Difference between SOAP and RESTful Web Services

SOAP Protocol	RESTful Web Services
SOAP is a protocol.	REST is an architectural approach.
SOAP acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol.	REST acronym for REpresentational State Transfer.
In SOAP, the data exchange format is always XML.	There is no strict data exchange format. We can use JSON, XML, etc.
XML is the most popular data exchange format in SOAP web services.	JSON is the most popular data exchange format in RESTful web services.
SOAP uses Web Service Definition Language (WSDL).	REST does not have any standard definition language.
SOAP does not pose any restrictions on transport. We can use either HTTP or MQ.	RESTful services use the most popular HTTP protocol.
SOAP web services are typical to implement.	RESTful services are easier to implement than SOAP.
SOAP web services use the JAX-WS API.	RESTful web services use the JAX-RS API.
SOAP protocol defines too many standards.	RESTful services do not emphasis on too many standards.
SOAP cannot use RESTful services because it is a protocol.	RESTful service can use SOAP web services because it is an architectural approach that can use any protocol like HTTP and SOAP.
SOAP reads cannot be cached.	REST reads can be cached.