With data being generated from various sources and touchpoints, it is imperative that your organization procures the means to capture important information timely. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a set of mechanisms that allow two software applications to communicate and transfer data.
APIs have gained popularity as secure and effective means of data integration. Two forms of APIs, REST and RESTful APIs, have garnered great interest over time. The following graph from Google Trends depicts the rise in search terms for both as more organizations across the globe are looking to embrace this technology.
If you also want to incorporate APIs into your organization’s data movement strategies, you must clearly understand the concept and its pros and cons. This blog is dedicated to the REST API vs RESTful API comparison, illustrating all the details and differences of both.
What is REST API?
A Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface (REST API) is an architectural style for building networked applications that interact over HTTP. It provides an easy and standard way for you to access, use, and modify resources on a server and create efficient web applications.
REST APIs have a layered architecture, where the application, also known as a client, is separated from the server. This allows the software to request data from a server through intermediaries like load balances and proxies, enhancing scalability and overall performance.
In a REST API, the data entities are organized as unique URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) endpoints. When you make a request to a specific URI, the REST API provides you with all the data, which includes web pages, videos, images, and documents. Each REST API request is standalone, where the server does not retain the client state between requests.
REST APIs communicate through HTTP requests to help you perform database functions like creating, reading, updating, and deleting records. Here are the four standard requests:
- GET: To retrieve records
- POST: Creates a new record
- PUT: For updating records
- DELETE: To delete the record
Advantages of REST API
- Ease of Use: REST APIs are easy to use and manage for your team members with limited experience in web development and programming. Their simplicity of design makes them accessible to those familiar with HTML, Python, or JavaScript.
- Lightweight: One of the key advantages of REST APIs is that they are platform-agnostic and can handle various data formats. This makes them suitable for conducting fast and lightweight operations, especially in mobile applications and IoT devices.
- Independent Layers: REST APIs promote a clear separation between client and server, allowing user interface and data storage layers to operate autonomously. It helps your team work on different parts of a project, making it easier to test and experiment without affecting the bandwidth efficiency.
Disadvantages of REST API
- Limited Security Features: REST API architecture does not inherently come with built-in security features, making them less suitable for transmitting sensitive information. Without proper implementation of data authentication measures, REST APIs can be vulnerable to data breaches.
- Design Limitations: REST APIs rely heavily on web connectivity, and this dependency prevents you from modifying or testing the API offline. Any changes made to it must be done online, which can be difficult in low-connectivity environments.
REST API Integration with Robust Data Movement Tools like Airbyte
REST APIs are an efficient way to extract data from different servers and source systems. However, when you integrate your REST API with ETL/ELT tools like Airbyte, you can extract and consolidate data from multiple sources more quickly.
Airbyte is a robust data movement platform that offers an extensive library of 550+ connectors. It allows you to build data pipelines within a few minutes through multiple ways. These include its no-code Connector Builder with an AI-assistant feature, low-code CDK, and PyAirbyte.
Airbyte offers an Airbyte API, which allows you to interact with the platform's features and offerings programmatically. It is available for all Airbyte products: Airbyte Cloud, OSS, and Self-Hosted Enterprise. By leveraging the Airbyte API, you can also extend your workflows’ capabilities by integrating your data pipelines with data orchestration tools like Airflow and building platforms that are Powered by Airbyte. It allows you to gain full control of your data pipeline management, ensuring there is a seamless flow of data.
If you are an Airbyte Cloud user, you must create an application and obtain an access token through the Airbyte UI to make API requests. You can refer to this guide for more information about the process.
If you are leveraging Airbyte’s Python SDK to make API requests directly in code, you can build a source connector for HTTP REST APIs. These API-based connectors include helper functionalities for handling pagination, authentication, caching, and much more. You can even customize features per your requirements and combine them with other stream features, such as incremental and full refresh streams.
What Is RESTful API?
A RESTful API is an interface that enables two systems to securely exchange data over the internet using HTTP protocols. They are built on the principles of REST architecture and adhere to specific constraints. RESTful APIs can also access and manipulate data via HTTP GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests. However, they have more core components that contribute to their scalability and versatility.
The metadata in HTTP headers defines connection types, content formats, and caching directives for all RESTful API requests and responses. The payload contains the actual data that is formatted according to the specified content type in the header. This ensures that the RESTful API is compatible with different programming languages and platforms, making it a key component of modern web applications.
Advantages of RESTful API
- Enhanced Security: You can implement token-based authentication in RESTful APIs, where unique tokens serve as secure credentials for data access. For further security, you can apply more security mechanisms in your RESTful APIs to strengthen the data exchange medium.
- Highly Scalable: RESTful APIs are highly flexible and adaptable. You can easily introduce new features or extend the functionality without a complete overhaul of your existing RESTful API. This scalability serves you well for dynamic projects that require real-time data flow.
- Cost-Effective: Developing and maintaining RESTful APIs is more cost-effective than building traditional web applications. RESTful APIs are built on REST architecture, eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware or software for data movement.
Disadvantages of RESTful API
- Varied Data Fetching: RESTful API requests can return either too much or too little data. This forces you to make additional requests, increasing bandwidth usage and degrading application performance and user experience.
- Manipulation of Requests: Modifying HTTP requests in RESTful APIs can lead to inconsistencies in design during implementation. It may create challenges while integrating data between different systems, adding complexity to operations.
Key Differences Between REST API & RESTful API
The main difference between REST API and RESTful API is that REST API refers to any API following REST principles, while RESTful API strictly adheres to REST architectural constraints, ensuring statelessness, uniform interfaces, and client-server separation.
Now that you have a clear overview of both, it is time to delve into the REST API vs RESTful APIs comparison:
Architecture and Design
REST APIs are built upon REST architectural style, but they may not strictly adhere to all the constraints. They mainly focus on facilitating communication between clients and servers through HTTP requests.
On the other hand, RESTful APIs are a subset of REST that strictly abide by all REST constraints. This includes having a uniform interface, independent requests (statelessness), and no client-server dependency. The adherence ensures RESTful APIs have a more modular architecture, ensuring standardization and efficient communication.
Data Handling and Formats
While comparing the RESTful API vs REST API data formats, it is important to note that both often use JSON or XML for data exchange. However, a key difference is that RESTful APIs offer greater flexibility by supporting additional formats, such as HTML, YAML, and plain text. REST and RESTful APIs rely on HTTP methods for communication, but the former represents data resources with unique URIs.
Consistent Resource Interface
Another crucial point in the REST API vs RESTful API comparison is consistency in maintaining a uniform interface. The endpoints in RESTful APIs ensure resource representation remains the same across all devices, enhancing interoperability in operations. They also allow you to manipulate resources through standard HTTP methods, reducing the time and effort required to process the incoming data.
REST APIs lack such consistency, as interfaces may vary across endpoints. They also may not maintain unchanging resource representation, diminishing the level of compatibility between devices.
Cacheability
Caching is a technique where the API frequently stores the requested data in a cache. It is useful in reducing data retrieval and response times, thereby improving the performance of the web application. RESTful APIs have better caching mechanisms than REST APIs. They explicitly mark responses as cacheable or non-cacheable, which helps you avoid processing the same data repeatedly and cut down redundant requests.
Security
While both REST APIs and RESTful APIs securely transfer data between systems, RESTful APIs are considered more secure. This is because they strictly adhere to the REST architecture principles and have multi-layered transfer protocols for data flow. You can also enhance data authentication and validation processes as RESTful APIs allow manipulation of HTTP standards. With REST APIs, you can implement security measures like HTTP, OAuth, and JSON Web Token (JWT) to safeguard your data during transfer.
REST API vs RESTful API Compared
Take a quick look at the RESTful API vs REST API comparison in a tabular form:
REST vs RESTful API: How to Decide?
Understanding the REST vs RESTful API distinctions is essential when you have to choose one for your organizational requirements. Here are some key factors to consider:
Project Complexity
If you have simple projects with straightforward data access needs, you must choose REST APIs. With minimal constraints and quick implementation options, they can be well-suited for applications that have basic functionality. However, RESTful APIs are more useful for complex, large-scale projects that require data standardization and flexibility to accommodate growing volumes.
Data Scalability
You must assess your application size and data requirements before deciding between REST API vs RESTful API. For smaller web applications, REST APIs can efficiently handle the workload with minimal overhead. Choose RESTful APIs if you have large software applications, such as cloud-based platforms or microservice architectures, as they can handle high data traffic without compromising performance.
Data Integration Platforms
If your system requires integration with modern enterprise applications or well-documented ecosystems, consider opting for RESTful APIs. They will provide you with a structured design, making it easy to manage and maintain. Conversely, if you wish to bring data from legacy systems or perform simple data exchange between two systems, go for REST APIs. They can adapt to various integration challenges since REST APIs do not strictly follow REST principles.
Development Speed
For projects requiring rapid prototyping or quick development cycles, REST APIs are a good choice because they are easier to implement and allow quick iterations. RESTful APIs are ideal for projects that require more time and resources during the development phase. Such projects need the long-term robustness and scalability that RESTful APIs offer.
Major Use Cases of Rest API
1. Microservices Architecture
REST APIs are fundamental in building and connecting microservices:
- Enable independent deployment of service components
- Provide clear, standardized communication interfaces between different services
- Support horizontal scaling of application architectures
- Facilitate loose coupling between system components
2. Data Synchronization and Integration
Leverage REST APIs for seamless data movement and synchronization:
- Implement real-time data replication across different systems
- Create data pipelines with consistent, predictable interfaces
- Enable cross-platform data exchange
- Support complex ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes
3. Authentication and Authorization
REST APIs serve as robust mechanisms for managing access control:
- Implement token-based authentication systems
- Create centralized identity management
- Support OAuth and JWT (JSON Web Token) authentication flows
- Provide fine-grained access control mechanisms
4. Webhook Implementations
Utilize REST APIs to create event-driven architectures:
- Implement real-time notification systems
- Create callback mechanisms for asynchronous processing
- Build responsive, event-triggered workflows
- Support scalable, decoupled system interactions
5. Caching and Performance Optimization
REST APIs enable sophisticated caching strategies:
- Implement client-side and server-side caching mechanisms
- Reduce network overhead and improve response times
- Support conditional requests using ETags and cache headers
- Optimize resource utilization across distributed systems
6. Data Validation and Transformation
Use REST APIs as robust data processing interfaces:
- Implement input validation and sanitization
- Create middleware for data transformation
- Support complex data parsing and normalization
- Enable consistent data processing across different clients
7. Backend for Frontend (BFF) Pattern
REST APIs facilitate flexible frontend integration:
- Create tailored backend services for specific client types
- Aggregate data from multiple sources
- Optimize payload sizes for different client capabilities
- Provide consistent abstraction layers for frontend applications
8. Monitoring and Observability
Leverage REST APIs for system introspection and monitoring:
- Expose system health and performance metrics
- Implement logging and tracing interfaces
- Create diagnostic and debugging endpoints
- Support complex monitoring and alerting systems
9. Configuration Management
Use REST APIs for dynamic system configuration:
- Implement remote configuration updates
- Create centralized configuration management
- Support feature flag systems
- Enable runtime system parameter modifications
10. Pagination and Complex Querying
REST APIs provide powerful data retrieval mechanisms:
- Implement efficient data pagination
- Support complex filtering and sorting
- Create flexible query interfaces
- Optimize large dataset retrieval and processing
Major Use Cases of Restful API
1. Resource-Oriented Design
RESTful APIs excel in modeling and managing resources through a uniform interface:
- Represent entities as uniquely identifiable resources
- Use standardized HTTP methods to interact with resources
- Create predictable, hierarchical resource structures
- Enable intuitive navigation and manipulation of data entities
2. State Transfer and Representation Management
Implement sophisticated state management through RESTful principles:
- Create multiple representations of the same resource (JSON, XML, HTML)
- Support content negotiation using Accept headers
- Manage resource states through standard HTTP methods
- Implement stateless communication between client and server
3. Hypermedia-Driven Interactions
Leverage HATEOAS (Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State) principles:
- Provide dynamic, self-describing API interactions
- Include links for related resources in API responses
- Create discoverable and navigable API interfaces
- Decouple client applications from server-side implementation details
4. Idempotent Operation Design
Implement predictable and safe API interactions:
- Create GET requests that can be repeated without side effects
- Design PUT and DELETE operations with consistent outcomes
- Ensure safe and reliable resource modifications
- Prevent unintended state changes during network instabilities
5. Caching and Performance Optimization
Utilize RESTful caching mechanisms for improved efficiency:
- Implement conditional requests using ETag and If-Modified-Since headers
- Create cache-control strategies for different resource types
- Reduce network overhead and server load
- Support efficient client-side and intermediary caching
6. Comprehensive Error Handling
Design robust error communication through standard HTTP status codes:
- Use precise HTTP status codes (400 for client errors, 500 for server errors)
- Provide detailed error responses with consistent structures
- Support client-side error handling and debugging
- Create informative error messages without exposing sensitive information
7. Authentication and Authorization
Implement secure access control using RESTful principles:
- Support token-based authentication mechanisms
- Create stateless security models
- Implement role-based access control through resource endpoints
- Manage permissions at the resource and method level
8. Versioning Strategies
Manage API evolution with sophisticated versioning approaches:
- Implement URI versioning (e.g., /v1/resources)
- Support header-based versioning
- Create backward-compatible API changes
- Manage multiple API versions concurrently
9. Partial Response and Filtering
Enable efficient data retrieval and manipulation:
- Support selective field retrieval
- Implement server-side filtering and projection
- Reduce payload sizes through intelligent response management
- Create flexible querying mechanisms
10. Scalability and Distributed Systems
Leverage RESTful principles for distributed system design:
- Create stateless, independently scalable services
- Support load balancing and horizontal scaling
- Implement circuit breaker patterns
- Design loosely coupled, modular system architectures
Conclusion
This REST API vs RESTful API comparison guide enables you to evaluate the distinctions between these two forms of APIs holistically. REST APIs offer simplicity and speed, while RESTful APIs provide uniformity and scalability. Making a decision involves assessing your project scope, team expertise, and existing technology before selecting one of the two APIs.