GraphQL vs REST APIs: Which One is Better for Backend API Development?

Quick Summary: The prime difference between GraphQL and REST API is GraphQL is a query language, whereas REST API is an architectural concept for network-based software.

We are going to share numerous comparisons – GraphQL vs REST- in this article. We will also see the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly part of GraphQL and REST. But the best part is that you will get all the answers to the questions roaming in your mind.

Before we go into detail, allow us to clarify that this article is written in a server-side context.

Since the inception of GraphQL by Facebook, it has taken the API world by storm as a tough competitor to REST APIs. As a result, GraphQL is gaining a lot of popularity and leaving its impression as a successor to REST APIs. However, it’s not always a ‘replacement’, but a great ‘alternative’ to REST APIs with several considerations.

When I, as a developer, tried to create some “out-of-the-box” features, I faced some challenges or limitations while using REST API, including overfetching data and multiple network requests. Meanwhile, Facebook introduced a new API called GraphQL, which got my attention.

Surprisingly, GraphQL has overcome such kind of issues, which not only I but the whole development community was facing. Hence, the introduction of GraphQL has made me realize to uncover various features like open-source data query and manipulation language for APIs.

In short, if I tell you the whole story in my language (obviously, as a developer), GraphQL has overcome many problems that we (API developers) and users have found with RESTful architecture. But as we know, every bright side comes with its darkness. Henceforth, GraphQL comes with some challenges that need to be evaluated.

While talking about the similarity of GraphQL and REST, they are both standard ways to build backend APIs. But over the last few years, REST APIs have dominated backend API development as a primary choice for developers.

Having said that, REST APIs have some limitations, and we have found a great alternative - GraphQL. It’s a great choice to develop backend APIs with a large codebase.

Introduction

In 2012, Facebook developed GraphQL. GraphQL is a Query language for APIs and works in a declarative style, enabling you to select only the required information you want. It fetches the declarative data to empower clients to specify the data required from the API. GraphQL turns out to be a great choice over time to evolve APIs.

REST is a software architectural style that was created to guide the design and development of the architecture of the Internet, while GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data.

So, I believe they are not actually the same thing; hence, there is no direct comparison.

So, what’s going on at a technical level? What are the similarities and differences between REST and GraphQL? We will discuss some disadvantages of GraphQL for performance issues, problems with GraphQL schema and complex queries.

Moreover, we will shed some light on the similarities between these two APIs. And also provide some tips that help you determine why GraphQL is better than REST and when to use REST vs GraphQL.

Let’s get started now!

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GraphQL vs REST: Key Differences

The prime difference between REST and GraphQL is the method of the data being sent to the client. In GraphQL, the client requests data with queries, whereas in REST architecture, the client sends an HTTP request for data and receives it as an HTTP response.

• REST API is an architectural concept for network-based software. On the other hand, GraphQL is a query language, specification, and tool collection that uses HTTP across a single endpoint.
• Talking about REST API vs GraphQL, you have to define the object on the client in GraphQL; besides, the structure of the request object is defined on the server in REST.
• The difference between GraphQL and REST API is, REST can be organized in terms of endpoints, whereas GraphQL can be arranged in terms of a schema.
• Talking about REST vs GraphQL performance, GraphQL offers a faster development speed, while REST offers a slower development speed.
• While considering the GraphQL and REST differences, the message format for REST mutations can be anything, on the other hand, it should be a string in GraphQL.
• Talking about difference between REST API and GraphQL, REST doesn’t have machine-readable metadata cachable, whereas GraphQL uses metadata for query validation.
• Difference between REST and GraphQL, REST has been utilized to make new APIs, whereas GraphQL has been used to optimize performance and better flexibility.

What is GraphQL?

GraphQL is an open-source data query and manipulation language for APIs, and a runtime for addressing queries with existing data. GraphQL is an application layer server-side technology developed by Facebook. It consists of powerful tools to handle the most complex queries.

GraphQL can easily optimize RESTful API calls and gives a declarative way to fetch and update your data.

The prime feature of GraphQL is to request and receive only the specific data which is asked for. It loads data from server to client. This helps you scale your APIs along with your app. Moreover, it gives developers the freedom to choose any requests they want to create.

What excites me about GraphQL is that it provides you with all the data in one endpoint.

As we can see from the above image, clients create requests from various devices, and GraphQL receives them and sends them back to their requested data. This actually overcomes the issue that has been faced – over-fetching and under-fetching in RESTful APIs.

The above image represents how you can send a query for data with a single endpoint.

The top area is the API endpoint, and the left playground is a query that requests the names of continents. Lastly, on the right side, we receive the requested query.

Facebook developed GraphQL primarily to address problems encountered by their mobile app developers while using REST APIs. Due to the technology's adoption by major companies in the tech industry, GraphQL has grown tremendously since the publication of its first open-source version in 2015.

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Advantages of GraphQL APIs

Let’s uncover some basic advantages of GraphQL over REST here or the question you are looking for – when to Use GraphQL over REST.

Data Fetching (No Over-Fetching or Under-Fetching)

While using REST API, the most common limitations we face are over-fetching and under-fetching. This occurs due to a client's dependence on endpoints that only deliver fixed data sets to download data. Creating an API that can give users the precise data they require is very challenging.

Over-fetching refers to retrieving more data than you need. For instance, if the endpoint contains information on burgers served at a restaurant, you might access the /pizzas endpoint and receive all the information accessible there, including price, ingredients, calories, and other details, rather than just the names of the burgers you're interested in. You would only need to specify what you wanted in a query with GraphQL:

You will receive a predictable dataset based on your request since your response would not contain any more data that the endpoint might be able to offer.

Schema Stitching

The capability of stitching schemas is a significant differentiator. To make numerous schemas accessible to the client, GraphQL can merge them into a single schema. For instance, we are combining the Pizzas API and Nutrition API schemas by fetching information from several sources about a specific menu item's nutrition information.

At Radixweb, we think that combining GraphQL and REST APIs into a single GraphQL endpoint is the next logical step after Schema Stitching.

Schema and Type Safety

GraphQL utilizes a strongly typed system to specify an API’s capabilities. The GraphQL Schema Definition Language (SDL) and/or code-first are used to create a schema that lists all the available types in an API.

Here, frontend developers can now work with the typed GraphQL API, having an idea that if the backend team makes any changes to the API’s architecture, they will receive immediate feedback when querying it from the frontend.

Some popular tools like GraphQL Code Generator enable you to build all the code for queries and mutations automatically, directly from your codebase GraphQL query files. As a result, it boosts development speed and eliminates errors in production.

Rapid Product Development

While using REST APIs, you may have observed one thing. It’s a common pattern to organize the endpoint based on the views you have inside your app. Something like this – /menu, /prices, /images, etc. This is useful since it enables the client to obtain all the information needed for a specific view by accessing the relevant endpoint.

While considering the disadvantage of this approach is that it doesn’t allow for quick iterations. Every time when the UI is modified, there is a chance that more (or less) data will now be required than before.

As a result, the backend must also be modified to account for those new data requirements, which is unproductive and slows down the product development process.

Since GraphQL is flexible, changes on the client side can be made without requiring additional efforts on the server. Clients can declare their specific data needs. Thus, there is no need to modify the backend when the design or data requirements on the frontend change.

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Big Brands Who Use GraphQL

Here we have compiled a list of some big names who have actively used GraphQL in their applications on servers.

Facebook

Since Facebook created GraphQL, they have leveraged its benefits to empower their mobile applications from 2012. Moreover, the company open-sourced GraphQL three years after its launch in 2015, which has helped many organizations use it across environments.

GitHub

GitHub also made its way to harness the power of GraphQL by offering a GraphQL API that can be used to build integrations, retrieve data, and automate operations. Compared to the GitHub REST API, the GraphQL API provides more precise and adaptable queries.

Pinterest

Pinterest is also in the race to adopt GraphQL for betterment. Pinterest has openly shared its detailed research on GraphQL and how they use the technology that underpins its $1 billion business.

The above companies are a few that are actively using GraphQL. But if we name some other giant companies in the list of GraphQL adapters, you can consider Airbnb, Shopify, Coursera, Intuit, Expedia, and many more.

Why Was GraphQL Developed Inspite of Having REST in The Market?

Let’s share some reasons why Facebook developed GraphQL even though REST API was working ruling in the backend community. Also, in the next section, we are going to talk about the disadvantages of GraphQL over REST APIs.

There was a huge usage of mobile devices in the early 2010s. This led to some challenges and issues with sloppy networks and low-powered devices. At that time, REST API was not feasible enough to overcome issues that were raised. The developer community could find the REST API as the finest structure to solve the issues.

In addition, with the rapid increase of mobile usage, the number of frontend frameworks and platforms that run clients' applications also increased. It was quite challenging to create a single API that could easily satisfy the requirements of any client due to the nature of REST - inflexibility.

The majority of the data used in mobile applications and the contemporary web has a graph shape. Therefore, it was an obvious reason that GraphQL came into the picture.

For instance, news articles allow comments, and these comments may include user-created or reported elements like spam flags or likes. This describes the appearance of a graph.

Disadvantages of GraphQL Over REST APIs

By now, we must have understood why GraphQL is better than REST or why to use GraphQL over REST (GraphQL advantages). Now is the time to move forward and understand the GraphQL disadvantages.

Steep Learning Curve

Compared to REST API, GraphQL is not easy to learn and understand. Designing the schema is the most challenging part of developing a GraphQL API. And this requires domain experience, knowledge, and time.

Security

REST is known for providing multiple authentication methods and built-in HTTP for tighter security, whereas GraphQL doesn’t provide a process for security. Here, you’re your own way to implement security, be it authorization or authentication. But now, you can overcome this challenge with security for using GraphQL.

Web Caching

The major drawback of GraphQL we can consider is not supporting or relying on HTTP caching methods.

As a developer, I know caching reduces the server's frequent traffic. And eventually, it increases the speed of requests and the response process by keeping accessed information close to the server.

It’s very disheartening that GraphQL doesn’t stand firm in this scenario.

File Uploading

GraphQL doesn’t offer any native file upload feature. But you can utilize this with the help of Base64 coding. If you follow such a path, it will be more time-consuming and expensive for encoding and decoding.

Complexity for Query Issue

It will be query propagation issues with the ability of GraphQL to provide a client with exactly what it wants. When a client submits too many nested inquiries, the server may get incorrect queries, which can take a long time to process. It is preferable to use REST with unique endpoints to fulfill such requests.

Single Endpoint Bottleneck

According to research, the endpoint bottleneck disadvantage of GraphQL caused it to perform worse than its REST counterpart for workloads beyond 30009 requests.

While having a single endpoint is one of GraphQL's advantages, it can sometimes cause a problem. In almost every situation, the built-in HTTP cache function in REST APIs yields quicker results than GraphQL. This is because HTTP caching can be used by REST APIs' many endpoints to prevent resource reloading. The single endpoint of GraphQL forces the user to rely on a different library.

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What is REST API?

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural approach that adheres to several constraints when developing web services. REST is responsible for defining constraints for exchanging resources between the clients and the servers.

REST was introduced as a successor to SOAP APIs.

If all standards or principles are fulfilled in an API, the API’s application is known as “RESTful". And the WordPress REST API is one of the finest examples of this.

In a nutshell, REST or RESTful APIs are Web Service APIs that follow REST principles or standards. JSON, XML, and YAML are among the data formats that the REST API supports.

REST APIs let you add and modify changes from the client to the server, which is similar to GraphQL Mutations.

Now you would be curious to know what principles and constraints REST API follows, which is referred to as a RESTful API. So, let’s understand that part here.

• Uniform Interface: All devices display the same data in the interface.

• Client-Server Decouple: The only way for the clients (frontend) and the server (backend) to communicate is through the endpoints.

• Cacheability: Although caching and session storage are permitted, they must be configured so that end users can opt out of data caching.

• Layered System Architecture: APIs must be created in a way that neither the client nor the server can identify if they are communicating directly or through a third party.

• Statelessness: The server doesn’t keep a count of clients’ requests. So, it cannot fetch the data whether the request is created for the first time or not. Every time a request is sent, it must contain all the details required to process it entirely from scratch.

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What Factors to Consider While Working with REST APIs?

A request of REST consists of an endpoint, Header, HTTP method, and Body.

While considering the endpoint, it has a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that helps in identifying resources online.

While talking about the HTTP method, it is the way to describe the type of request that is sent to the server. Here they are:

• GET is to read a representation of a specified source.
• POST is to create a new specified source.
• PUT is to update/replace every resource in a collection.
• PATCH is to modify a source.
• DELETE is to delete a source.

A RESTful API uses HTTP methods to carry out CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) processes while working with data.

In order to facilitate caching, AB testing, authentication, and other methods, headers provide information to clients and servers.

The body contains data that a client wants to transmit to a server, like a request's payload.

Let’s understand how REST handles requests and responses in the given image.

Benefits of REST

Everyone has one question – when to use REST over GraphQL? Despite the growing popularity of GraphQL, REST still stands firm in the dev community. And REST is still the most popular API standard.

So, without any further ado, let’s understand the benefits of REST in this difference between REST API and GraphQL blog.

• Learning Curve: The primary advantage of RESTful API for backend development is an easy learning curve. REST API is easy to learn and understand as compared to other APIs.

• Caching: With the help of a cache and HTTP proxy server, REST API can easily manage a high load.

• Complex Request: Since each request has its separate endpoint in REST APIs, complex requests are easier to handle than in other APIs.

• Serialization: You will find serializing data in JSON with a flexible approach and various formats.

• Clean and Simple: You will find REST API a straightforward approach to explore it further. Thus, REST APIs are simple and clean.

• Standard HTTP Procedures: REST makes requests and data retrieval using standard HTTP procedure call-outs.

• Client/Server: This indicates that the display and its business logic are separate. Therefore, you can modify one without affecting the other.

• REST is Stateless: All of the messages exchanged between the client and server have all the necessary context.

• Error Reporting and Monitoring: Based on API responses, REST will let you develop a monitoring system. On the other hand, GraphQL doesn’t stand with this feature since it always sends a 200 OK status response.

• Resource Attacks: You can query whatever you want, anytime you want, using GraphQL. But this might cause some significant security issues. You could become a victim of DoS (Denial-of-Service) Attacks, for instance, if a malicious party tries to submit an expensive nested query to overload your database or server and your server isn't equipped with the proper defenses.

When to Use REST Over GraphQL?

As we know, GraphQL comes up with many features, but it also has some drawbacks. Developing REST API is very simple and easy than developing GraphQL API backend. Hence, you can always choose REST if you don’t need any extra complexity of GraphQL.

• Client pages map one-to-one to REST endpoints. Admin panels and other CRUD UIs frequently exhibit this.
• The same team that produced the server also built the client. Hence, in this scenario, creating the client and server simultaneously becomes a natural process. The extra flexibility is a bonus here.
• Every team does not own the GraphQL API. Hence, developing GraphQL may require a larger initial investment than building a REST API, especially when there is a large set of underlying data sources. It’s not a good decision to create GraphQL APIs if you don’t have enough experience or knowledge about it. In this case, you can use an external solution like StenZen.

Disadvantages of REST

Now let’s give some attention to the REST drawbacks.

• Over-fetching and Under-fetching: Sometimes, a feature or a benefit could also bring drawbacks. Therefore, over-fetching and under-fetching have become major drawbacks in RESTful APIs. Due to the enormous unwanted payloads REST API fetches, it can cause responses to lag.

• Hierarchy: Resources that are not accessed or naturally organized in a basic hierarchy are not a good fit for REST APIs, which are built on URI-referencing resources.

• Multiple Round Trips: The nature of the many endpoints in REST APIs is the main issue. This implies that the client must make countless round trips in order to obtain all the resources necessary for a complete application.

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Showdown: GraphQL vs REST

Now is the showdown between RESTful API vs GraphQL API. Let’s compare APIs with one another.

Performance: REST vs GraphQL

GraphQL performs faster due to the ability to offer a single endpoint to access all resources, whereas RESTful APIs use multiple endpoints, resulting in network latency.

Query Complex: GraphQL vs REST

GraphQL doesn’t offer separate endpoints, therefore, queries can become increasingly complex over time, whereas RESTful API offers separated endpoints. This actually restricts RESTful APIs to simple queries.

Community Support

GraphQL is taking a baby step as a growing software API architectural pattern and query language. Although new in the market, the adoption rate and popularity are growing rapidly. It has already attracted new developers who are interested in learning it.

On the other hand, REST has been in the market for a longer time. It still continues to be used by many large companies, ranging from those developing complex social applications to small microservices.

Learning Curve

Learning GraphQL is not easy. Hence, it has a steep learning curve. However, it requires great domain expertise and knowledge of API development. A complete novice will struggle to sufficiently understand GraphQL to develop a complex application.

REST, on the other hand, requires little initial domain expertise and is relatively simple to use. Learning RESTful API is pretty simple because it is widely integrated into the most popular frameworks and major programming languages.

Final Takeaway At the end of the way, GraphQL and RESTful APIs are just modern ways to build APIs and call functions over a network. If you are well-versed in developing a REST API, you won't find it difficult to implement a GraphQL API. However, GraphQL offers a significant advantage because it enables you to call several related functions without requiring multiple roundtrips.Similarities: Both GraphQL fields and REST endpoints result in calling functions on the server.Similarities: REST and GraphQL both frequently rely on frameworks and libraries to take care of the nitty-gritty of networking details.Differentiations: Each request in REST typically invokes precisely one route handler function. A single query can call many resolvers to build a nested response with multiple responses.
Differentiations: You create the response's shape yourself in REST. In contrast, the GraphQL execution library constructs the structure of the answer to correspond to the shape of the query.In a nutshell, GraphQL is a framework for making numerous calls to nested endpoints in one request. Just like multiplexed REST.You now have sufficient information about which to choose for backend development API – REST APIs or GraphQL APIs. Let us know which one could be the right choice for your next project. Let’s get in touch.