REST API vs. RESTful API: Understanding the Differences

This article aims to clarify these terms, helping developers understand their distinctions and how they relate to each other.

Introduction

In the world of web development, REST (Representational State Transfer) is a widely-used architectural style for designing networked applications. It allows systems to interact over the web in a stateless manner. While terms like “REST API” and “RESTful API” are often used interchangeably, they do have subtle differences.

What is a REST API?

A REST API (or RESTful API) is an interface that follows REST architectural principles to enable communication between clients (like web browsers or mobile apps) and servers. REST APIs define a set of rules for creating, reading, updating, and deleting resources over HTTP.

Key Characteristics of REST APIs:

• Client-Server Architecture: The client and server are independent, where the client sends a request, and the server processes it, returning a response.