REST API Endpoints vs gRPC

Developers should learn REST API endpoints when building or consuming web services, as they provide a standardized way to expose and interact with data over the internet, commonly used in web and mobile applications, microservices, and integrations meets developers should learn grpc when building microservices architectures, real-time applications, or systems requiring low-latency, high-throughput communication, such as in cloud-native environments or iot platforms. Here's our take.

REST API Endpoints

Nice Pick

Developers should learn REST API endpoints when building or consuming web services, as they provide a standardized way to expose and interact with data over the internet, commonly used in web and mobile applications, microservices, and integrations

Pros

• For example, an e-commerce app might use endpoints like '/products' to list items and '/orders' to place purchases, facilitating clear and predictable interactions
• Related to: http-methods, json

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

gRPC

Developers should learn gRPC when building microservices architectures, real-time applications, or systems requiring low-latency, high-throughput communication, such as in cloud-native environments or IoT platforms

Pros

• It is particularly useful for polyglot systems where services are written in different languages, as it provides language-agnostic contracts via protobuf
• Related to: protocol-buffers, http-2

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. REST API Endpoints is a concept while gRPC is a framework. We picked REST API Endpoints based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

REST API Endpoints wins

Based on overall popularity. REST API Endpoints is more widely used, but gRPC excels in its own space.