Regarding the choice between the REST API and the binary protocol - it depends :) If you're using a client library that supports the binary protocol it's probab

Regarding the choice between the REST API and the binary protocol - it depends :) If you're using a client library that supports the binary protocol it's probably worth using that because it exposes every feature of orient and it's the more efficient option. However, if you're writing a client library from scratch, you'll find the REST version a whole lot simpler to implement - the binary protocol has a few awkward edge cases. There are actually some hidden gotchas with both the binary and REST transports, but they are not show stoppers and they're being actively worked on. Disclaimer: I wrote a client library for node.js[0] and am in the process of writing one for php[1]. [0] https://github.com/codemix/oriento https://github.com/codemix/oriento [1] https://github.com/codemix/php-orientdb https://github.com/codemix/php-orientdb