When building Spring Boot services, developers often face a critical architectural decision: should internal services communicate via RPC or traditional Web APIs? This analysis breaks down the key differences between these two approaches. RPC offers tighter coupling and lower latency, making it ideal for high-performance internal microservices. Web APIs, on the other hand, provide better interoperability, simpler debugging, and broader client support. The article explores how Spring Boot supports both patterns, from REST controllers to frameworks like Dubbo or gRPC. It also discusses serialization overhead, network efficiency, and versioning strategies. For teams designing service boundaries, understanding these trade-offs is essential. The choice affects not only performance but also team productivity and system evolution. This guide serves as a decision framework for architects evaluating their options.
A practical comparison of RPC and Web API patterns in Spring Boot, highlighting trade-offs in performance, coupling, and scalability for distributed systems.