Building RESTful Web Services with .NET Core

SOAP versus REST

Following are some key differences between SOAP and REST:

SOAP	REST
It is an XML-based message protocol.	It is an architectural style.
WSDL is used for communication between client and server.	XML or JSON is used to send and receive data between client and server.
Services are invoked by calling the RPC method.	Services expose endpoints via URLs.
Response is easily readable by a human.	Response is readable in the form of plain XML or JSON.
Data transfer occurs over HTTP. It leverages protocols such as SMTP, FTP, and so on.	REST data transfer occurs over HTTP only.
It is difficult to call a SOAP service from JavaScript.	It is very easy to call a REST service from JavaScript.