand. Data exchangeīoth REST and GraphQL support similar data formats. And it has a set of operations, such as GET to retrieve the post in REST or query to retrieve the post in GraphQL. It has its own unique identifier, for example, /posts/1234. In a resource-based API, a post would be a resource. Each resource has its own unique identifier (URI) and a set of operations (HTTP methods) that the client can perform on it.įor example, consider a social media API where users create and manage posts. A resource refers to any data or object that the client can access and manipulate through the API. REST and GraphQL both design their data interchange around resources. Both are HTTP-based, as HTTP is the underlying communication protocol.Both use a client-server model, so requests from a single client result in replies from a single server.Both are stateless, so the server does not save response history between requests.For example, here are principles they share: Next, we discuss some other similarities between GraphQL and REST.īoth REST and GraphQL implement several common API architectural principles. It also makes systems more performant and easier to integrate with other systems. Using an API architecture helps keep systems secure, modular, and scalable. Those developed with GraphQL are simply GraphQL APIs.įrontend and backend teams use these API architectures to create modular and accessible applications. REST and GraphQL allow you to create, modify, update, and delete data on a separate application, service, or module via API. APIs developed with REST are known as RESTful APIs or REST APIs. The server gives a response that contains data, data status, or error codes.A client sends an API request to an endpoint or multiple endpoints on a server.Both GraphQL and REST are popular API architecture styles that enable the exchange of data between different services or applications in a client-server model.ĪPIs facilitate the access of data and data operations like this:

Graphql vs rest performance