Difference between Jira Cloud REST API and Server REST API?

[Lee Hollingworth]

I notice in the documentation that there is docs for a REST API for Jira Cloud, and another set of documentation for the REST API for Jira Server. TL;DR but browsing through the documentation there does not appear to be a lot of obvious difference.

We'd prefer to develop a client that works with both cloud and server. Does anyone know the core differences between these APIs? 

[josh · Accepted solution]

The only difference I saw (on latest versions as of today's date) was mention of Atlassian Connect authentication and development for Cloud. 

Separate docs come from best practice - These are technically different products and features may have different release dates on different platforms and the way those features work is not always going to be the same. Also it's important for Server to use the correct version.

There isn't a significant divergence in the Jira REST API as far as I am aware of right now. But there may be in the future.

[Daniel Vacanti]

Actually, I just found a difference:

If you do 

GET /rest/api/2/filter

on Jira Cloud, you get back a list of all known filters; however, if you do the exact same

GET /rest/api/2/filter

on Jira Server, you get a 405.

Can anyone explain this difference, please?

[josh]

Hello Daniel,

We can expect to see the API (and product itself) for cloud vs. server to continue to diverge over time. We can no longer make assumptions that the API will work universally the same.

I'm not quite sure why this specific method on this endpoint doesn't exist on server.

[Daniel Vacanti]

Thanks, Josh.  

Yes, I get that the APIs will diverge over time.  I just wanted to respond to the original post and document what I believe to be a fairly significant difference between the two.  I hope others might find it useful as I was having a hard time investigating this issue.

[josh]

Yep. I've found myself looking at the wrong API spec several times. Definitely frustrating sometimes.

[Tayyab Bashir]

There are no major differences in Cloud and Server Rest APIs.
However you should keep your server updated with the latest version so that it has all the new updates and functions as Cloud. 

Older Server versions might have some missing functions and updates.