Difference between MVC and Web API

MVC (Basic Definition)

MVC is used for building web apps with UI views. It follows MVC pattern which help in separation of concerns

Web API (Basic Definition)

Web API is used to build the Restful API Services that allow communication between applications.

Key Differences Between Web API and MVC

FeatureMVC (Model-View-Controller)Web API (REST API)
PurposeWeb applications with UIRESTful APIs for data communication
ReturnsHTML, Razor ViewsJSON, XML (structured data)
Controller TypeControllerControllerBase
UsageWebsites, web appsMobile apps, frontend apps, IoT
State ManagementStateful (session handling)Stateless (RESTful)
PerformanceSlightly slower (HTML rendering)Faster (JSON responses)
Routingroutes.MapRoute()routes.MapHttpRoute()