Magento 2 - Best approach for retrieving product data - REST API or Custom Endpoint?

I would like to know what you think the best approach is for retrieving product data from an external source in Magento 2

I have tried two options and both work but I would like to know what you think is the best method:

Method 1 - Custom Endpoint

Using a controller I can make a GET request to: http://domain.com/modulename/product/index And pass the SKU as a Param in the request from an external source

Then my controller will call my helper class and return a JSON array of product data:

public function execute() { /** * We would normally create some basic Auth check before instatiating the getProduct() method * The Auth token would be stored in the admin config of the module using system.xml */ return $this->resultJsonFactory->create()->setData($this->helper->getProduct()); } 

And my Helper

 public function getProduct() { // This is just for the test I am going to load a configurable product then get the child products // Normally the loop would check but this is only for the test. $product = $this->products->get('MH01'); // This is the parent product name and concatenated the SKU $productData['name'] = $product->getName() . ' ' . $product->getSku(); // Get the child products $childIds = $this->configurable->getChildrenIds($product->getId()); $childData = []; foreach ($childIds[0] as $childId) { $simple = $this->products->getById($childId); $childData[] = [ 'name' => $simple->getName(), 'sku' => $simple->getSku() ]; } return ['parent' => $productData, 'children' => $childData]; } 

The other approach would be to use the Magento REST API Webservice method

Method 2 - REST API

I set the route via webapi.xml then make a GET request to: http://domain.com/rest/V1/module-name/products/{$id}

<?xml version="1.0" ?> <routes xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Webapi:etc/webapi.xsd"> <route method="GET" url="/V1/costa-test/products/:id"> <service class="Costa\Test\Api\ProductsManagementInterface" method="getProducts"/> <resources> <resource ref="anonymous"/> </resources> </route> </routes> 

The ProductsManagementInterface Class will take the $id and pass it

interface ProductsManagementInterface { /** * GET for products api * @param string $id * @return string */ public function getProducts($id); } 

Then in my ProductsManagement Class

public function getProducts($id) { // This is just for the test I am going to load a configurable product then get the child products // Normally the loop would check but this is only for the test. $product = $this->products->getById($id); // This is the parent product name and concatenated the SKU $productData['name'] = $product->getName() . ' ' . $product->getSku(); // Get the child products $childIds = $this->configurable->getChildrenIds($product->getId()); $childData = []; /** @var $childIds array */ foreach ($childIds[0] as $childId) { $simple = $this->products->getById($childId); $childData[] = [ 'name' => $simple->getName(), 'sku' => $simple->getSku(), ]; } return ['parent' => $productData, 'children' => $childData]; } 

Both approaches work well but what would you say is the best method?