What is the difference between grpc-gateway vs Twirp RPC

Question

We already have the Twrip-RPC which provides rpc and rest endpoints . then why we need the grpc-Gateway . What advantages it's providing compared to twirp. Is it like we can provide custom endpoints with grpc gateway is that the only difference. what grpc-gateway which Twrip-rpc can't do?

Answer 1

Twirp supports JSON-encoded requests and responses in addition to the binary Protobuf-codec while it still behaves as an RPC. You can use HTTP POST on an endpoint like /twirp/MyService/SayHello with a JSON payload and receive a JSON response. Very similar to standard gRPC except optionally JSON.

For gRPC Gateway it's a little different. Here you can configure any HTTP REST endpoint on existing gRPC service. For example, MySevice.SayHello can map to GET /hello. This makes it very easy to implement a complete REST service on top of your gRPC definitions.

Hope this clarify it.

Answer 2

To generate the RPC scaffold using the RPC framework for Go RPCs, we can consider gRPC from the beginning or look towards a more simple Twitch RPC, i.e. Twirp.

Common reasons for choosing Twirp over gRPC are as follows:

• Twirp comes with HTTP 1.1 support.
• Twirp supports JSON transport out of the gate.
• gRPC re-implements HTTP/2 outside of net/http.

And reasons for gRPC over Twirp are:

• gRPC supports streaming.
• gRPC makes wire compatibility promises.
• More functionality on the networking level.

Answer 3

Twirp and gRPC gateway are similar. They both build API services out of a protobuf file definition.

Main differences:

• gRPC only uses protobuf over HTTP2, which means browsers can't easily talk directly to gRPC-based services.
• Twirp works over Protobuf and JSON, over HTTP 1.1 and HTTP2, so any client can easily communicate.
• gRPC is a full framework with many features. Very powerful stuff.
• Twirp is tiny and small. Only has a few basic features but it is a lot easier to manage.