Web Services
Definition
Software systems designed to support communication between different computers over the internet using standard protocols.
Use Cases
- Stripe: Provide payment processing capabilities to websites and mobile apps through a developer-friendly API. — Exposes HTTPS-based REST APIs with authentication (API keys), versioned endpoints, and webhooks for event notifications (e.g., payment succeeded). Client libraries wrap the web service for common languages. (Businesses can add payments quickly without building their own payment infrastructure, accelerating time-to-market and enabling global online commerce.)
- Twilio: Enable applications to send SMS messages and make/receive phone calls via programmable communications APIs. — Offers web services over HTTPS (REST APIs) for messaging and voice, plus webhook callbacks to customer endpoints for inbound messages/call events. Developers integrate using SDKs and API credentials. (Teams can add communications features without telecom carrier integrations, reducing engineering effort and speeding up product launches.)
- GitHub: Allow tools and integrations to automate repository management and CI/CD workflows. — Provides REST and GraphQL web services over HTTPS for issues, pull requests, and repository actions. Uses OAuth tokens/personal access tokens for authorization and webhooks for event-driven integrations. (Ecosystem integrations (CI tools, chatops, security scanners) can automate development workflows, improving developer productivity and collaboration.)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between Web Services and APIs?
- An API is any defined way for software to interact with other software (it can be local or remote). A web service is an API that is accessed over the web (typically over HTTP/HTTPS) using standard web protocols and data formats like JSON or XML.
- When should I use Web Services?
- Use web services when different applications need to communicate over a network—especially when they’re written in different languages, run on different machines, or are owned by different teams/companies. Common cases include integrating with third-party services (payments, maps, weather), building microservices, or exposing functionality to mobile apps and partner systems.
- How much does Web Services cost?
- The web service concept itself is free, but running web services has costs: compute (VMs/containers/serverless), networking (data transfer), API management (API gateway requests), storage/databases, and observability (logs/metrics). Pricing depends mainly on request volume, payload size, latency/availability requirements, and whether you use managed services (often priced per request) versus always-on servers (priced per hour).
Category: software
Difficulty: basic
Related Terms
See Also