Explain the differences between an API Gateway and a Service

Short answer: Mesh. API Gateway: An API Gateway is a single entry point into the system. It handles incoming client requests, routing them to the appropriate microservices, and often includes additional features like load balancing, security (authentication, authorization), rate-limiting, and caching. The gateway typically focuses on external communication and manages how clients interact with the microservices. Example: Nginx,…

Explain a bit more

Kong, AWS API Gateway. Service Mesh: A Service Mesh is an infrastructure layer for managing internal communication between microservices. It handles routing, load balancing, service discovery, security, and observability for service-to-service communication, transparent to the application code. It typically uses sidecar proxies alongside each microservice to intercept and manage traffic between services. Example: Istio, Linkerd, Consul. Key Differences: API Gateway manages external requests from clients. Service Mesh handles internal service-to-service communication.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

ShopNest’s API Gateway routes /orders to the Order service and /payments to Payment—clients talk to one entry point.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.