Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) standard an XML language defining a message architecture and message formats, is used by Web services it contain a description of the operations. WSDL is an XML-based language for describing Web services and how to access them. will run on SMTP,HTTP,FTP etc. Requires middleware support, well defined mechanisam to define services like WSDL+XSD, WS-Policy SOAP will return XML based data

REST Representational State Transfer (RESTful) web services. they are second generation Web Services. RESTful web services, communicate via HTTP than SOAP-based services and do not require XML messages or WSDL service-API definitions. for REST no middleware is required only HTTP support is needed.WADL Standard, REST can return XML, plain text, JSON, HTML etc

REST is almost always going to be faster. The main advantage of SOAP is that it provides a mechanism for services to describe themselves to clients, and to advertise their existence.

REST is much more lightweight and can be implemented using almost any tool, leading to lower bandwidth and shorter learning curve. However, the clients have to know what to send and what to expect.

In general, When you’re publishing an API to the outside world that is either complex or likely to change, SOAP will be more useful. Other than that, REST is usually the better option.