Skip to main contentSkip to user menuSkip to navigation
System Designer
Back to Reference

API Design Patterns

REST, GraphQL, gRPC comparison and best practices

Not Started
Loading...

Choosing the right API pattern impacts performance, developer experience, and system evolution. REST provides simplicity and caching, GraphQL offers flexibility and efficiency, while gRPC delivers speed and type safety. Each has its sweet spot in modern architectures.

The practical approach: use REST for public APIs, GraphQL for complex UIs, gRPC for microservices. REST's HTTP semantics work everywhere, GraphQL solves over/under-fetching, and gRPC's binary protocol and streaming excel in service-to-service communication.

⚡ Quick Decision

Choose REST When:

  • • Simple CRUD operations
  • • Caching is important
  • • Team familiar with HTTP

Choose GraphQL When:

  • • Complex data relationships
  • • Mobile apps (bandwidth matters)
  • • Rapid frontend development

Choose gRPC When:

  • • High-performance microservices
  • • Strong type contracts needed
  • • Internal API communication

💡 For implementation guides and code examples: See our technology deep dives: API Design, API Paradigms, GraphQL, gRPC

API Paradigm Selection Matrix

Choose your API paradigm based on performance needs, complexity tolerance, and use case requirements.

RESTCRUD operations, public APIs, simple data models
✓ Strengths:
Simple & widely understood, Stateless
✗ Trade-offs:
Over-fetching
Performance:
100-200ms latency
GraphQLComplex data relationships, mobile apps, rapid frontend development
✓ Strengths:
Precise data fetching, Strong typing
✗ Trade-offs:
Complexity
Performance:
50-150ms latency
gRPCMicroservices, real-time systems, internal APIs
✓ Strengths:
High performance, Strong contracts
✗ Trade-offs:
Browser limitations
Performance:
1-10ms latency
Authentication Decision Matrix

When to Use Each Authentication Method

🔑 API Keys
Simple public APIs, rate limiting, basic access control
✓ Simple implementation
✗ Limited security
🎫 JWT Tokens
Stateless auth, microservices, mobile apps
✓ Stateless & scalable
✗ Token revocation complexity
🛡️ OAuth 2.0
Third-party integrations, user consent, enterprise
✓ Enterprise-grade security
✗ Complex implementation
API Keys
Low SecurityLow Complexity
Public APIs, rate limiting
OAuth 2.0
High SecurityHigh Complexity
Third-party integrations, user consent
JWT Tokens
Medium SecurityMedium Complexity
Stateless authentication, microservices
Production API Checklist

🔧 Essential Setup

  • ☐Implement consistent error responses (RFC 7807)
  • ☐Add rate limiting and throttling
  • ☐Version your API (URL path or headers)
  • ☐Generate comprehensive documentation

🛡️ Security & Monitoring

  • ☐Validate all input data (size, type, format)
  • ☐Log requests with correlation IDs
  • ☐Monitor response times and error rates
  • ☐Implement health check endpoints
⚠️ Common API Design Mistakes
  • • Using verbs in URL paths instead of nouns
  • • Inconsistent error response formats
  • • Missing or poor API documentation
  • • No versioning strategy
  • • Exposing internal implementation details
API Design Best Practices

RESTful Resource Design

Use HTTP verbs and resource-based URLs for clarity and consistency

✅ Good Examples
  • GET /users/123
  • POST /users
  • PUT /users/123
  • DELETE /users/123
❌ Bad Examples
  • GET /getUser?id=123
  • POST /createUser
  • POST /updateUser
  • POST /deleteUser

Error Handling

Proper HTTP status codes and detailed errors improve developer experience

✅ Good Examples
  • HTTP 400 with error details
  • Consistent error format
  • Helpful error messages
❌ Bad Examples
  • HTTP 200 with error in body
  • Generic "error occurred"
  • Inconsistent formats

Pagination

Efficient pagination prevents performance issues and improves UX

✅ Good Examples
  • Cursor-based pagination
  • Limit/offset with metadata
  • Link headers
❌ Bad Examples
  • Return all results
  • Page numbers only
  • No total count
Real-world API Examples

Stripe (REST)

Why: Payment APIs need to be simple, reliable, and widely compatible

Excellent documentation, consistent patterns, comprehensive webhooks

GitHub (GraphQL + REST)

Why: Complex relationships between repos, users, issues need flexible querying

GraphQL for v4 API, REST for v3 backwards compatibility

Google Services (gRPC)

Why: Internal microservices need high performance and strong contracts

Cloud APIs, Spanner, Pub/Sub use gRPC for efficiency

Netflix (GraphQL Federation)

Why: 100+ microservices need unified API for mobile apps

Federated GraphQL gateway with service-specific schemas
No quiz questions available
Quiz ID "api-patterns" not found