An API gateway is focused on ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด requests to the appropriate microservice, while a load balancer is focused on ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด requests evenly across a group of backend servers.
An API gateway and a load balancer are both types of infrastructure that can be used in a computer network to manage incoming requests and enhance the performance of a system. However, they work in different ways and serve different purposes.
๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐: An API gateway is a type of middleware that sits between a client and a collection of microservices. Its main purpose is to route requests from clients to the appropriate microservice and then to return the response from the microservice back to the client. An API gateway can also perform other tasks such as authorization, rate limiting, and caching.
๐๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ: A load balancer, on the other hand, is a type of infrastructure that distributes incoming requests evenly across a group of backend servers in order to improve the performance and availability of a system. Load balancers are typically used to handle requests that are sent to a single, well-known IP address, and then route them to one of many possible backend servers based on factors such as server performance and availability.
Another difference between the two is the type of requests that they typically handle. An API gateway is typically used to handle requests for APIs, which are web-based interfaces that allow applications to interact with each other over the internet. These requests typically have a specific URL that identifies the API that the client is trying to access, and the API gateway routes the request to the appropriate microservice based on this URL. A load balancer, on the other hand, is typically used to handle requests that are sent to a single, well-known IP address, and then routes them to one of many possible backend servers based on factors such as server performance and availability.
