CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phprestrestler
user1423458
user1423458

Reputation: 11

REST PHP API : Restler OR APIFY

What should be the best choice among REST API, Restler OR Apify ? Which is more secure and more scalable ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1479

Answers (2)

RVN
RVN

Reputation: 83

I have built quite a large API based on Restler.

The developer is quite responsive, even though the community might be smaller, and imo it was "simpler to get started"... I actually looked at apify and was kind of turned off by the fact that it was "too flexible" in that it feels (to me personally) like it is trying to tick too many boxes and it made it too complex for my taste... from what I gather you can even serve an entire web app using apify, with a complete MVC structure, etc... it wasnt so much what I was looking for... so I went to restler...

In restler you can convert code or start coding quickly and very easily expose that as an API. A new version is supposedly in the works to be released sometime and would be very much improved in many respects, nonetheless, the way restler is quite "bare" today I feel has been to the best...

I wouldnt want to be restricted in the way I do things, such as talk to a DB, or paginate, etc.... these things, in my case, are tied to my existing DB lib, and pagination and caching mechanisms which are inherited from my legacy non-api app.

In summary, I think apify is perhaps "more complete" in some respects, but it wasnt what I was looking for, quite the contrary. I also feel that I can today very easily port all or almost all of my code to apify, as my code itself is all contained in classes and functions. I have just now looked again at apify and I still find it to be "bloated"? (maybe not performance wise, but to me as a dev it feels a bit bloated, kinda like the kitchen sink - does everything...)

AFAIK restler is also open source, so both are kinda on the same ground there. IIRC restler is based upon another smaller framework. I like that restler is quite small and simple and "gets the job done"... I dont want a PHP Framework a la codeigniter/symphony, etc, I just wanted something to help expose functionality as an API in a secure form, with different permissions, authentication, eaccess levels, etc.

I'm always open to other suggestions!

EDIT: this site may be useful in looking at some other options... http://blog.programmableweb.com/2011/09/23/short-list-of-restful-api-frameworks-for-php/ FRAPI was a close second choice but i thought it was a bit too complicated to get everything i wanted the way i wanted... I suggest you experiment with several for a few hrs each and see where you feel more at home.

Upvotes: 3

Cninroh
Cninroh

Reputation: 1796

I would favor apify for its larger developer and contributor base. Open Source in general is secure, and the actual security of your application will be based on your implementation. The same applies in scalability. I think all mentioned solutions can be scaled equally if the implementation on the server side is correct.

Upvotes: 0

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