RESTful API Design vs GraphQL

Developers should learn RESTful API Design when building web services that need to be consumed by various clients (e meets developers should learn graphql when building modern web or mobile applications that require flexible, efficient data fetching, such as in complex frontend-backend integrations or microservices architectures. Here's our take.

RESTful API Design

Nice Pick

Developers should learn RESTful API Design when building web services that need to be consumed by various clients (e

Pros

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• Related to: http-protocol, json

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

GraphQL

Developers should learn GraphQL when building modern web or mobile applications that require flexible, efficient data fetching, such as in complex frontend-backend integrations or microservices architectures

Pros

• It's particularly useful for scenarios where clients need to avoid multiple round-trips to servers or when APIs must evolve without breaking existing queries
• Related to: apollo-client, relay

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. RESTful API Design is a concept while GraphQL is a tool. We picked RESTful API Design based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

RESTful API Design wins

Based on overall popularity. RESTful API Design is more widely used, but GraphQL excels in its own space.