A developer often works with two important technologies: REST and WebSocket. Efficient utilization is impossible if their differences and goal are not understood well. But first, let's examine the fundamental difference between the WebSocket Vs Rest. Due to their technical brilliance, WebSockets and REST have recently gained popularity. User data need to determine the best option. So let's debate the Websocket Vs REST to understand more about it.
What WebSocket?
The web socket protocol can get over HTTP's limitations by offering full duplex communication, for example. The relevant WebSocket API is being standardized by W3C, and this protocol was standardized in 2011. Websocket does not damage the web's security mechanism at the same time. The browser's inbuild developer tools allow it to examine every web socket handshake. When it comes to two-way communication between the client and server. Websocket serves as a standard. A developer can create a function that operates uniformly on all platforms by using this method. The issue of connection restriction is solved with WebSocket, which simulates a single TCP socket connection.
What is Rest?
Representational state transfer(REST) is a collection of architectural principles that may be used to create web APIs that are focused on the resources of a system and how those resources are addressed and transferred. The request-response communication paradigm is used by REST APIs. A distributed hypermedia systems components, connections, and data elements are all subject to the REST architectural limitations.
Learn more about SOAP vs REST
Websocket Vs Rest | Difference between Websocket and Rest:
- Websocket have a low overhead per message. They are ideal for use cases that require low latency and high-frequency communication. Compared to WebSockets, REST APIs have a larger message overhead. The use cases where you wish to create, retrieve, remove, or update resources are best suited for them.
- Websocket is socket based. While Rest is resource-based.
- Websocket uses HTTP only during the initial request/response handshake. REST makes client-server communication possible using HTTP.
- Websocket-driven and bidirectional, and Rest is requested-driven and unidirectional.
- Websocket is a stateful protocol. REST makes advantage of the stateless HTTP protocol.
- A WebSocket is a connection that uses a single TCP connection for data exchange. While every request/ response requires a new TCP connection.
- Websocket is a lower-level protocol based on the concept of socket and port, which are the underlying transport mechanism, whereas REST is based on CRUD operation.
- Web socket is bi-directional in nature, both way operation from client to server and vice versa is possible. Whereas REST follows a unidirectional approach.
- Websocket requires the use of IP address and port details, which are lower-level details for any application, whereas RESTful application needs to design operations based on verbs and HTTP based.
- The web socket approach is ideal for real-time scalable applications, whereas REST is better suited for the scenario with lots of getting requests.
- Websocket is a stateful protocol, whereas REST is based on a stateless protocol.
- Websocket connection can scale vertically on a single server, whereas REST, which is HTTP based, can scale horizontally.
- Web socket is ideal for a scenario where high loads are a part of the game, whereas REST is better fitted for occasional communication in a typical GET request scenario to call restful APIs.
- Websocket communication cost is lower, whereas REST-based communication is comparatively higher end on cost.