# REST vs JAVA API **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [November 3, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761 "2011-11-03T09:31:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![achaayan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@achaayan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/achaayan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/1 "2011-11-03T09:31:10Z")
We are building a Spring based application which will eventually reside in the cloud. I am confused if I should use REST or ES Java API to connect to my ES cluster. I am inclined towards using REST, because (1) the abstraction and flexibility which it provides (2) not sure how API will perform in cloud for discovering new nodes (3) client connection will be managed by Spring via RESTtemplate etc.I understand I will end up building JSON string to be sent over REST, but I feel it still is a better approach. Would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![Pavel\_Penchev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@Pavel\_Penchev](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Pavel_Penchev)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/2 "2011-11-03T09:42:02Z")
One benefit of the Java API is that your client object is actually a node that joins the cluster. You get automatically the internal routing features and you don't have to handle joining/leaving of nodes. If your deployment model handles externally discovery and query/index routing then indeed the REST API may give you more flexibility. Regards Pavel On 3.11.2011 11:31, achaayan wrote: > We are building a Spring based application which will eventually > reside in the cloud. I am confused if I should use REST or ES Java API > to connect to my ES cluster. I am inclined towards using REST, because > (1) the abstraction and flexibility which it provides (2) not sure how > API will perform in cloud for discovering new nodes (3) client > connection will be managed by Spring via RESTtemplate etc.I understand > I will end up building JSON string to be sent over REST, but I feel it > still is a better approach. > Would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![achaayan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@achaayan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/achaayan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 9:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/3 "2011-11-03T09:53:05Z")
Thanks, Pavel. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as per my understanding, the REST URL will be hitting a node, and as this node will be aware of any additional nodes joining / leaving the cluster. Hence, is there any benefits of using the Java client node API ? ---
**Author:** ![Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/lukas_vlcek1/32/819_2.png) [@Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Lukas_Vlcek1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 10:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/4 "2011-11-03T10:01:37Z")
Hi, If you use Java client node API then your requests will be directly routed to the nodes that need to process your query, if you use REST over HTTP then your requests will be typically rerouted to other nodes. Also when using Java node client then the transport layer uses optimized protocol for node communication which again HTTP does not provide. This means that Java node client can provide you better performance. (Although I am not saying that the best performance is what you always need, sometimes it is better to prefer other options if they fits your overall system design). Regards, Lukas On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 10:53 AM, achaayan [felixmd@gmail.com](mailto:felixmd@gmail.com) wrote: > Thanks, Pavel. > > Please correct me if I am wrong, but as per my understanding, the REST URL > will be hitting a node, and as this node will be aware of any additional > nodes joining / leaving the cluster. Hence, is there any benefits of using > the Java client node API ? ---
**Author:** ![achaayan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@achaayan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/achaayan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/5 "2011-11-03T12:46:29Z")
Thanks !! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/rest-vs-java-api/5761/6 "2017-07-06T03:49:57Z")