Why prefer REST over SOAP?

Question

If I need a web service to pass back and forth a complex object, is there a reason I should prefer SOAP over REST? Here is an example of the possible SOAP message:

Answer 1

One major benefit of REST is that all you need to call and use it is a browser and a HTTP stack - pretty much every device and machine has that. So if ease of use and reach are you main goal - use REST.

One of the major benefits of SOAP is that you have a WSDL service description and you can pretty much discover the service automatically, and generate a useable client proxy from that service description (generate the service calls, the necessary data types for the methods and so forth).

So if discoverability and a strict, formal service description are more important to you, use SOAP (with the downside that you need a full-fledged SOAP client to call your service - your web browser won't be sufficient).

SOAP isn't harder to use - but it's just not quite as "pervasive" in terms of being available - any browser can call a REST service and get an answer - but then it needs to parse and interpret that response. SOAP gets nice data structure, but you need a SOAP client for this.