NetSuite REST Web Services is the modern HTTPS-based API for external systems to interact with NetSuite. It exposes CRUD operations on every record type plus SuiteQL query execution. Authentication uses OAuth 2.0 token-based auth (TBA). It is the recommended replacement for legacy SOAP Web Services and for ODBC-based integrations via SuiteAnalytics Connect.
Endpoint structure
/services/rest/record/v1/{type}: CRUD on record types (customer, invoice, salesorder, etc.)/services/rest/query/v1/suiteql: Execute SuiteQL queries/services/rest/auth/oauth2/v1/token: Token exchange (if using OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow)/services/rest/transactions/v1: Transaction-specific endpoints with batch support
All requests use HTTPS with TLS 1.3. Responses are JSON. Pagination is via limit + offset query params.
Authentication: OAuth 2.0 TBA
Token-Based Authentication (TBA) is the recommended path. One-time setup in NetSuite:
- Setup > Users/Roles > Access Tokens > New
- Select Application (your integration), Role (with REST web services permission), User
- Generate Consumer Key, Consumer Secret, Token ID, Token Secret
- Sign every API request with HMAC-SHA256 over the request method, URL, params, and timestamp
Acterys NetSuite Sync automates this entire flow during a 10-minute OAuth setup. You never copy-paste tokens.
REST vs SOAP for NetSuite
| Aspect | REST | SOAP (SuiteTalk) |
|---|---|---|
| Format | JSON | XML (WSDL) |
| Authentication | OAuth 2.0 TBA | SOAP headers + TBA |
| SuiteQL support | Yes | No |
| Tooling | Any HTTP client | SOAP-specific libraries |
| Best for | All new integrations | Legacy compat only |
Rate limits + best practices
- Concurrency: typically 5 concurrent requests per role. Use a dedicated integration role + user.
- SuiteQL timeout: 4 minutes per query. Partition large date-range queries.
- Pagination: page-size 1000 default; can go up to 5000 for some endpoints.
- Retry: implement exponential backoff on 429/503 responses.
- Incremental sync: use
lastmodifieddate >filter to fetch only changed records: see incremental sync glossary