The ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services to reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. The ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform to build RESTful applications on the .NET Framework.

Though WCF is now mostly used to create SOAP services, it can also be used to build RESTful services from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, the ASP.NET Web API was initially developed under the umbrella of WCF and it was even called WCF Web API. As REST supports HTTP only and WCF is transport neutral, the WCF Web API was eventually moved outside of WCF and into ASP.NET.

WCF REST is again resource heavy but has the following advantages over the ASP.NET Web API:

The ASP.NET Web API is more lightweight and has the following advantages over...