REST vs gRPC: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Key differences between REST and gRPC are outlined below:

1. Communication Protocol: REST uses standard HTTP 1.1 protocol with textual data exchange, while gRPC uses HTTP/2 for binary data exchange, reducing latency and improving performance.

2. Message Format: REST typically relies on formats like JSON or XML for message exchange, making it easily readable by humans, while gRPC uses Protocol Buffers, a binary serialization format, resulting in faster data transmission.

3. Service Definition: In REST, service definition is more flexible and can be designed based on endpoint URLs, methods, and parameters, whereas gRPC utilizes Protocol Buffers to define service methods, messages, and interfaces in a .proto file.

4. Code Generation: With gRPC, code generation tools are used to auto-generate client and server code in multiple languages from the .proto file, enabling developers to work with strongly-typed interfaces, while in REST, developers manually create and handle HTTP requests and responses.

5. Error Handling: gRPC has built-in support for status codes and detailed error messages, which aids in handling errors effectively, whereas in REST, error handling mechanisms may vary based on how developers implement them in the API.

6. Streaming Support: gRPC supports both unary and streaming requests, allowing for bidirectional streaming and server push, while REST typically handles interactions in a stateless manner, lacking native support for streaming.

In Summary, the key differences between REST and gRPC lie in communication protocol, message format, service definition, code generation, error handling, and streaming support.