Asp.net Web Api Vs Asp.net MVC

Asp.net Web Api Vs Asp.net MVC

Web Api	MVC
Web API is used to create full blown HTTP services with easy and simple way that returns only data not view.	Asp.Net MVC is used to create web applications that returns both views and data
Web API helps to build REST-ful services over the .NET Framework and it also support content-negotiation	Not Present in MVC
Web API also takes care of returning data in particular format like JSON,XML or any other based upon the Accept header	MVC only return data in JSON format using JsonResult
In Web API the request are mapped to the actions based on HTTP verbs	MVC it is mapped to actions name
Asp.Net Web API is new framework and part of the core ASP.NET framework. The model binding, filters, routing and others MVC features exist in Web API are different from MVC and exists in the new System.Web.Http assembly	In MVC, these featues exist with in System.Web.Mvc. Hence Web API can also be used with Asp.Net and as a stand alone service layer
You can mix Web API and MVC controller in a single project to handle advanced AJAX requests which may return data in JSON, XML or any others format and building a full blown HTTP service. Typically, this will be called Web API self hosting
When you have mixed MVC and Web API controller and you want to implement the authorization then you have to create two filters one for MVC and another for Web API since boths are different
Web API is light weight architecture	Wb Application is not