REST vs SOAP Comparison, is it worth upgrading?

[ajstrick-red]

Hi,

Our ecommerce platform is integrated with PayPal using the SOAP API and we are considering upgrading to the REST API however I can't find any documentation on what the major differences are, in terms of supported features, road map, support levels.

I guess if the two are functionally equivalent, supported and maintained then we wouldn't do the upgrade, but the fact the NVP/SOAP API is flagged as legacy leads me to believe they are no longer if they ever were functionally the same and perhaps even not maintained to same level.

Any help in directing me to documentation that compares the two API's or provide any guidance on whether its worth changing the integration and if so why would be appreciated.

Regards,

Alan

[MTS_Jennifer · Accepted solution]

Hello @ajstrick-red ,

Thank you for posting to the PayPal Community.

We are encouraging everyone to upgrade to Rest API as NVP/SOAP is no longer being updated (deprecated). What this means is no new features are being added. If you need credit card processing we are no longer allowing new Website Payment's Pro integrations (Using DoDirectPayment API NVP/SOAP) as it is not compatible with the new 3DS 2.0 requirements.

Some features that Rest API Has that NVP/SOAP Lacks:

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/online/

• The payment button is customizable with more payment options available
  • https://developer.paypal.com/docs/checkout/
• Alternate Payment Methods are available (ideal, sofort, giropay, etc):
  • https://developer.paypal.com/docs/checkout/apm/
• Subscription API has the option to process Guest Checkout payments
  • https://developer.paypal.com/docs/subscriptions/
• Advanced Credit and Debit Card is available with Rest API it is compliant with 3DS 2.0 and has no monthly fees associated with the product:
  • https://developer.paypal.com/docs/checkout/advanced/
• Pay later offers
  • https://developer.paypal.com/docs/checkout/pay-later/gb/
• Webhooks notifications that allow you to subscribe to the notifications that you want. No more receiving Instant Payment notifications that are not needed. Also you can update the notification URL easily through the Application. If you can have multiple Rest API applications as well so you can differentiate the notify url notifications.
  • https://developer.paypal.com/api/rest/webhooks/
  • https://developer.paypal.com/api/rest/webhooks/event-names/

There are many other reasons to upgrade to Rest API, the most important reason is that we are actively updating Rest API, so it will always be up to date with the latest requirements for payment processing. We are  not updating NVP/SOAP so many of the features that are found in Rest API are not available in NVP/SOAP.

Thanks,

Jennifer

MTS

PayPal

[ajstrick-red]

Thanks Jennifer that's great!