What is ASP.NET Web API? ASP.NET Web API is a framework that simplifies building HTTP services for broader range of clients (including browsers as well as mobile devices) on top of .NET Framework. Using ASP.NET Web API, we can create non-SOAP based services like plain XML or JSON strings, etc. with many other advantages including: Create resource-oriented services using the full features of HTTP Exposing services to a variety of clients easily like browsers or mobile devices, etc. What are the Advantages of Using ASP.NET Web API? Using ASP.NET Web API has a number of advantages, but core of the advantages are: It works the HTTP way using standard HTTP verbs like GET , POST , PUT , DELETE , etc. for all CRUD operations Complete support for routing Response generated in JSON or XML format using MediaTypeFormatter It has the ability to be hosted in IIS as well as self-host outside of IIS Supports Model binding and Validation Support for OData and more.... Wha