Note: The following tables list features of each protocol, they don’t directly compare each row.
| SOAP | REST |
|---|
| Wide range of specifications | Usually no standard descriptor (e.g. like WSDL) for the endpoint (unless utilizing OpenAPI spec) |
| Operations (inputs/return value/faults), and argument types are well-defined using WSDL, XSD | JSON-based communication |
| Usually for S2S communication | Can be used for C2S communication |
| Has security features (signing, encryption, etc) | |
| When it comes to exception handling, Web Services can describe the exact set of possible faults that can occur, so that clients are prepared | No predefined faults |
| Working with URL resources, using existing HTTP Methods to perform operations on them (usually just CRUD) |
Authentication