[[java-rest-overview]]
== Overview

The Java REST Client comes in 2 flavors:

* {java-api-client}/java-rest-low.html[Java Low Level REST Client]: the official 
low-level client for Elasticsearch. It allows to communicate with an 
Elasticsearch cluster through http. Leaves requests marshalling and responses 
un-marshalling to users. It is compatible with all Elasticsearch versions.

* <<java-rest-high>>: the official high-level client for Elasticsearch.
Based on the low-level client, it exposes API specific methods and takes care
of requests marshalling and responses un-marshalling.