Why Some Companies Force All APIs to Use POST – Benefits, Drawbacks, and Best Practices

Background

While browsing Zhihu, a question arose: why do some companies require every API to use the POST method? The author reflects on past experiences with microservice projects and RESTful conventions, noting that this rule often stems from internal policies rather than technical necessity.

GET vs POST Differences

POST is more secure because data is not part of the URL, avoiding caching, server logs, and browser history.

POST can transmit larger payloads, as GET URLs have length limits.

POST supports more data types, whereas GET is limited to ASCII characters.

POST is generally slower than GET.

POST is used for creating, updating, or deleting data; GET is typically for searching, sorting, or filtering.

GET requests for static resources can be cached; data requests are not cached.

These distinctions show that POST excels for large or complex data submissions, while GET is suited for retrieving static resources or simple queries.

Should All APIs Use POST?

The author prefers using GET for simple queries and POST for modifications, deletions, or complex queries, rather than enforcing POST universally. Community comments highlight various perspectives: some argue that strict POST usage simplifies tooling like Swagger, while others point out the drawbacks of forcing a uniform method on diverse business actions.

Practical Considerations

Enforcing a single HTTP method can lead to misunderstandings, increased monitoring complexity, and extra overhead in documentation and tooling. While RESTful conventions provide benefits such as clear semantics, resource-oriented design, and cache utilization, they also introduce costs like forced abstraction, path complexity, and potential cache mismanagement.

Ultimately, the choice of HTTP method should align with business needs, performance requirements, and maintainability. Companies should evaluate whether a universal POST policy truly reduces costs and improves efficiency, or if a balanced approach better serves their architecture.