gRPC vs WebSocket: Uncovering the Differences

AUTHOR

Tien Nguyen

CATEGORY Insights

DATE

March 28, 2023

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As technology continues to evolve, new protocols for communication between devices and applications are constantly emerging. Two of the most popular communication protocols in use today are gRPC and WebSocket. While both protocols allow for realtime communication, they are fundamentally di몭erent in their approach and design.

Understanding the di몭erences between gRPC and WebSocket can help you choose the best protocol for your speci몭c use case.

In this post, we’ll compare gRPC vs WebSocket, uncovering their di몭erences in terms of protocol, transport layer, data exchange format, performance, scalability, security, and use cases. We’ll also explore how gRPC and WebSocket can be used together, as well as the future of these protocols. By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each protocol and be better equipped to choose the right one for your needs

Table of Contents

1. What is gRPC?

2 How gRPC Works

3. Advantages of gRPC

4 Disadvantages of gRPC

5. What is WebSocket?

6. How WebSocket Works

7 gRPC is an open-source remote procedure call (RPC) framework created by Google. It allows for e몭cient and fast communication between applications and devices across di몭erent platforms and programming languages. With gRPC, you can de몭ne the services and methods available to clients using the Protocol Bu몭ers language. This strongly typed contract ensures that the client and server share a common understanding of the data being exchanged gRPC was designed to be a modern and lightweight alternative to other RPC frameworks such as SOAP and XML-RPC. It uses the HTTP/2 protocol as the transport layer and supports multiple encoding formats for data exchange, including Protocol Bu몭ers, JSON, and XML.

What is gRPC?

One of the key bene몭ts of gRPC is its ability to generate code automatically for a variety of languages, including Java, C++, Python, Ruby, Node js, and more This makes it easy for you to start using gRPC in your projects, regardless of your programming language of choice.

Overall, gRPC provides a fast, e몭cient, and interoperable way to communicate between services and applications, making it a popular choice for microservices architecture and other distributed systems.

How gRPC Works

gRPC is built on top of the HTTP/2 protocol, which allows for the bidirectional streaming of data between the client and server. Both the client and server can send multiple requests and responses at the same time, making communication more e몭cient

Image by gRPC.io

To use gRPC, you 몭rst de몭ne the services and methods available to clients using the Protocol Bu몭ers language. This generates client and server stubs in the desired programming languages, which can then be used to implement the desired functionality

When a gRPC client makes a request to the server, it 몭rst establishes a connection over HTTP/2. The client then sends a request message to the server, which is encoded using the agreed-upon data exchange format (such as Protocol Bu몭ers) gRPC supports several types of method invocation, including unary, server streaming, client streaming, and bidirectional streaming. Unary methods are the simplest, where the client sends a single request and the server sends a single response. Streaming methods, on the other hand, allow for the continuous exchange of data between the client and server.

The server receives the request message and decodes it before executing the requested method. The server then sends a response message back to the client, which is also encoded using the agreed-upon data exchange format.

Advantages of gRPC

gRPC o몭ers several advantages over other RPC frameworks, including:

1 High performance: gRPC uses HTTP/2 and e몭cient binary encoding formats like Protocol Bu몭ers, which make it faster and more e몭cient than other RPC frameworks.

2. Interoperability: gRPC supports multiple programming languages and platforms, making it easy for you to use it in a variety of projects

3. Code generation: gRPC generates client and server stubs automatically for several programming languages, reducing the amount of boilerplate code that you need to write.

4 Streaming: gRPC supports streaming, which allows for the continuous exchange of data between the client and server, making it ideal for real-time applications.

5. Strong typing: gRPC uses Protocol Bu몭ers for de몭ning services and methods, which ensures that the client and server share a common understanding of the data being exchanged

6 Scalability: gRPC is designed to be highly scalable, allowing for the easy deployment of microservices and other distributed systems.

Disadvantages of gRPC

While gRPC o몭ers several advantages, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider:

1. Complexity: gRPC can be more complex to set up and use than other RPC frameworks due to its reliance on Protocol Bu몭ers and HTTP/2

2. Learning curve: If you are not familiar with Protocol Bu몭ers and HTTP/2, you may need to invest time in learning these technologies before using gRPC e몭ectively.

3. Limited browser support: gRPC’s reliance on HTTP/2 means that it may not be compatible with all browsers and platforms

4. Debugging: Debugging gRPC can be more di몭cult than debugging other RPC frameworks due to its use of binary encoding formats.

5. Deployment: gRPC may require additional infrastructure and con몭guration to deploy e몭ectively, especially in large-scale distributed systems

What is WebSocket?

WebSocket is a protocol that enables real-time, bidirectional communication between a client and a server over a single, long-lived connection. Unlike HTTP, which is a request-response protocol, WebSocket allows for continuous data exchange between the client and server.

WebSocket was developed as a solution to the limitations of HTTP for real-time web applications, which require low-latency, high-bandwidth communication between clients and servers. With WebSocket, data can be sent and received as soon as it’s available, without the need for repeated requests and responses.

How WebSocket Works

WebSocket works by establishing a persistent, bidirectional connection between a client and server over a single TCP socket. The WebSocket protocol begins with a handshake, which consists of an HTTP upgrade request from the client and an HTTP upgrade response from the server

Once the connection is established, the client and server can exchange data in both directions without the need for repeated requests and responses. This allows for low- latency, high-bandwidth communication between the client and server

WebSocket uses a simple message-based data exchange format, which can be used to send and receive data of any type. Messages can be sent as text or binary data and can be of any size

Advantages of WebSocket

WebSocket o몭ers several advantages over other communication protocols, including:

1. Low latency: With WebSocket, data can be exchanged in real-time, without the need for repeated requests and responses. This allows for low-latency communication between the client and server

2. High bandwidth: WebSocket allows for the exchange of large amounts of data between the client and server, without the overhead of repeated requests and responses.

3 Reduced server load: Since WebSocket allows for continuous data exchange between the client and server, it can reduce the load on the server compared to other communication protocols.

4. Bi-directional communication: With WebSocket, both the client and server can send and receive data in real time, allowing for bi-directional communication

5. Widely supported: WebSocket is widely supported by modern web browsers and can be used with a variety of server-side programming languages and platforms.

Disadvantages of WebSocket

While WebSocket o몭ers several advantages, it also has some limitations and disadvantages, including:

1 Complexity: WebSocket requires a more complex implementation compared to other communication protocols, which can make it more di몭cult to set up and maintain.

2. Security: WebSocket is vulnerable to certain types of security attacks, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) However, these can be mitigated with appropriate security measures

3. Firewalls and proxies: WebSocket can be blocked by some 몭rewalls and proxies, which can limit its usability in certain environments.

4. Limited use cases: WebSocket is primarily designed for real-time web applications and may not be the best choice for other types of applications that do not require low-latency communication.

Comparing gRPC vs WebSocket

The following table summarizes the key di몭erences between gRPC and WebSocket:

Featur e gRPC WebSocket

Protoc ol Uses a binary protocol bu몭er format

Transp ort layer

Data exchan ge format

Uses HTTP/2, which is multiplexed, reliable and secure

Uses Protocol Bu몭ers, which is fast and e몭cient for small to medium-sized messages

Uses text-based messaging protocol

Uses TCP or WebSocket protocol

Uses JSON, which is humanreadable and suitable for larger messages

Perfor mance

Scalabi lity

Securit y

Use case gRPC is faster and more e몭cient due to binary data format and HTTP/2 multiplexing gRPC can handle large tra몭c volumes and has built-in load-balancing features gRPC uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption by default and has built-in authentication features

Ideal for microservices architectures and real-time data streaming applications

WebSocket is slower due to its text-based format and lack of HTTP/2 features

WebSocket can handle moderate tra몭c but may require additional load-balancing tools

WebSocket can use TLS encryption but lacks built-in authentication features

Ideal for real-time data streaming applications and web applications

In the subsequent sections, we will provide a thorough comparison of each factor.

Protocol

One of the key di몭erences between gRPC and WebSocket is the protocol used for communication gRPC uses the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol, which allows the client to invoke methods on the server as if they were local functions. The gRPC protocol supports both unary and streaming communication, allowing for e몭cient and 몭exible data exchange.

WebSocket, on the other hand, uses a di몭erent protocol called the WebSocket protocol. This protocol is designed for bi-directional communication between the client and server and allows for real-time data exchange without the overhead of repeated requests and responses.