Microservices vs API: A Comparing and Contrasting Guide

Remember the early days of the internet? Static websites like presentation pages and blogs were everything we had. Web apps used to work on the server instead of on the client-side, and users would access it via the internet.

Those monolithic apps were doing just fine until the complexity and demand for software started growing dramatically. Think about the various types of application software we have now – online shopping, ride-sharing, online streaming services, healthcare solutions, etc.

So, developers came up with a better approach to deal with traffic spikes and scaling the infrastructure as needed - breaking the app into multiple parts, deploying each of them on an individual server, and having them communicate with each other.

Yes, those independent parts are microservices, and they communicate via APIs.

However, we have seen multiple clients having an incorrect or vague idea about these terms and hence the rise of microservices vs API fuss. And we took those fallacies very seriously and had this article talk about it!

In short, microservices break large apps into separate modules, while an API is a bridge allowing microservices to communicate and work in sync.

Interesting enough? Let’s get to the bottom of the difference between API and microservice and yet how they complement each other.

Microservices vs API: What are APIs Anyway?

In simple terms, API or application programming interface is the way two software applications talk and connect to each other through their endpoints. For instance, you can use APIs to communicate with external parties like company partners or clients and improve the application performance. Most APIs follow a certain set of protocols, such as GraphQL or REST, so that no one has any difficulty using them.

Here's how an API communication pattern works:

1. An API receives a request from a user and forwards it to the server.

2. The server fetches the data and deciphers it.

3. It executes the task the users called for.

The data is generally in JSON format, and hence, the software receives this information and translates it into readable content for the end-users.

Let us give you an example of how API works in your day-to-day life to clearly apprehend the buzz of microservices vs API:

When you want to book a flight, it becomes much easier to Google flights from one place to another instead of visiting the website of that particular airline. What the Google search engine does is extract data from those airline sites and show it to you. APIs perform this exchange.

As you can see, we are utilizing APIs all the time without being aware of how useful they are. But what do they have to do with microservices, you ask? Well. Let's get that covered.

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Microservices vs API: What Microservices Mean Exactly?

Microservices define an architectural style for successful software project delivery that involves creating modular services (pieces of a large app) to perform a specific task. Instead of developing an app as one single unit, microservices allow us to break it into multiple parts connected through APIs.

The difference between microservices and API is that a microservice helps developers edit or update an individual module without affecting the entire system, leading to reduced complexity and easier maintenance. Your development team can also prepare for failures, facilitate communication, and ensure improved integration with other functionalities.

Microservices also pave the way for distributed development that enables you to build a number of modules at the same time and speed up sprints.

To give you an example, microservices are like creating an app with Legos. In case you don't like a particular part, you can simply replace it without touching the rest of the app. As a result, your technical debt cuts down to almost zero, as well as the chances to go through those loose architecture dilemmas that everyone hates.

What Do APIs Bring to the Table for You?

Organizations today are continuously looking for new ways to dominate the marketplace, maintain a competitive edge, and stay ahead of the pack. Between API vs microservice, APIs offer them a plethora of opportunities to leverage their true potential and achieve business goals.

Wondering how APIs can help your business climb the growth ladder? Here are some of those ways:

• Automation

APIs empower people, not computers, to productively manage their workflows, update pipelines, and make business operations quicker and streamlined.

• More Scope

You can create an application layer with an API and use it to distribute information/services to your consumers. APIs also allow you to customize user experiences.

• Application

Since APIs are able to access all the components of cloud application development, you get more flexibility in delivering your products and services.

• Efficiency

With API access, you can generate, publish, share, and distribute content automatically, along with making it available for every channel.

• Personalization

Customization of services as per the demand and user need is another great advantage of API integration that any enterprise can avail of.

• Integration

APIs provide embedded content from any web app or website that results in a more optimized user experience and effortless information delivery.

• Adaptation

You can predict changes and transform over time with the help of APIs. The upshots are better data migration, close information review, and flexible service provision.

Do Microservices Come with Tangible Benefits?

The use of microservices architecture is a revolutionary concept in the realm of software development. It has gained immense popularity in large-scale firms like Spotify, Twitter, Netflix, and Amazon for the broad range of benefits it offers.

Also, by disintegrating complex systems into more minor services, microservices architecture offers improved maintenance simplicity, flexibility, and scalability.

So, let’s move on to the next section of API vs microservice and walk through the possible benefits you can leverage from microservices.

• Resiliency

With independent modules comes improved fault isolation. Thus, developers can make changes and roll out an update without redeploying the whole app.

• Productivity

Breaking down a monolithic app into multiple codebases makes it a lot easier to create, test, release, and maintain different services at once.

• Scalability

You can also scale those individual services independently and add new elements without worrying about downtime, incompatibility, or redevelopment.

• Optimized Functionality

Focusing on independent components enables your development team to work on the root problem and improve the overall business functionality.

• Best Technology

Instead of using a single technology, microservices allow you to utilize the best language and data storage for each service.

• CI/CD

The opportunity to divide work and automate manual tasks leads to faster development and turnaround times. This aligns with CI/CD - the key concept of DevOps software development.

• Growth

Microservices offer data reuse and quality code that result in easier and quicker deployment of data-driven use cases and business solutions.

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Microservices vs API: How Do They Differ from Each Other?

It’s time to aim for the bull’s eye!

At the basic level, the difference between API and microservice is that microservices are a way of building software, whereas API connects different software.

Given that variance, these two technologies are not under the same umbrella; they are vastly different in their undertaking and the software development context. As a matter of fact, most modern applications depend on the use of APIs in some way or another. Apart from Netflix, PayPal, or other such giant organizations, almost every enterprise creates internal APIs and integrates them into their business software.

Now every software app having a microservices architecture must pair with APIs for communication. This happens in two ways:

1. Components within a microservice use private APIs to interact with other components

2. Applications use public APIs to access different applications

As you can understand, microservices and API difference is rather an invalid topic because these two have a complementary relationship. An app may contain a series of microservices, and each microservice uses an API to communicate with each other.

In other words, it's possible for microservices to be an API, but APIs are not essentially microservices.

Here’s a handy comparison table to help you understand micro service vs API better:

Microservices vs API: Working Together and Serving Better

As mentioned before, developers use APIs to integrate contextually different services or applications. APIs are present within the configuration of microservices software, and you can make them work together to ensure that the individual services of the system remain interconnected.

Let’s try to build a billing and invoicing software application and understand how this pair works.

Here are the core functionalities your system would need:

• Sending emails
• Generating invoice PDFs
• Running transactions
• Accessing and updating the database
• Contacting the bank
• Scheduling recurring tasks

Each of these actions works individually and communicates via APIs. In order to streamline all these interactions, your APIs have to trigger certain processes like creating charges, returns, invoices, subscriptions, and customer profiles.

So, we have to create five different microservices for this billing app – one for every new functionality you want to provide to end-users. And each of those microservices will coordinate with each other and work in sync using APIs. And this is all the difference between microservices and API you can get.

In a nutshell, a microservice is a granular component of an application, while an API is an interface between that component and the user.

You can hire a dedicated development team and have them work with only a chunk of code at a time rather than working on the entire codebase of the app.

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Final Thoughts on the Difference Between API and Microservice

To conclude, we can say that the relation between APIs and microservices is a complementary one. If you want to use microservices efficiently, you are going to build APIs.

The easiest way to understand API vs microservice is that microservices are the building blocks of your app, while APIs work as a bridge between them.

Together, these innovative web technologies empower businesses to scale individual services independently to meet demand spikes and other emerging requirements, no matter what area of your product it is. In a digital age where code quality and maintainability are of the highest priority, APIs and microservices help you stay true to them.

Are you ready to embrace innovation and crack the typical zero-sum game of mastering software? Explore our top-notch web application development services to see what Radixweb experts can do for you!