Benefits of GraphQL vs REST and gRPC

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: November 16, 2024

GraphQL FAQ: What are the benefits of GraphQL, and how does it compare to competing technologies?

This is another blog post in my series of “Conversations with robots.” In this post we look at GraphQL, and the pros and cons of how it compares to REST and gRPC.

Question: What are the benefits of GraphQL?

Robots:

Here are the key benefits of GraphQL:

Precise data fetching
- Clients specify exactly what data they need: no over/under-fetching
- Get multiple resources in a single request
- Reduces network overhead and payload size
Type safety & schema
- Strongly-typed system provides better development experience
- Self-documenting API through introspection
- Catches errors at compile-time rather than runtime
Developer experience
- Single endpoint for all operations
- Built-in API documentation and exploration tools (like GraphiQL)
- Strong tooling ecosystem and IDE support
Flexibility
- Frontend teams can iterate without backend changes
- Easy to evolve APIs over time without versioning
- Works well with microservices architectures
Performance
- Reduces round trips to server
- Enables efficient caching
- Can batch multiple operations
Real-time capabilities
- Built-in support for subscriptions
- Efficient live data updates
- Good for real-time features like chat or notifications

Question: How does this compare to other competing technologies? What are its benefits and drawbacks?

Robots:

This is how GraphQL compares with other common API technologies:

1. GraphQL vs REST

Benefits of GraphQL:

Eliminates over/under-fetching of data
Single endpoint vs multiple endpoints
Strongly typed schema vs no built-in typing
Easier version management without URL changes

Benefits of REST:

Simpler to understand and implement
Better caching through HTTP mechanisms
More widespread adoption and tooling
Easier to optimize at network level (CDN, caching)

2. GraphQL vs gRPC

Benefits of GraphQL:

More flexible for frontend needs
Better for public APIs
Easier to explore and test
Works natively in browsers

Benefits of gRPC:

Better performance (binary protocol)
Bi-directional streaming
Stronger contract enforcement
Better for service-to-service communication

3. Practical Trade-offs

When to Use GraphQL:

Mobile apps needing efficient data loading
Rapidly evolving APIs
Complex data relationships
Public APIs with diverse clients

When to Use Alternatives:

Simple CRUD operations (REST)
Microservice communication (gRPC)
File uploads (REST)
When performance is critical (gRPC)

4. Common Challenges with GraphQL:

Higher initial learning curve
More complex server implementation
Cache management is trickier
Potential for expensive queries
Monitoring and optimization can be harder

Here’s a quick example showing the difference in approaches:

# REST: multiple endpoints needed
GET /api/user/123
GET /api/user/123/posts
GET /api/user/123/followers

# GraphQL: single query gets exactly what’s needed
query {
  user(id: "123") {
    name
    posts {
      title
    }
    followers {
      name
    }
  }
}

# gRPC: defined through protocol buffers
service UserService {
  rpc GetUser(UserId) returns (User);
  rpc GetUserPosts(UserId) returns (PostList);
  rpc GetUserFollowers(UserId) returns (UserList);
}

5. Real-world Considerations:

Resource consumption: GraphQL can be more CPU-intensive due to query resolution
Team expertise: REST is more widely understood
Infrastructure: GraphQL requires specific tooling for monitoring/caching
Development speed: GraphQL can speed up frontend development but requires more backend setup

Question: Do more people use GraphQL or gRPC?

Robots

Our knowledge is cut off in late 2023 and early 2024, but here’s what we know.

GraphQL is more widely used in public-facing and web applications, while gRPC sees more adoption in microservices and internal systems. Here’s a data-informed breakdown: