REST (Representational State Transfer) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) are two different architectural styles for building web services, and they differ in several aspects:

  • XML as a Transport format is used for SOAP while REST generally uses JSON.
  • SOAP relies on its own protocol, which is based on XML, while REST is based on the HTTP protocol.
  • SOAP requires a specific message format and enforces it using a WSDL (Web Services Description Language) file, while REST does not need any specific message format which allows developers to use their own choice of format.
  • SOAP supports a wider range of operations, including advanced messaging patterns like message queuing and security, while REST only supports basic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations.
  • REST is based on a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) model while SOAP is based on an XML model.
  • REST is generally considered to be more lightweight and flexible than SOAP, while SOAP is more powerful and suitable for enterprise applications with more complex messaging requirements.
BY Best Interview Question ON 07 Apr 2023