Client Libraries

A collection of client libraries to communicate with REST services.

In this documentation only some client libraries are shown. Evaluate for yourself if and what kind of library you want or need.

Which client library is the best?

This question cannot be answered in general terms. But here are a few notes:

  • If you don’t want any dependency or external library: use only the HttpClient.
  • If you take a very simple json query in a demo or in a tool, then you can use any library shown here.
  • If you want a very powerful library that is very efficient and suitable for both simple and complex scenarios, use Refit.

My personal recommendation in general is: Refit

Make sure that you use a library that is actively being developed. The trick at the end is to integrate the library correctly into your code base.


HttpClient

Creating an HTTP REST client without external dependencies

Refit

About Refit: the automatic type-safe REST library for .NET Core, Xamarin and .NET.

Flurl

About Flurl: a modern, fluent, asynchronous, testable, portable, buzzword-laden URL builder and HTTP client library for .NET

RestClient

About RestClient: simple REST and HTTP API Client for .NET

ServiceStack

About ServiceStack: Http Client and Http Utils