Difference between WCF and Web service

Web service is a part of WCF. WCF offers much more flexibility and portability to develop a service when comparing to web service. Still we are having more advantages over Web service. Following points provides detailed difference between them.

Web Service:

• Hosting -It can be hosted in IIS.


• Programming -[WebService] attribute has to be added to the class.

Features of WCF

WCF includes the following set of features:

Service Orientation 

One consequence of using WS standards is that WCF enables you to create service oriented applications. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is the reliance on Web services to send and receive data. The services have the general advantage of being loosely-coupled instead of hard-coded from one application to another. A loosely-coupled relationship implies that any client created on any platform can connect to any service as long as the essential contracts are met.

Windows Communication Foundation

Web Services Vs WCF