REST vs gRPC

Is gRPC better than REST? Where to use it?

Overview Comparison

	gRPC	REST
Protocol	HTTP/2 (faster)	HTTP/1.1 (slower)
Payload	Protobuf (binary, small)	JSON (text, large)
API contract	Typed, required (.proto)	Optional (OpenAPI)
Code generation	Built-in (protoc)	Third-party (Swagger)
Security	TLS/SSL	TLS/SSL
Streaming	Bidirectional	Client to Server
Browser support	Limited	Yes

When to use each gRPC?

• Microservices

  • Low latency + high throughput

  • Strong API contracts

• Services implemented in different languages

• Streaming is needed.

• Network constrained environments

  • Lighter weight messages

Main pains of gRPC

• Contract management and code generation

• A strict API contract in environments with regular updates in contracts.