Understanding the Differences Between GraphQL and REST API Gateways

This article was published on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 by Saihajpreet Singh @ The Guild Blog

API gateways serve as crucial intermediaries between clients and backend services, but GraphQL and
REST gateways handle this responsibility quite differently. While a GraphQL gateway can be
considered a superset of REST gateway functionality, each has its distinct characteristics and use
cases.

Core Differences

Request Processing

• REST API Gateway: Handles traditional HTTP requests with fixed endpoints. Each endpoint typically serves a specific purpose and returns a predefined data structure. The gateway routes these requests to appropriate microservices based on URL patterns.
• GraphQL Gateway: Processes queries written in the GraphQL query language, typically through a single endpoint. It can understand complex queries requesting specific fields and relationships, making it more flexible in handling varied data requirements.

Data Aggregation

• REST Gateway: Often requires multiple endpoints to gather related data, leading to potential over-fetching or under-fetching of data. The gateway might need to make several internal calls to different services to compose a complete response.
• GraphQL Gateway: Excels at data aggregation by allowing clients to specify exactly what data they need in a single request. The gateway can efficiently collect data from multiple services based on the query structure.

Key Features and Capabilities

Caching

• REST Gateway: Implements straightforward HTTP caching mechanisms. Responses can be cached based on URLs and HTTP methods.
• GraphQL Gateway: Requires more sophisticated caching strategies due to the dynamic nature of queries. Often implements field-level caching and needs to consider query complexity.

Security

• REST Gateway: Security is typically implemented at the endpoint level with traditional authentication and authorization mechanisms.
• GraphQL Gateway: Provides more granular security controls, allowing permissions to be set at the field level. Can implement query complexity analysis to prevent abuse.

Schema Management

• REST Gateway: No built-in schema management. API documentation typically relies on external tools like Swagger/OpenAPI.
• GraphQL Gateway: Schema management can be as straightforward as maintaining schema definitions in code and versioning them with Git. Teams can choose between simple code-first approaches or leverage specialized tools like GraphQL Hive for more advanced schema registry and validation features. This flexibility allows teams to scale their schema management practices as their needs grow.

Service Integration

• REST Gateway: No built-in way to integrate with other protocols.
• GraphQL Gateway: A GraphQL gateway like Hive Gateway unifies multiple protocols (REST, gRPC, SOAP & many more) into a consistent interface using tools like GraphQL Mesh, while supporting federation capabilities that let teams independently develop and deploy subgraphs as part of a unified supergraph. Learn more about Federation here.

Why Choose GraphQL Gateway?

GraphQL gateways represent the future of API architecture for several compelling reasons:

1. Enhanced Developer Experience: GraphQL's intuitive query language and self-documenting nature significantly improve developer productivity.
2. Integration: Easily integrate legacy services and offer a unified query experience.
3. Optimal Performance: By allowing clients to request exactly what they need, GraphQL eliminates the over-fetching and under-fetching problems common with REST APIs.
4. Future-Proof Architecture: GraphQL's flexible schema system makes it easier to evolve your API over time without breaking existing clients.
5. Better Resource Utilization: The ability to combine multiple data requirements into a single request reduces server load and network overhead.
6. Strong Ecosystem: The GraphQL ecosystem offers excellent tools for monitoring, testing, and managing your API gateway.

Conclusion

While REST API gateways have served us well, GraphQL gateways offer superior capabilities for modern
applications. Their ability to handle complex data requirements efficiently, combined with excellent
developer experience and powerful tools, makes them the recommended choice for new API gateway
implementations. Organizations can start simple with basic schema management in Git and gradually
adopt more sophisticated tools like Hive as their needs evolve.