What is the difference between Web Services and Rest API?

Question

I am confused a bit in both of them as I have also develop some API using Slim micro-framework but still needs an expert opinion on the main difference between API and web services.

Harsh Shah · Answer

Web service is a collection of open source protocols and standards used for exchanging data between systems or applications whereas API is a software interface that allows two applications to interact with each other without any user involvement. web service is like advanced Urls and API is Programmed Interface. API contains classes and Interfaces just like a program. A web service is a form of API (Application Programming Interface). An API is used by a computer programmer to establish a link between software applications. This interface can take several forms, a web service is just one of these. There are several types of web service. SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is one of the most common. The API takes the form of a service description (WSDL) which is used to automatically generate the program code which makes the connection.

Thirumoorthy Lakshmanan · Answer

WEB SERVICES WEB API Web services are a type of API, which must be accessed through a network connection. APIs are application interfaces, implying that one application can communicate with another application in a standardized manner. Web service is used for REST, SOAP and XML-RPC for communication. API is used for any style of communication. All Web services are APIs. APIs are not web services. It doesn’t have lightweight design, needs a SOAP convention to send or receive data over the system. It has a light-weight architecture furthermore, useful for gadgets which have constrained transmission capacity like smart phones. It provides supports only for the HTTP protocol. It provides support for the HTTP/s protocol: URL Request/Response Headers, and so on. It is not open source, however, can be devoured by any customer that comprehends xml. It is an open source and also ships with .NET framework. Web service supports only XML. API supports XML and JSON. Web Services can be hosted on IIS. Web API can be hosted only on IIS and self.

Farhan Ahmed · Answer

API and Web service serve as a means of communication. The only difference is that a Web service facilitates interaction between two machines over a network. An API acts as an interface between two different applications so that they can communicate with each other. 1. All Web services are APIs but all APIs are not Web services. 2. Web services might not perform all the operations that an API would perform. 3. A Web service uses only three styles of use: SOAP, REST and XML-RPC for communication whereas API may use any style for communication. 4. A Web service always needs a network for its operation whereas an API doesn’t need a network for its operation. 5. An API facilitates interfacing directly with an application whereas a Web service is a