Choosing the right type of API

[Sean_Tierney2]

Hi,

I'm not very technically savvy with api's. How do you choose the right type of API to integrate a home grown CRM with Marketo? What are the high level pros/cons using rest vs soap?

Thanks,

Sean

[Kenny_Elkington]

We recommend that all new development be done in REST.  REST is the current focus of API development, and SOAP is unlikely to receive any enhancements moving forward.

[Sean_Tierney2]

Thanks Kenny Elkington​. Any other helpful hints scoping out a REST API integration? I assume we'll need a developer(s) to implement. I've heard some companies using a middleware vendor, is that something we'd need for REST?

I've been skimming through the developer.marketo.com documentation on REST. Are there any other helpful or best practice resources I should be looking at?

[Kenny_Elkington]

It's pretty difficult to talk about in the abstract, especially for a homegrown CRM.  The best choice may depend on if you have any existing integrations to middleware providers.  I'd start your research on launchpoint with these two categorise: CRM – Marketo LaunchPoint  Integration – Marketo LaunchPoint   

There you can find middleware and integration partners that connect to Marketo.

As far as best practices go, those are going to be highly dependent on your CRM implementation.

[Neil_Robertson6]

REST is always the preferred choice now.  SOAP is a legacy deployment.  I would also recommend 100% that you always use JSON as payload and response and XML is not well supported in Marketo - especially when it comes to element attributes.

[Kenny_Elkington]

To clarify, XML is not supported at all by our REST API.