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Blog » The Dev Room » API vs Web Service: What’s the Difference?
Programming with RapidAPI

API vs Web Service: What’s the Difference?

By RapidAPI Staff // April 20, 2021

Table of Contents

  • API vs Web Service
  • APIs and Web Services
    • Terminology Definition
    • What is a Web Service?
    • What is an API?
  • So What’s the Difference?
  • Is a REST API a Web Service?
    • Here’s How the REST API Works:
    • Benefits of REST APIs
  • The Core Differences
  • Get Started with APIs

API vs Web Service

In August of 1991, the World Wide Web was born. It was nothing like it is today — in fact, it was slow and quite bare, with hardly any websites online. If you had your own website, you were one of the few out there!

It was even a world before Google. Google didn’t exist until 1998 and most people used Yahoo! to search the web.

As those who were tech-savvy got to know the ins and outs of coding computer languages, we were lucky enough to experience some of the most impressive innovations, available right at our fingertips over the internet.

Suddenly, we were exposed to Google, a search engine that could list everything existing on the World Wide Web.

We had email services that allowed us to talk to other people through a machine — though we later turned to instant messaging services like AIM and MSN. Eventually, websites like Myspace, then Facebook, popped up. These allowed us to create our own Internet versions of ourselves and interact with other people we’d never meet otherwise.

Social media forever changed the way we use the internet. It showed people that we could communicate with each other through a machine at our fingertips — and quickly.

It became clear that the options were limitless. Websites could replace what we do in real life if it was faster and easier.

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APIs and Web Services

api vs web service

Source: https://testautomationresources.com/

A web service and an API are two very similar concepts, so it can be difficult to understand the similarities and differences.

Terminology Definition

Before we get started further explaining web services and APIs, we first need to define a few other terms:

  • XML [eXtensible Markup Language] is a standardized format for storing and sending data. Similar to HTML, XML stores data by wrapping it in descriptive tags.
  • JSON [JavaScript Object Notation] is similar to XML in that it also stores and enables you to send data in a standardized format. JSON just uses a different, object-based, methodology for systematically storing data.
  • HTTP [HyperText Transfer Protocol] is the foundation of transferring data and communications on the internet.
  • SOAP [Simple Object Access Protocol] is a messaging protocol used for exchanging structured information[XML data] over a network.
  • REST [REpresentational State Transfer] is a standardized architectural style that can be used when creating a web API.
  • Web applications (Web app) are computer programs that are accessed over the internet through a computer’s web browser.

What is a Web Service?

A Web service is a way for two machines to communicate with each other over a network.

A web server running on a computer listens for requests from other computers. When a request from another computer is received, over a network, the Web service returns the requested resources. This resource could be JSON, XML, an HTML file, Images, Audio Files, etc.

It’s important to note the requirement of the request being made over a network.

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What is an API?

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of definitions and protocols that allow one application to communicate with another application.

In general, when we speak about APIs, we are likely speaking about web APIs [APIs that are accessible over the internet]. This is not always the case though. APIs can be exposed through local files (such as a JAR file in a Java program, .H file in C/C++ programs, etc.) to allow two local applications to communicate with each other. This doesn’t require a network as the two applications are communicating within a single device.

Learn more about types of APIs.

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So What’s the Difference?

You might be wondering to yourself, APIs and Web services sound like the same thing. It’s a way for two computers to communicate with each other over the internet, right? Well, not quite.

As we mentioned in the section about “What is an API?,” not all APIs are accessible over the internet(a network), while Web Services must always be accessed through a network. That’s the difference right there.

All Web Services are APIs, but not all APIs are Web services.

Is a REST API a Web Service?

The short answer? Yes, REST APIs are a type of Web Service APIs.

A REST API is a standardized architecture style for creating a Web Service API. One of the requirements to be a REST API is the utilization of HTTP methods to make a request over a network.

REST was officially defined by computer scientist Roy Fielding in 2000 during his Ph.D. dissertation. It essentially changed the way applications are built. The implementation of the frontend “client” can be built completely independently from the backend “server.”

A REST request from the client to the server usually consists of the following components:

  • URL Path [https://api.example.com/user]
  • HTTP Method [GET, PUT, POST, PATCH, DELETE]
  • Header – (optional) additional information that the client needs to pass along in the request such as Authorization credentials, Content-Type of the body, User-Agent to define what type of application is making the request, and more]
  • Parameters – (optional) variable fields that alter how the resource will be returned.
  • Body – (optional) contains data that needs to be sent to the server.

Here’s How the REST API Works:

Let’s say that you want to see what your best friend posted on Instagram. To do this, you need to go on the app and open up your friends Instagram page.

In this example, your Instagram app [the client], would make a request to Instagram’s server [the server] to request your friend’s Instagram profile. This request would be a GET request to the /users endpoint and in the parameters of the request your friend’s account ID would be included.

  • HTTP Method: GET
  • URL: https://api.instagram.com/v1/users/
  • Parameters: user={best_friends_user_id}

[Disclaimer: This is a very simplified example of a request to the Instagram API]

In the same way that you use a GET request to retrieve data, a POST request would be used to create data on a platform. So let’s use the example of posting an image to Instagram. This request would be a POST request to the /media endpoint with a body of the image and parameters with your caption.

  • HTTP Method: POST
  • URL: https://api.instagram.com/v1/media/
  • Parameters: caption={my_great_caption}&user={my_user_id}
  • Body: Image to upload

[Disclaimer: This is not an accurate example request to the Instagram API. The post media endpoint is a private endpoint.]

Benefits of REST APIs

The reason REST is so great is that it offers a standardized methodology for making requests to an API. Once you learn one REST API, other REST APIs are going to function in a similar way.

If an API is available over the internet, there is no need to install additional software within your application. You can access the data from any application that is connected to the same network as the API.

With separated development on the client and server, the client code can be updated without affecting the server, and the server code can be updated without affecting the server. This is assuming the changes are developed in a backward-compatible way.

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The Core Differences

If you got a little lost reading about APIs and web services, here is a quick summary of what we covered above.

  • APIs are application interfaces, meaning that one application is able to interact with another application in a standardized way.
  • Web services are a type of API, which must be accessed through a network connection.
  • REST APIs are a standardized architecture for building web APIs using HTTP methods.

We hope that this article has helped you sort through the differences, ins and outs, and general information you may need to know for an API and Web service.

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Filed Under: The Dev Room Tagged With: api, api vs, rest api, soap, vs, web service

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RapidAPI Staff

The RapidAPI staff consists of various writers in the RapidAPI organization. For support, please email us at support@rapidapi.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. malika says

    December 1, 2019 at 12:34 am

    Great work , I need this thanks .

    Reply
  2. Pascal says

    January 13, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    Eye opener

    Reply
  3. Giants Digital says

    February 25, 2020 at 2:24 am

    Nice Blog. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  4. Luigi Vardaro says

    February 28, 2020 at 8:28 am

    Nowadays bulk SMS marketing play a vital role in digital promotion and lead generation. I have used this SMS service & it was amazing. I got good results from your service.

    Reply
  5. Clark says

    March 6, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    It’s really good for me to realize the difference!!!
    Thanks!

    Reply
  6. Nazik says

    April 30, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    Great explanation, especially for beginnerrs like me. THANK YOU

    Reply
  7. Sahar says

    May 2, 2020 at 12:08 am

    It’s really good for me to realize the difference!!!
    Thanks!

    Reply
  8. sona says

    May 11, 2020 at 10:40 pm

    it’s very good blog, for sharing content and such nice information for me. I hope you will share some more content about it. Please keep sharing!

    Reply
  9. Ashenafi Anteneh says

    May 14, 2020 at 10:57 pm

    short and precise lesson

    Reply
  10. Atul Jain says

    July 8, 2020 at 4:37 am

    Such a wonderful explanation.
    This has really helped people to understand the actual difference.

    Reply
  11. Bill Chestnut says

    July 26, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    “With separated development on the client and server, the client code can be updated without affecting the server, and the server code can be updated without affecting the server”.

    Really? “The server code can updated without affecting the server”? Perhaps you meant: “the server code be updated without affecting the client.”?

    Reply
  12. Amarendra Kumar Nath says

    September 8, 2020 at 8:36 am

    This is very good topic for API

    Reply
  13. Daniel Rafael Pérez Rivera says

    September 24, 2020 at 2:04 am

    Thanks for expend your time writting this, it’s very useful to me.

    Reply
  14. İbrahimli says

    October 27, 2020 at 6:05 am

    Thanks …

    Reply
  15. Mahesh says

    February 5, 2021 at 11:52 pm

    Very good article

    Reply
  16. ifticene says

    February 20, 2021 at 1:07 pm

    i need to creat function in jvascripte using API :
    API :
    https://10.96.34.4:3300/api/v1/messages

    Body :
    {“data”:{“type”:”messages”,”attributes”:{“request-id”:”123″,”brand”:”djezzy”,”sms-sender”:”777″,”originator”:”Djezzy IVR”,”category”:”notification”,”sms-recipient”:”213770090104″,”message-body”:”test”,”scheduling-policy”:”asap”,”language”:”en-en”}}}
    Keys:
    Content-Type
    application/vnd.api+json
    Accept
    application/vnd.api+json

    how do it ?

    Reply
  17. Nagaraj S says

    April 7, 2021 at 11:53 pm

    One of the best explanations over the internet.
    Thanks to the author & rapidapi.

    Reply
  18. Mohini says

    April 21, 2021 at 2:19 am

    Thank u for this very good yet simple explanation. Very helpful. Keep sharing! Rgds

    Reply
  19. PEINING says

    May 31, 2021 at 9:36 pm

    This is helpful. Thank you!

    Reply
  20. Vasanth says

    June 7, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    Very nice blog.

    Reply
  21. Maksen says

    June 12, 2021 at 6:05 am

    Thanks a lot, it’s very helpfully

    Reply
  22. Richard Kodamanchili says

    July 10, 2021 at 4:14 pm

    Well written. Thanks. I would also add that a Web-Service is a technical resource on the internet that can provide multiple APIs, which operate on and provide indirect access to “hidden” domain resources. And a Micro(web)-service is small enough to provide one or a few APIs. And with REST, the API exposes the “hidden” domain resource representation, thereby making the domain resource directly addressable and accessible.

    Reply
  23. Krishna Somayajulu says

    October 25, 2021 at 8:00 pm

    web service requires Internet but API’s can work without internet. This line is struck in my mind. Thanks !!!

    Reply

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