Eficiency of REST and gRPC realizing communication tasks in microservice-based ecosystems

TL;DR

This paper compares REST and gRPC in microservice ecosystems, analyzing their efficiency for different communication tasks to guide optimal method selection based on experimental results.

Contribution

It provides an empirical analysis of REST and gRPC performance, establishing criteria for choosing the most efficient communication method in microservice architectures.

Findings

gRPC outperforms REST in data transfer efficiency for specific tasks

criteria for selecting communication methods based on task type

experimental data guiding microservice communication choices

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to analyse practical aspects of the use of REST APIs and gRPC to realize communication tasks in applications in microservice-based ecosystems. On the basis of performed experiments, classes of communication tasks, for which given technology performs data transfer more efficiently, have been established. This, in turn, allows formulation of criteria for the selection of appropriate communication methods for communication tasks to be performed in an application using microservices-based architecture.