Question 1

What’s the difference between gRPC and REST?

Accepted Answer

REST is an architectural style commonly implemented over HTTP/1.1 using JSON and resource-based URLs (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE). gRPC is an RPC framework that typically uses HTTP/2 plus Protocol Buffers to call methods (functions) on a remote service. In practice, gRPC often provides lower latency and smaller payloads, supports bi-directional streaming, and generates strongly-typed client/server code, while REST is widely compatible with browsers and simpler to test with basic HTTP tools.

Question 2

When should I use gRPC?

Accepted Answer

Use gRPC when you need fast, efficient service-to-service communication (especially in microservices), strong API contracts with code generation, or streaming (server streaming, client streaming, or bidirectional). It’s a strong fit for internal APIs, polyglot environments, and high-throughput systems. Consider REST when you need maximum interoperability (especially with browsers), easy caching via standard HTTP semantics, or simple public APIs where human-readable JSON is preferred.

Question 3

How much does gRPC cost?

Accepted Answer

gRPC itself is free and open-source. Costs come from where you run it (VMs, Kubernetes, serverless containers), networking (bandwidth, load balancers), and operational tooling (observability, gateways, service mesh). If you use a managed Kubernetes service or a managed load balancer/API gateway to expose gRPC, you’ll pay for those cloud resources based on provider pricing.

gRPC

Definition

Real-World Example

Related Terms

Cloud Provider Equivalencies

Explore More Cloud Computing Terms