Simon Willison’s Weblog

Web APIs, not Web Services

26th May 2006

In Web Services are Dead, Long Live Web Services, Mark Nottingham suggests HTTP Web Services as a better phrase for discussing machine-to-machine communication using HTTP where the WS-* stack isn’t assumed.

I’d go a step further and say that the word “services” is ambiguous and confusing. I’ve met people who think that a Web Service is any application that you access over the Web—and it’s easy to understand their confusion.

I propose Web APIs as a better alternative. They’re APIs that you call over the Web. No Deathstar required.

Update: Joe Gregorio argues against the term API in this presentation from last year.