GraphQL vs REST: How to Choose

GraphQL and REST both work well. The right choice depends on your clients, your data and your team, not on which one is newer.

The core difference

With REST, the server decides the shape of each endpoint's response. With GraphQL, the client asks for exactly the fields it needs from a single endpoint, using a typed schema.

query {
  order(id: "42") {
    id
    total
    customer { name email }
    items { quantity product { name price } }
  }
}

In REST that might be three requests (/orders/42, /customers/7, /orders/42/items) or one custom endpoint.

Where GraphQL shines

• Many different clients (web, iOS, Android, partners) needing different shapes of the same data.
• Deeply related data and screens that combine many resources.
• A strongly typed schema that doubles as documentation and powers code generation.
• Aggregating several backend services behind one API.

Where REST shines

• Simple CRUD services and public APIs where predictability matters.
• HTTP caching: CDNs and browsers cache GET URLs out of the box.
• File uploads, downloads and streaming.
• Rate limiting and monitoring per endpoint are straightforward.

GraphQL costs to plan for

• The N+1 query problem in resolvers (solved with DataLoader).
• Protecting against expensive queries: depth limits, complexity scoring, persisted queries.
• Caching moves to the client (Apollo, urql, Relay) or needs persisted queries for CDN caching.
• Errors return HTTP 200 with an errors array, which changes how monitoring works.

A pragmatic answer

Start with REST for simple services and public APIs. Consider GraphQL when a product team is building rich UIs across several clients and keeps asking for "one more custom endpoint". Many companies use both.