REST vs GraphQL

Both move data over HTTP. What actually differs is how you ask for it, and how the response is shaped — which matters more when you're the one calling the API than most comparisons let on.

Requests

REST spreads an API's surface across multiple endpoints and HTTP methods — a resource and an action are both part of the request's shape:

GET /users/42/orders

GraphQL exposes one endpoint, and the request body describes exactly which fields you want:

POST /graphql
{"query": "{ user(id: 42) { orders { id total } } }"}

Responses

A REST endpoint returns whatever shape the server decided on — you take the whole thing, even the fields you don't need. GraphQL returns exactly the fields the query asked for and nothing else, which avoids over-fetching but means the response shape depends on the request that produced it rather than being fixed per endpoint.

Errors

REST uses HTTP status codes — see the status codes reference — so a failed request is usually a non-2xx status. GraphQL typically responds 200 even when part of the query failed, with the errors listed in an errors array in the body alongside any data that did resolve — worth checking for explicitly rather than trusting the status code alone.

When each fits

• REST tends to fit resource-shaped APIs (users, orders, files) with a small, stable set of operations.
• GraphQL tends to fit clients that need to combine data from several resources in one round trip, or that vary a lot in which fields they actually need.
• Both are ordinary HTTP under the hood, so the same tooling — a request builder, environments, auth — applies to both.