Server-side vs. client-side API requests: Best practices for handling multiple API calls in a web application

[bisky0-0]

Body

I’m working on a financial website with the following features:

• A market overview section
• News updates
• Portfolio analysis dashboards

The application requires fetching data from multiple APIs (around 10 or more requests) to populate various components of the dashboard which is ('/') route.

I’m trying to decide whether to make these API requests on the server-side or the client-side.

What are the best practices and key factors to consider in such cases? Some aspects I’m thinking about include:

• Performance and latency
• Security concerns (e.g., protecting API keys)
• Scalability when dealing with high traffic
• Frequency of data updates (real-time vs. less frequent updates)
  How can I decide the optimal approach for handling API requests in this type of web application?

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[mastertanzeel]

Hi @bisky0-0 ,

For handling multiple API requests in a complex web application, I would suggest using GraphQL as a powerful solution. GraphQL allows you to aggregate multiple data sources into a single endpoint, reducing the need for multiple API calls. This minimizes latency, as clients can request only the exact data they need in one query, which improves performance on both the client and server sides. Additionally, handling requests server-side with GraphQL enables you to securely manage API keys and optimize data fetching logic. For a financial application requiring frequent updates, GraphQL subscriptions also support real-time data, allowing you to update components dynamically as new data arrives. This approach improves scalability, reduces bandwidth, and simplifies data management, which is particularly beneficial for dashboards and high-traffic applications.

Lemme know if you need any help with it further.

Thanks

[bisky0-0]

Hi @mastertanzeel
Thank you so much for your detailed response! I wasn’t familiar with GraphQL before, but I’ve started researching it now, and it looks like an incredible solution for my project’s needs. I’m especially excited about the ability to aggregate data, optimize queries, and handle real-time updates with subscriptions—it seems perfect for my dashboard.

I’m really grateful for your suggestion and the time you took to explain it. I’ll definitely explore this approach further, and if I need help, I’ll be sure to reach out. Thanks so much again!

[mastertanzeel]

Anytime :) You're welcome.