{"id":9154,"date":"2020-07-05T23:33:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T06:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=9154"},"modified":"2022-04-19T21:56:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T04:56:17","slug":"windows-service-vs-web-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/windows-service-vs-web-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&#038;A: What&#8217;s the difference between a Windows Service and a Web Service?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"no-lazy-load\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-service-vs-web-service.webp\" title=\"Windows Service vs Web Service\" alt=\"Windows Service vs Web Service\" border=\"0\" width=\"380\" height=\"160\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"blog-qa-question-box\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"no-lazy-load\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/quotes-transparent-21x21.webp\" width=\"21\" height=\"21\" \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;I see that your website has a lot of information about Windows Services and you also make AlwaysUp Web Service. How is a Windows Service different than a Web Service? When would I use one over the other? I&#8217;m new to programming and a bit confused by the terminologies.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\">&mdash; Justin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hi Justin. <\/p>\n<p>Yes, the terminology can be confusing! Let&#8217;s start with some definitions.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">What is a Windows Service?<\/h2>\n<p>A Windows Service:<\/p>\n<div class=\"feature-list-larger\" style=\"margin:6px 0px 12px 0px;background-color:#e6f7ff;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Is a Windows application that integrates with the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Service_Control_Manager\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Service Control Manager<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Is controlled through the <a href=\"\/blog\/windows-services\/essential-tools-windows-services-msc\/\">Services Control Panel application<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Implements <b>system-level tasks<\/b> that must operate outside the boundaries of a user&#8217;s login session.<\/li>\n<li>Is usually <b>long-running<\/b>, starting when the computer boots and running uninterrupted, 24\/7.<\/li>\n<li>Works <b>invisibly in the background<\/b>. A service can&#8217;t easily show itself on a user&#8217;s desktop.<\/li>\n<li><b>Can do anything<\/b> that a &#8220;regular&#8221; application can. Services can read and write files, print documents, check the time, access the network, and much more.<\/li>\n<li>Runs on <b>Windows only<\/b>. Windows Services are not available on Linux, macOS, Andriod, iOS or any other operating system.<\/li>\n<li>Is typically written in <b>C++<\/b> or <b>C#<\/b> (to best work with the low-level <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/win32\/services\/service-functions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Windows Services API<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>May or <b>may not communicate<\/b> with other programs. Inter-application communication is not a key feature and most services do not expose an interface of any kind.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin-top:30px;\">\nA modern PC comes with one to two hundred Windows Services pre-installed, each managing an important aspect of your computing experience. For example:\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"\/blog\/windows-services\/spooler\/\">Print Spooler<\/a>: Manages all printing on your computer.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"\/blog\/windows-services\/power\/\">Power<\/a>: Implements your computer&#8217;s power schemes, policies and notifications.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"\/blog\/windows-services\/schedule\/\">Task Scheduler<\/a>: Responsible for automatically launching executables, batch files and scripts at specified times, without human intervention.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">What is a Web Service?<\/h2>\n<p>A Web Service:<\/p>\n<div class=\"feature-list-larger\" style=\"margin:6px 0px 12px 0px;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Interacts with other applications or services using a <b>well-defined system of data exchange<\/b> (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Representational_state_transfer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">REST<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/SOAP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SOAP<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Typically communicates over <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HTTP<\/a> with an appropriate messaging format on top (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/XML\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">XML<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.json.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JSON<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Is usually hosted in a web server\/container, like <a href=\"http:\/\/tomcat.apache.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apache Tomcat<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iis.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Microsoft IIS<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.playframework.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Play Framework<\/a>. A good framework provides easy-to-use messaging &#8220;plumbing&#8221; and makes it significantly simpler to develop a robust web service.<\/li>\n<li>Has a web-based interface (if any at all).<\/li>\n<li>Is <b>not restricted to Windows<\/b> alone. In fact, most web services are deployed on UNIX servers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin-top:30px;\">\nExamples of web services include:\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/s3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/aws-logo-128x128.png\"><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/aws.amazon.com\/s3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)<\/a>: Integrate cloud storage into any application.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"128\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/maps\/documentation\/directions\/web-service-best-practices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/google-maps-web-services-logo-128x128.png\"><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/maps\/documentation\/directions\/web-service-best-practices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Maps<\/a>: Lookup addresses, plot directions, access street views and more.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/worldtimeapi.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/world-time-web-service-128x128.png\"><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/worldtimeapi.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WorldTimeAPI<\/a>: Get the current time in any time zone.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">The upshot: Windows Services and Web Services are very different!<\/h2>\n<p>The only things they have in common are that they are both server technologies and have the word &#8220;Service&#8221; in their names. \ud83d\ude42 As a developer, you shouldn&#8217;t have much trouble choosing which technology is appropriate for your project.<\/p>\n<p>However, the W* Services are not completely complementary. Though rare, there are a few applications that are <i>both<\/i> a Windows Service and  web service. A good example is our own <a href=\"\/products\/AlwaysUp\/AlwaysUpWebService\/\">AlwaysUp Web Service<\/a>, which must run 24&#215;7 on Windows while providing an XML web service to control the computer remotely.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top:40px;\">\nI hope these similar-sounding technologies make a bit more sense now. Please be sure to <a href=\"\/support\/\">get in touch<\/a> if you have any other questions.<\/p>\n<!-- relpost-thumb-wrapper --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><!-- filter-class --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><style>.relpost-block-single-image, .relpost-post-image { margin-bottom: 10px; }<\/style><h3>You may also like...<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><!-- relpost-block-container --><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/stop-plex-windows-service\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"Q&amp;A: How do I Avoid Errors when Stopping my Plex Windows Service?\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/plex-logo-2-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Q&amp;A: How do I Avoid Errors when Stopping my Plex Windows Service?<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/servicetray\/start-automatically-at-login\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"How do I Start ServiceTray when I Login to Windows?\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/windows-10-problem-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">How do I Start ServiceTray when I Login to Windows?<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/dcomlaunch\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"Essential Windows Services: DcomLaunch \/ DCOM Server Process Launcher\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/dcom-communication-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Essential Windows Services: DcomLaunch \/ DCOM Server Process Launcher<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><!-- close relpost-block-container --><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><\/div><!-- close filter class --><\/div><!-- close relpost-thumb-wrapper -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;I see that your website has a lot of information about Windows Services and you also make AlwaysUp Web Service. How is a Windows Service different than a Web Service? When would I use one over the other? I&#8217;m new &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/windows-service-vs-web-service\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[127,213,196],"class_list":["post-9154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-windows-services","tag-qa","tag-web-service","tag-windows-services-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9154"}],"version-history":[{"count":93,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11234,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions\/11234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}