| API NAME | PROTOCOL | DATA FORMAT | COMMUNICATION |
|---|---|---|---|
| REST API | REST | JSON, XML | Synchronous |
| SOAP API | SOAP (WSDL) | XML | Synchronous |
| Chatter REST API | REST | JSON, XML | Synchronous (photos are processed asynchronously) |
| User Interface API | REST | JSON | Synchronous |
| Analytics REST API | REST | JSON, XML | Synchronous |
| Bulk API | REST | CSV, JSON, XML | Asynchronous |
| Metadata API | SOAP (WSDL) | XML | Asynchronous |
| Streaming API | Bayeux | JSON | Asynchronous (stream of data) |
| Apex REST API | REST | JSON, XML, Custom | Synchronous |
| Apex SOAP API | SOAP (WSDL) | XML | Synchronous |
| Tooling API | REST or SOAP (WSDL) | JSON, XML, Custom | Synchronous |
When to Use REST API
REST API provides a powerful, convenient, and simple REST-based web services interface for interacting with Salesforce. Its advantages include ease of integration and development, and it’s an excellent choice of technology for use with mobile applications and web projects. For certain projects, you may want to use REST API with other Salesforce REST APIs. To build UI for creating, reading, updating, and deleting records, including building UI for list views, actions, and dependent picklists, use User Interface API. To build UI for Chatter, communities, or recommendations, use Chatter REST API. If you have many records to process, consider using Bulk API, which is based on REST principles and optimized for large sets of data.
When to Use SOAP API
SOAP API provides a powerful, convenient, and simple SOAP-based web services interface for interacting with Salesforce. You can use SOAP API to create, retrieve, update, or delete records. You can also use SOAP API to perform searches and much more. Use SOAP API in any language that supports web services.
For example, you can use SOAP API to integrate Salesforce with your org’s ERP and finance systems. You can also deliver real-time sales and support information to company portals and populate critical business systems with customer information.
When to Use Chatter REST API
Use Chatter REST API to display Chatter feeds, users, groups, and followers, especially in mobile applications. Chatter REST API also provides programmatic access to files, recommendations, topics, notifications, Data.com purchasing, and more. Chatter REST API is similar to APIs offered by other companies with feeds, such as Facebook and Twitter, but it also exposes Salesforce features beyond Chatter.
When to Use User Interface API
Build Salesforce UI for native mobile apps and custom web apps using the same API that Salesforce uses to build Lightning Experience and Salesforce for Android, iOS, and mobile web. Build user interfaces that let users work with records, list views, actions, favorites, and more. Not only do you get data and metadata in a single response, but the response matches metadata changes made to the org by Salesforce admins. You don’t have to worry about layouts, picklists, field-level security, or sharing—all you have to do is build an app that users love.
When to Use the Analytics REST API
You can access Analytics assets—such as datasets, lenses, and dashboards—programmatically using the Analytics REST API. Send queries directly to the Analytics Platform. Access datasets that have been imported into the Analytics Platform. Create and retrieve lenses. Access XMD information. Retrieve a list of dataset versions. Create and retrieve Analytics applications. Create, update, and retrieve Analytics dashboards. Retrieve a list of dependencies for an application. Determine what features are available to the user. Work with snapshots. Manipulate replicated datasets.
When to Use Bulk API
Bulk API is based on REST principles and is optimized for loading or deleting large sets of data. You can use it to query, queryAll, insert, update, upsert, or delete many records asynchronously by submitting batches. Salesforce processes batches in the background.
SOAP API, in contrast, is optimized for real-time client applications that update a few records at a time. You can use SOAP API for processing many records, but when the data sets contain hundreds of thousands of records, SOAP API is less practical. Bulk API is designed to make it simple to process data from a few thousand to millions of records.
The easiest way to use Bulk API is to enable it for processing records in Data Loader using CSV files. Using Data Loader avoids the need to write your own client application.
When to Use Metadata API
Use Metadata API to retrieve, deploy, create, update, or delete customizations for your org. The most common use is to migrate changes from a sandbox or testing org to your production environment. Metadata API is intended for managing customizations and for building tools that can manage the metadata model, not the data itself.
The easiest way to access the functionality in Metadata API is to use the Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code or the Ant Migration Tool. Both tools are built on top of Metadata API and use the standard tools to simplify working with Metadata API.
- The Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code includes tools for developing on the Salesforce platform in the lightweight, extensible VS Code editor. These tools provide features for working with development orgs (scratch orgs, sandboxes, and DE orgs), Apex, Aura components, and Visualforce.
- The Ant Migration Tool is ideal if you use a script or the command line for moving metadata between a local directory and a Salesforce org.
When to Use Streaming API
Use Streaming API to receive near-real-time streams of data that are based on changes in Salesforce records or custom payloads. For Salesforce record changes, Salesforce publishes notifications when the changes occur. For custom notifications, you can publish event messages. Subscribers can receive notifications using CometD—an implementation of the Bayeux protocol that simulates push technology. Clients can also subscribe to some types of events with Apex triggers or declaratively with Process Builder and Flow Builder.
Use the type of streaming event that suits your needs.PushTopic EventReceive changes to Salesforce records based on a SOQL query that you define. The notifications include only the fields that you specify in the SOQL query.Change Data Capture EventReceive changes to Salesforce records with all changed fields. Change Data Capture supports more standard objects than PushTopic events and provides more features, such as header fields that contain information about the change.Platform EventPublish and receive custom payloads with a predefined schema. The data can be anything you define, including business data, such as order information. Specify the data to send by defining a platform event. Subscribe to a platform event channel to receive notifications.Generic EventPublish and receive arbitrary payloads without a defined schema.
When to Use Apex REST API
Use Apex REST API when you want to expose your Apex classes and methods so that external applications can access your code through REST architecture. Apex REST API supports both OAuth 2.0 and Session ID for authorization.
When to Use Apex SOAP API
Use Apex SOAP API when you want to expose Apex methods as SOAP web service APIs so that external applications can access your code through SOAP.
Apex SOAP API supports both OAuth 2.0 and Session ID for authorization.
When to Use Tooling API
Use Tooling API to integrate Salesforce metadata with other systems. Metadata types are exposed as sObjects, so you can access one component of a complex type. This field-level access speeds up operations on complex metadata types. You can also build custom development tools for Force.com applications. For example, use Tooling API to manage and deploy working copies of Apex classes and triggers and Visualforce pages and components. You can also set checkpoints or heap dump markers, execute anonymous Apex, and access logging and code coverage information.
REST and SOAP are both supported.