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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-05T12:42:25+00:00

I currently figure out the similar is both using internet protocol (HTTP) to exchange

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I currently figure out the similar is both using internet protocol (HTTP) to exchange data between consumer and provider.

The difference is:

  1. SOAP is a XML-based message protocol, while REST is an architectural style
  2. SOAP uses WSDL for communication between consumer and provider, whereas REST just uses XML or JSON to send and receive data
  3. SOAP invokes services by calling RPC method, REST just simply calls services via URL path
  4. SOAP doesn’t return human readable result, whilst REST result is readable with is just plain XML or JSON
  5. SOAP is not just over HTTP, it also uses other protocols such as SMTP, FTP, etc, REST is over only HTTP

That’s everything I know as the differences between them. Could anyone correct me and add more.

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  1. Editorial Team

    SOAP uses WSDL for communication btw consumer and provider, whereas
    REST just uses XML or JSON to send and receive data

    WSDL defines contract between client and service and is static by its nature. In case of REST contract is somewhat complicated and is defined by HTTP, URI, Media Formats and Application Specific Coordination Protocol. It’s highly dynamic unlike WSDL.

    SOAP doesn’t return human readable result, whilst REST result is readable with is just plain XML or JSON

    This is not true. Plain XML or JSON are not RESTful at all. None of them define any controls(i.e. links and link relations, method information, encoding information etc…) which is against REST as far as messages must be self contained and coordinate interaction between agent/client and service.

    With links + semantic link relations clients should be able to determine what is next interaction step and follow these links and continue communication with service.

    It is not necessary that messages be human readable, it’s possible to use cryptic format and build perfectly valid REST applications. It doesn’t matter whether message is human readable or not.

    Thus, plain XML(application/xml) or JSON(application/json) are not sufficient formats for building REST applications. It’s always reasonable to use subset of these generic media types which have strong semantic meaning and offer enough control information(links etc…) to coordinate interactions between client and server.

    REST is over only HTTP

    Not true, HTTP is most widely used and when we talk about REST web services we just assume HTTP. HTTP defines interface with it’s methods(GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH etc) and various headers which can be used uniformly for interacting with resources. This uniformity can be achieved with other protocols as well.

    P.S.
    Very simple, yet very interesting explanation of REST: http://www.looah.com/source/view/2284

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