gRPC vs REST: Which to Use and When

Pick an API style early and you live with it for years. REST and gRPC both move data between services, but they optimize for different things, and the wrong choice shows up later as slow internal calls or a debugging experience nobody enjoys. Here is how they actually differ and how we decide between them.

What REST is #

REST organizes an API around resources addressed by URLs, using standard HTTP verbs like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. Payloads are usually JSON, which is human-readable and parseable by anything that speaks HTTP. That universality is REST's biggest strength. Any browser, curl command, mobile app, or third-party integration can call a REST endpoint with zero special tooling.

REST also inherits the full HTTP machinery. Responses can be cached by CDNs and proxies using standard headers, status codes carry meaning everyone recognizes, and load balancers understand the traffic without extra configuration. You give up some rigor for that reach. JSON has no enforced schema unless you add one, so contracts tend to live in documentation and drift over time.

What gRPC is #

gRPC is contract-first. You define your service and messages in a .proto file, then generate client and server stubs in whatever language you use. Calls travel as binary-encoded Protobuf over HTTP/2. Instead of hand-writing HTTP requests, you call a generated method as if it were local.

protobuf.protobuf

syntax = "proto3";

package orders.v1;

service OrderService {
rpc GetOrder(GetOrderRequest) returns (Order);
rpc StreamOrderUpdates(GetOrderRequest) returns (stream Order);
}

message GetOrderRequest {
string order_id = 1;
}

message Order {
string order_id = 1;
string customer_id = 2;
int32 total_cents = 3;
string status = 4;
}

From that definition, the toolchain generates typed stubs. The contract is enforced at compile time, so a field rename or type change surfaces as a build error rather than a runtime surprise in production.

Performance #

This is where gRPC pulls ahead. Protobuf's binary format is smaller and faster to serialize than JSON, and HTTP/2 lets many requests share one connection through multiplexing instead of opening a socket per call. For chatty internal traffic where one user action fans out into dozens of service-to-service calls, that overhead reduction adds up fast.

Where it matters: high-throughput internal paths, low-latency requirements, and services that exchange large or frequent messages. For a handful of requests a second against a public endpoint, the difference is negligible and REST's simplicity wins.

Streaming #

REST is built around request and response. You ask, you get an answer, the exchange ends. Patterns like server-sent events or long polling exist, but they feel bolted on.

gRPC treats streaming as a first-class feature. It supports server streaming, client streaming, and bidirectional streaming over a single connection. If you need a live feed of order updates, a chat channel, or a telemetry pipe where both sides push data continuously, gRPC handles it natively. The stream keyword in the example above is all it takes to declare one.

Browser support #

REST works everywhere a browser can make an HTTP request, which is everywhere. gRPC does not run directly from browsers because they do not expose the low-level HTTP/2 control gRPC needs. You reach it through gRPC-Web plus a proxy such as Envoy that translates between the browser and your gRPC backend.

That extra hop is a real cost. If your primary consumer is a web frontend or a broad set of external clients, REST removes an entire layer of infrastructure.

Tooling and schema #

Both can be schema-driven, but the defaults differ. gRPC ships schema-first by design. The .proto file is the source of truth, code generation keeps clients and servers in lockstep, and versioning rules for adding fields are well defined.

REST leans on OpenAPI to describe endpoints, request shapes, and responses. OpenAPI is mature and generates clients, docs, and mock servers, but nothing forces your implementation to match the spec unless you wire in validation. With gRPC the generated stubs are the implementation, so drift is much harder.

For more on keeping either style consistent and versioned, see our guide to API design best practices.

Debuggability #

REST is far easier to poke at. You can curl an endpoint, read the JSON, and understand what happened without any decoding step. Logs are readable, and browser dev tools show every call in plain text.

gRPC traffic is binary, so you need grpcurl, reflection enabled on the server, or a client like Postman that speaks gRPC to inspect a call. That is a manageable amount of friction once tooling is in place, but it raises the barrier for quick investigation and for teams new to the stack.

The typical architecture #

Most mature systems do not choose one style globally. They run REST or GraphQL at the edge, where clients are diverse and browser support and cacheability matter, then use gRPC internally between services where throughput and strict contracts pay off. A public gateway speaks REST to the outside world and translates to gRPC for the services behind it.

If you are weighing REST against a graph-based edge API, our GraphQL vs REST comparison covers that decision in detail.

How to choose #

Reach for REST when your API is public or consumed by browsers, when caching and universal access matter, when the team values easy debugging, or when request volume is modest enough that raw performance is not the bottleneck.

Reach for gRPC when calls are internal and high-volume, when you need streaming, when strict typed contracts across many services are worth enforcing, and when your team can absorb the extra tooling for inspection and browser access.

Ask three questions. Who calls this API, browsers and outside partners or your own services? How much traffic and latency pressure does it carry? Do you need streaming? The answers usually point clearly one way.

The call we'd make #

For anything public-facing or browser-first, start with REST. It is the path of least resistance, and you can always add a performance-critical gRPC service later. For internal service-to-service communication at scale, especially with streaming or a large number of endpoints that need to stay in sync, gRPC earns its complexity. The winning pattern is not either-or. It is REST at the edge and gRPC in the core, each doing the job it was built for.