REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC – Which API Should You Use? | System Design #4

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🔵 REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC – Which API Should You Use? | System Design #4 REST, GraphQL, gRPC. You've heard these words. But do you know the difference? More importantly — do you know WHEN to use each one? Most developers pick REST for everything. After this video, you'll know exactly which API style to use and why. This is Topic 04 of the System Design Mastery series — a complete free course taking you from complete beginner to designing systems like Netflix, Uber, and WhatsApp. 📌 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS VIDEO: ✅ What an API is — the contract model + restaurant analogy that makes it click ✅ REST APIs — 6 core principles, HTTP verbs, resource-based URLs (Twitter examples) ✅ Over-fetching and under-fetching — the real problems with REST at scale ✅ GraphQL — how Facebook solved REST's limitations (one endpoint, any shape of data) ✅ gRPC — binary Protobuf, 10x faster than REST, built for microservices ✅ REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC — full side-by-side comparison + when to use each ✅ Real world: how Twitter uses all 3 APIs together in production ✅ 5 must-know API interview questions + complete model answers ⏱ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 — Introduction & Hook 01:41 — What We Cover In This Topic 02:20 — What is an API? (Contract Model + Restaurant Analogy) 03:56 — REST APIs — 6 Principles Explained 07:05 — The Problems with REST (Over-fetching, Under-fetching) 08:55 — GraphQL — Query Exactly What You Need 10:39 — gRPC — Binary Speed for Microservices 13:52 — REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC Full Comparison 16:30 — When to use which one - DECISION GUIDE 19:36 — Twitter Feed — Real World API Architecture 21:21 — Interview Questions (5 Q&As with Model Answers) 26:18 — Key Takeaways ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📚 FULL SERIES ROADMAP: Topic 01 — What is System Design? ✅ [Link : https://youtu.be/9HO-N6I67zM?si=bYTUJO84JCJJZFAS] Topic 02 — Client-Server Architecture ✅ [Link : https://youtu.be/4bMXzjTFBfA?si=_4eKw0uqjMBh_-2X] Topic 03 — HTTP, HTTPS, TCP/IP & DNS ✅ [Link : https://youtu.be/jwLvr25yng8?si=EnRidzOau1PnnL09] Topic 04 — APIs: REST, GraphQL, gRPC (This Video) Topic 05 — Databases: SQL vs NoSQL Topic 06 — Caching & Redis Topic 07 — Load Balancing ... and 25 more topics up to Full Design of Netflix, Uber, WhatsApp 📌 Full Playlist: [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqWUjCHDN0K_FIx5_ZwMSWXxu_AfPBz-g&si=D0ZdDOda82PSCC9-] Previous: Topic 03 — HTTP, HTTPS, TCP/IP & DNS: [https://youtu.be/jwLvr25yng8?si=bq3NCJDe1qdzZxUB] Next: Topic 05 — Databases SQL vs NoSQL: [Coming soon...] 👉 CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradipkumar-vala/ 🏷 HASHTAGS: #RestAPI #GraphQL #gRPC #SystemDesign #APIDesign #SystemDesignInterview #SoftwareEngineering #BackendDevelopment #TechInterview #FAANG #CodingInterview #REST #Microservices #WebDevelopment #ProgrammingTutorial #LearnToCode