How do you choose between REST and GraphQL?

The decision is about client needs and operational cost, not about which is newer. REST maps well to resource-oriented CRUD, public APIs and HTTP caching. GraphQL is useful when many clients need different shapes of the same data and over-fetching or multiple round trips are a real problem.

query OrderSummary {
  user(id: "42") {
    name
    orders(first: 5) {
      id
      total
    }
  }
}

Trade-offs

• REST uses HTTP status codes and URLs as a natural cache key
• GraphQL usually returns 200 with an errors array, so clients need explicit error handling
• GraphQL resolvers can cause N+1 queries without batching and caching
• REST is easier to rate limit per endpoint; GraphQL needs query cost analysis
• GraphQL schemas are strongly typed and great for tooling, but schema evolution still needs discipline
• File uploads, streaming and long-running operations are usually simpler in REST

A common production pattern is REST for public integrations and internal CRUD, plus GraphQL for a product UI with many screens and nested data. The reverse also works. What matters is that the team can operate the choice: observability, authorization per field, pagination rules, depth limits and persisted queries all need design.