Parameters needs to be considered before choosing REST or SOAP

There are many parameter needs to be considered before choosing REST or SOAP like

Performance & Scalability

• REST has better Performance and Scalability features. Read operation in REST can be cached whereas SOAP based read cannot be cached.
• REST service is good when we have limited bandwidth and have requirement to accomplish by simple CRUD based operation.

Security

• Provide more choice for implementing security beyond the standard SSL support by implementing WS-Security standard

Transaction Support

• SOAP can support distributed two-phase commit transactions by implementing WS-Atomic standards.
• REST does not support transaction

Extended Client Support

• REST allow better support for browser and mobile clients due to its support for JSON.

Extended Data Format Support

• REST allows many data format like JSON, XML, Text, SOAP only support XML which require more bandwidth to pass data through wire

Multiple Protocol Support

• SOAP service can use any transport protocol such as HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, SMTP, and MSMQ. REST only support standard HTTP and it is much easier to implement, simple methods to call GET, PUT, POST and DELETE.

Error Handling

• REST support standard HTTP error handling but SOAP provide more robust error handling including user define error handling.

Summary

REST	SOAP
Expose the data	Expose the logic
Support multiple Data format, JSON, XML, HTML, Text etc.	Support only XML
Support only Http, Https protocol	Support multiple protocol; Http, Https, TCP, UDP SMTP, Messaging etc.
Support for Transaction Management but not ACID compliance or two-phase commit transaction.	Better support for transaction management Support, ACID and two-phase commit transaction by implementing WS-Atomic Standard
Need less band width	Need more band width because of XML
Suited for stateless CRUD operations	Suited for Stateful operation, Easy to configure session support
Less support for Security Supports only point-to-point SSL security. The SSL encrypts the whole message, whether all of it is sensitive or not.	SOAP WS has Better support for Security Both SSL security and WS-security
Better Support for browsers and mobile client, Because of Lightweight	Limited browser support
Read operation can be cached	Read Operation cannot be cached
Support for better performance and scalability	Performance is less as compare to REST
Support only HTTP error Handling	Support robust error handling including user define error handling
Only support Synchronous message	Can support Synchronous and Asynchronous both messages