After shipping both in production, here is when each approach shines — and when it is a disguised trap.
GraphQL hype has faded. In 2026 REST is right 70% of the time, GraphQL shines in the other 30%.
Simplicity, HTTP caching, universal tooling, known conventions.
Multiple clients with divergent needs, variable data shapes, deep nested over-fetching avoidance.
N+1, complex auth, caching pain, introspection = attack surface in prod.
Property hooks, asymmetric visibility, new() without parentheses — PHP 8.4 brings major syntax changes. A concrete tour with examples.
Checkout, webhooks, customer portal, downgrade handling — the full guide based on a real deployed and billed implementation.
After shipping several projects on both stacks, here is my honest verdict — with the criteria that should decide for each project type.
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