Kaizen #173: A Comparison of Zoho CRM REST APIs and GraphQL APIs

Kaizen #173: A Comparison of Zoho CRM REST APIs and GraphQL APIs


Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

Zoho CRM offers two API architectures for its users: REST API and GraphQL API. Each of these API architectures has its own strengths and ideal use cases. In this post, we will discuss the difference between REST API and GraphQL API.

REST APIs, or RESTful APIs, allow clients to interact with server resources using standard HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. GraphQL is a query language that provides a more flexible and efficient way to access data and metadata within your Zoho CRM. Unlike REST APIs that return fixed datasets, GraphQL allows you to request specific resources, fields of the resources and relationships of the resources, reducing redundant data and streamlining your development process.

Endpoints

REST APIs access information through dedicated endpoints. 

REST APIs: Multiple endpoints for different resources

In contrast, GraphQL APIs operate through a single endpoint. In Zoho CRM, it is {api-domain}/crm/graphql

GraphQL APIs: Single endpoint for different resources

Over-fetching and under-fetching of data

REST APIs use Unique Resource Identifiers (URIs) for identifying resources. This approach allows clients to access specific data, but it can also lead to inefficiencies such as over-fetching or under-fetching of information. Over-fetching occurs when the client receives much more data than it requires. Under-fetching occurs when the client requires to send multiple requests to fetch all the data it requires.
In GraphQL APIs, the client controls the structure of the response by specifying the exact information they need.  This enables the clients to have precise data control and avoids over-fetching and under-fetching of data. It fetches required data from different resources and provides it as a single resource.

Schema Introspection

GraphQL APIs have a schema that outlines the different types of data that can be queried in the server. This is like a blueprint for the API and serves as a contract between the server and client for data exchange. Refer to this post on Interpreting Zoho CRM GraphQL schema for more details.

Editions supported

REST APIs are available across all versions of Zoho CRM, including trial versions. GraphQL APIs are supported for Enterprise, Zoho One Enterprise, CRM Plus and Ultimate edition orgs. Please note that GraphQL APIs are not available for trial edition of these editions.

Status Codes

Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs mostly return 200 status code except for a few errors that return 400 status code. Refer to this page on GraphQL error and status code for details.
Zoho CRM REST APIs return different status codes. Refer to this page on REST API status code for more details.

Credits Consumption

   API rate limiting is crucial to ensure fair resource distribution, maintain optimal service quality for all users, and safeguard our system from potential security threats.
Both Zoho CRM REST APIs and Zoho CRM GraphQL API calls are associated with credits. Number of credits consumed depends on the intensity of the API call. 
Additionally, Zoho CRM REST APIs have Concurrency and Sub-concurrency limits. Concurrency limits the number of API calls that can be active at one time instance. It varies across different editions of Zoho CRM. For a few APIs that are more resource-intensive, there is an additional limit called sub-concurrency, The APIs that will fall under the sub-concurrency limit are
  • Get Records with cvid or sort_by parameters
  • Convert Lead
  • Insert, Update, or Upsert records (when the record count is greater than 10)
  • Send Mail
  • Search records API invoked from function
  • Query API
  • Composite API
Sub-concurrency limit across different editions is 10. 
 In GraphQL APIs, we have different concepts called Complexity, and Depth. Query Complexity refers to the workload imposed on servers by a specific query. This complexity increases with the number of fields requested and the depth of the query structure. Query Depth refers to the nesting level of a field that is being queried. In Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs it is limited to seven.

Suitable scenarios for GraphQL APIs and REST APIs

Let’s explore a scenario - the case of Zylker Manufacturing, an industrial equipment manufacturer. Their sales team uses Zoho CRM to enhance their sales operations and manage customer relationships effectively. Meanwhile, their sales support team relies on a legacy system to oversee their activities. 
The support team needs to retrieve comprehensive information about one account and its associated contacts to track all support tickets related to that account. They also need associated deals of the account for contextual information.
With GraphQL APIs they can use a single API call to fetch all required information to create a unified view. The below query fetches specific data related to Accounts and their Contacts and Deals, as well as metadata about the fields in the Accounts , Contacts and Deals modules.

{
    Records {
        Accounts(where: { Account_Name: { like: "%King%" } }) {
            _data {
                Account_Name {
                    value
                }
                Contacts__r {
                    _data {
                        Email {
                            value
                        }
                        Full_Name {
                            value
                        }
                    }
                }
                Deals__r {
                    _data {
                        Expected_Revenue {
                            value
                        }
                        Deal_Name {
                            value
                        }
                        Stage {
                            value
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    account_meta: Meta {
        Modules(filter: { api_name: "Accounts" }) {
            _data {
                plural_label
                id
                api_name
                module_name
                description
                singular_label
                fields(filter: { api_names: "Account_Name" }) {
                    _data {
                        id
                        api_name
                        display_label
                        json_type
                        data_type
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    contact_meta: Meta {
        Modules(filter: { api_name: "Contacts" }) {
            _data {
                plural_label
                id
                api_name
                module_name
                description
                singular_label
                fields(filter: { api_names: ["Email", "Full_Name"] }) {
                    _data {
                        id
                        api_name
                        display_label
                        json_type
                        data_type
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    deals_meta: Meta {
        Modules(filter: { api_name: "Deals" }) {
            _data {
                plural_label
                id
                api_name
                module_name
                description
                singular_label
                fields(filter: { api_names: ["Expected_Revenue", "Deal_Name", "Stage"] }) {
                    _data {
                        id
                        api_name
                        display_label
                        json_type
                        data_type
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}


Using REST APIs in this scenario will require multiple API calls to the following APIs
  • Query API
  • Related Records API
  • Modules meta API, and 
  • Fields meta API.
We had explored another scenario involving Zylker Manufacturing in detail in an earlier Kaizen post where their sales support team needed the below details from Zoho CRM
  • details of the contact, such as email, phone, and Account details
  • details of the ongoing deals of the contact, including potential revenue and stages. 

GraphQL APIs are beneficial in these cases as they can fetch the required data in a single data query.  

Conversely, in simpler use cases, REST APIs may be more suitable. Let’s examine a second scenario involving an inventory management system. Zenith Products needs to manage its product catalog. The inventory management system requires the ability to:
  • Fetch Details of a Single Product
  • Fetch Details of Multiple Products
  • Update Product Information
 Each product can be accessed via a unique URL (endpoint), allowing for straightforward requests. For example:
  • To fetch a single product: GET /crm/{version}/products/{product_id}
  • To fetch multiple products: GET /crm/{version}/products
  • To update a product: PUT /crm/{version}/products/{product_id}
In such cases, REST APIs are preferred due to their simplicity.

Note
Currently, Zoho CRM GraphQL APIs only support queries. Queries allow you to fetch data from the server.

You can choose to use Zoho CRM REST APIs or GraphQL APIs depending on the specific need of your application. REST APIs are suitable for straightforward data retrieval needs whereas GraphQL is useful in situations involving complex queries and need precise data control.
We hope you found this post useful. Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming Kaizen posts!

Info
More enhancements in the COQL API are now live in Zoho CRM API Version 7. Check out the V7 Changelog for detailed information on these updates.

Cheers!
Mable



      • Sticky Posts

      • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

      • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

      • Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

        Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved

      • Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

        Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.

      • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

        Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the

        • Recent Topics

        • Need option to send Package PDF in shipment email (Shipment PDF is missing Lot info)

          Is there any way to automatically attach the Package PDF instead of (or alongside) the Shipment PDF in the notification emails? We really need this feature because the default Shipment PDF creates a blind spot for our customers. It does not display Batch/Lot

        • zoho creator view is not present in the workspace and blank reports

          Hi Support,  Users who have "write" permissions keep getting this error for all of our embedded reports all of a sudden. See screen shot below: Meanwhile, my developer permissions account sees a blank screen in view and edit mode as shown in the screenshots

        • Customize portal email template

          Can i fetch only first name of the user in portal email template instead of the below code Hi ${User.FULL_NAME}

        • Can't we let users decide which options they'd like to add at embed widget?

          It seems embed widget DOES NOT offer a feature, where users can choose options upon subscribing plans. What Zoho has instead, is that admins have to manually create plan with options. How come no one in Zoho dev team never raised issue about usability

        • Reupload and rename from one field to another field (file upload)

          Hi Everyone, Sorry, i have question to use invoke url for rename and reupload attachments file to another field. Tested on development mode. Zoho C6. Refer to https://www.zoho.com/creator/help/api/v2/upload-file.html look my error notification. Does anyone

        • Printing Multi-Page Reports (PDF Export)

          Hi, I am moving a report from Google's Looker Studio to Zoho Analytics and trying to reproduce the Looker page by page dashboard editing experience. With Google, what you see is what you get when you print to PDF. But I can't seem to create the same experience

        • I NEED TO NUMBER TO TEXT NO HERE

          =NUMBERTEXT NEEED

        • Error: View is not present in the workspace

          When saving a dashboard, user receives a popup with the following error. "View is not present in the workspace" What does this mean or refer to? There is no further insight given.

        • Dear Zoho CEO: Business Growth is about how you prioritise!

          All of us in business know that when you get your priorities right, your business grows. Zoho CRM and Zoho Books are excellent products, but sadly, Zoho Inventory continues to lag behind. Just this morning, I received yet another one-sided email about

        • Bin Locations

          Dear all, I am wondering if someone has the ability to develop the bin locations option for zoho inventory (integrated with zoho books) Regards, Ryan

        • Create and populate a record in an instant: Introducing zero-shot field prompting to Zia's ICR

          A couple of months ago, we upgraded our in-house AI image detection and validation tool, Zia Vision, with intelligent character recognition (ICR). By training Zia with sample images, you could create and enrich CRM records with data extracted from standard

        • How to Prevent Users From Skipping LMS Videos in Zoho People

          How to Prevent Users From Skipping LMS Videos in Zoho People Hello Zoho Developers, In this blog, we will quickly look at how you can stop users from skipping or fast-forwarding videos in Zoho People LMS. Zoho People provides a feature called Disable

        • [Integration Edition] Deluge Learning Series – Custom API with Deluge | November 2025

          We’re excited to conclude this four-month Integration Edition of the Deluge Learning Series: Session 1 – Integrating Zoho Apps with Deluge Using Built-In Integration Tasks Session 2 – Integrating Zoho Apps with Deluge Using invokeURL and invokeAPI Session

        • Automate Backups

          This is a feature request. Consider adding an auto backup feature. Where when you turn it on, it will auto backup on the 15-day schedule. For additional consideration, allow for the export of module data via API calls. Thank you for your consideration.

        • Tips for Organizing Workflows and Improving Team Coordination in Zoho

          Hi everyone, I’m looking for some general advice on how different teams are organizing their daily work within Zoho’s apps. Our team recently expanded, and we’re trying to streamline how tasks, discussions, and documents are shared so everything stays

        • Prevent user from viewing all records?

          I have a report that is meant to be used by vendors to view only the records that are assigned to them. All the vendor information is stored in a separate application, so I need to call a function to get the current user's ID (not the zoho user ID). The report settings criteria doesn't support using function calls, so instead I'm embedding the report in an html page like this: if (thisapp.Global.CurrentUserIs("Vendor")) {       personID = common.getLoggedInPersonID();       query = "Assigned_Vendor.ID="

        • Zoho Site pages not displaying in iframes

          I simply want to show a Zoho Site page inside an iframe on another non Zoho website. When testing this across many browsers, the iframe content simply does not appear. IE reports that the host does not allow their content to be displayed in iframes. Very disappointing. Is there a way around this please? Here is the URL of the page I would like to appear in an iframe. http://ips-properties-to-rent.zohosites.com

        • Zoho Inventory as connector in Zoho Creator

          Hello, It doesn't appear that Zoho Inventory is one of the many built in connectors in Zoho Creator? I see that there are non-Zoho inventory applications that have built in connectors such as Cin7, which leads me to believe that I'm missing something

        • Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account

          Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, they

        • Send Zoho Forms Link using Zoho CRM Email Templates

          I have set up Zoho Forms and CRM integration to pre-populate data from Zoho CRM to Zoho Forms. The setup is working fine. I have also created an email template in the Zoho CRM deals module to send Zoho forms links. So when I send an email using that template

        • My go to On Load Client Script - Fast, efficient, and works for ALL profiles; Hides everything except initial fields

          This is my on Load client script that I use for Create pages. I use a modified version for Edit and Display pages which you can create yourself using the same basic structure that I will give you below. First up, the script. Below that will be an explanation

        • Custom Search using HTM+CSS Snippet

          Suppose I wanted to create my own list view using HTML and CSS snippets inside a Page with a custom search input at the top of the list (not the Search snippet). Without Javascript, is there a way to retrieve a user's entry from that search input and

        • Mass Update of Lookup Fields not possible

          Hello List I've created a custom field for Leads and Contacts 'Current Campaign'. This is very Handy as I can filter leads and then related them to a campaign. Everything ready, but then I realized that mass update doesn't work for lookup fields... a

        • Zoho CRM Kiosk Upload Files

          Hello all, We are trying out Kiosks at the moment to see where it can fit best in our business. We are still a bit off in the application but lets say we will sort this out. My question is the following - when I create a Kiosk I can add "File Upload"

        • Double opt-in notifications and customizable confirmation messages for your webforms

          Dear CRM Community, We are excited to announce a major upgrade to our Webforms feature. You can now customize the confirmation message shown to your users who double opt-in from your webform and also customize your confirmation emails when they submit

        • Has Anyone successfully integrated Zoho and Sage Intact?

          Hey all, We’re evaluating Zoho One + Sage Intacct and I’m trying to connect with anyone who has actually implemented the two together.Specifically, I’d love to know: -- Which functions you kept in Zoho vs. Intacct (e.g., Product Catalog, AR/AP, invoicing,

        • Introducing Image Upload Field

          Hello everyone, In this post we will discuss about the benefits and usage of the Image upload field. The field is available for standard and custom modules.  Usage: This field can be used to upload a gallery of images to a record and share the record with peers or customers. The record can be made accessible to users outside of Zoho CRM via Portals, where they can upload the necessary images. Preview, editing, and deleting images: The uploaded images can be directly edited and saved from the record

        • Trigger a Workflow Function if an Attachment (Related List) has been added

          Hello, I have a Case Module with a related list which is Attachment. I want to trigger a workflow if I added an attachment. I've seen some topics about this in zoho community that was posted few months ago and based on the answers, there is no trigger

        • Free webinar alert on November 19 - Email driven strategies - Master personality based styles

          Hello Zoho Community! Want to make email management easier, smarter, and more you? We’ve got just the session for you! Join our interactive, game-based webinar to discover how Zoho Mail adapts to your personality and work style. Learn practical hacks,

        • AI generated meeting notes associated to Account or Deal

          As our organization works to improve efficiency we are looking for a solution to leverage AI to generate meeting notes and then add those notes to a CRM record such as an Account or Deal. I see Zoho has a Notebook AI offering that talks about the ability

        • due date on cheue

          how to handle cheque in zoho books for customers and vendors including due date

        • Zoho CRM Portal Field Level Permission Issue

          Hi Support Team, I am using the Zoho CRM Portal and configuring field-level editing permissions. However, we are unable to restrict portal users from editing certain fields. We have created a portal and provided View and Edit (Shared Only) access for

        • 'Statement of Accounts does not exist' error received, when creating PO using api in Zoho Inventory

          Here is request json -- JSONString = { "date": "2019-09-24", "purchaseorder_number": "PO-6-1", "delivery_date": null, "delivery_org_address_id": 36221200000056XXX, "vendor_id": 362212000000564XXX, "attention": "Testing", "line_items": [{ "unit": "Pieces", "account_id": 36221200000003XXX, "quantity": 1, "item_id": 362212000000049XXX, "tax_type": "", "tax_name": "", "name": "One HD", "purchase_rate": 85, "tax_percentage": 0, "item_total": 85.00, "tax_id": "", "warehouse_id": 362212000000564XXX }] }

        • Zoho Projects API 100 requests/2 min. Limit

          Hi Requesting clarification on the API documentation. "You can invoke or call an API for 100 times in a span of two minutes. If you invoke more than 100 times, the particular API request will be locked for the next 30 minutes. " Does this limit apply

        • Integrate your Outlook/ Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API

          Hello folks, In addition to the existing IMAP and POP options, you can now integrate your Outlook/Office 365 inbox with Zoho CRM via Graph API. Why did we add this option? Microsoft Graph API offers a single endpoint to access data from across Microsoft’s

        • Zoho Projects - Attachments added to Task and Bug emails are not saved

          Hi Projects team, I have been experimenting with emails into projects to create tasks and bugs. I have noticed that attachments added to the emails are not saved to the task or bug. Is this normal behaviour? Thanks, Ashley

        • Zoho Inventory's latest shipping integration updates at a glance.

          Hello Users, We would like to share some important news about our latest improvements in the Shipping integration capabilities of Zoho Inventory that we achieved in 2024 with some of our major integration partners in key editions across APAC, North America,

        • Sorting a list of record acquired from the zoho.crm.searchRecords function.

          This is something for which I'm trying to figure out a straightforward way to do. The searchRecords does a great job fetching me the records that I want. However, in some cases, where it returns multiple records, I want it to sort the returned list by date of creation of that record, so that when I do records.get(0), I get the most recent record.  As an example, here's my sample pseudo code: records = zoho.crm.searchRecords("Clients", "Office_Number:equals:123456"); Now the "records" list above contains

        • Zoho Inventory Custom Field Update

          Hello All, In this post I am describing how can we Update the Custom Field Value in Zoho Inventory. // Get Org ID orgid = organization.get("organization_id"); // Field Value resvp = ifnull(item.get("purchase_rate"),null); // Record ID iid = item.get("item_id");

        • Deprecation of the Zoho OAuth connector

          Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously evaluate our integrations to ensure they meet the highest standards of security, reliability, and compliance. As part of these ongoing efforts, we've made the decision to deprecate the Zoho OAuth default connector

        • Next Page