Differentiate between WCF and Web API.

Web Service It is based on SOAP and return data in XML form. It support only HTTP protocol. It is not open source but can be consumed by any client that understands xml. It can be hosted only on IIS. WCF It is also based on SOAP and return data in XML form. It is the evolution of the web service(ASMX) and support various protocols like TCP, HTTP, HTTPS, Named Pipes, MSMQ. The main issue with WCF is, its tedious and extensive configuration. It is not open source but can be consumed by any client that understands xml. It can be hosted with in the applicaion or on IIS or using window service.

wcf provides various protocols ranging from HTTP,tcp where as web api used for the restful services only...

WCF To enable other HTTP verbs you have to do some configuration in IIS to accept request of that particular verb on .svc files Passing data through parameters using a WebGet needs configuration. The UriTemplate must be specified. It support XML, JSON and ATOM data format. WEB API Unlike WCF Rest service, it use the full feature of HTTP (like URIs, request/response headers, caching, versioning, various content formats) It also supports the MVC features such as routing, controllers, action results, filter, model binders, IOC container or dependency injection, unit testing that makes it more simple and robust. It can be hosted with in the application or on IIS. It is light weight architecture and good for devices which have limited bandwidth like smart phones. Responses are formatted by Web API’s MediaTypeFormatter into JSON, XML or whatever format you want to add as a MediaTypeFormatter.