WCF vs ASP.NET Web API

c# wcf asp.net-web-api
LeftyX picture LeftyX · Feb 19, 2012 · Viewed 218.3k times · Source

I've spent a few months trying to grasp the concepts behind WCF and recently I've developed my first WCF service application.

I've struggled quite a bit to understand all the settings in the config file.
I am not convinced about the environment but it seems that you can do amazing stuff with it.

The other day I've found out that Microsoft has come out with a new thing called ASP.NET Web API.

For what I can read it's a RESTful framework, very easy to use and implement.

Now, I am trying to figure out what are the main differences between the 2 frameworks and if I should try and convert my old WCF service application with the new API.

Could someone, please, help me to understand the differences and usage of each?

Answer

Manish Jain picture Manish Jain · May 2, 2013

For us, WCF is used for SOAP and Web API for REST. I wish Web API supported SOAP too. We are not using advanced features of WCF. Here is comparison from MSDN:

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