A Guide to Integrating with the NetSuite REST API

Accounting systems like NetSuite are the backbone for managing and optimizing business operations through automated processes and integrated workflows. NetSuite is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that provides a business software suite for financial management, customer relationship management, e-commerce, and more.

The NetSuite REST API allows developers to build modern integrations that connect NetSuite to other systems, automate complex workflows, and synchronize data across different platforms. Using this API, developers can automate tasks such as customer creation, order processing, and real-time inventory updates. This is key to building automated solutions that reduce manual effort and increase accuracy.

Why the NetSuite REST API Matters

The NetSuite REST API provides a modern, JSON-based interface to NetSuite's core functionality, allowing you to interact with the platform programmatically using standard HTTP methods. You can use it to perform operations such as creating and updating records, managing customer data, processing transactions, and retrieving financial reports. The REST API enables you to integrate NetSuite into your existing systems and automate business-critical processes while ensuring data consistency across all applications.

For example, you can automate workflows like customer onboarding or sync order data between NetSuite and external platforms, reducing manual errors and increasing operational efficiency.

NetSuite SOAP API Alternative

If you're evaluating NetSuite integration options, you might also consider the NetSuite SOAP API. While SOAP is more established and offers broader functionality coverage, it's significantly more complex to implement due to XML handling and verbose request structures. For a detailed comparison and implementation guide, see our comprehensive NetSuite SOAP API integration guide.

Here are some examples of how you can use the REST API:

Automating customer management: The NetSuite REST API can automatically create customer records when new users sign up on your website, sync contact information, and update customer data across systems. This eliminates duplicate data entry and ensures customer information stays current across all touchpoints.

Real-time inventory synchronization: The REST API can integrate with e-commerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce to provide real-time inventory updates. When a product is sold online, the API immediately updates stock levels in NetSuite and can trigger reorder notifications when inventory falls below threshold levels.

Automated financial reporting: The REST API can integrate with business intelligence tools to generate real-time financial dashboards. This automation provides up-to-date profit and loss statements, cash flow reports, and sales analytics, helping businesses make data-driven decisions quickly.

How to Integrate with the NetSuite REST API

NetSuite's REST API supports Token-Based Authentication (TBA) and OAuth 2.0 for secure API access.

This guide focuses on Token-Based Authentication, which involves creating a signature using your NetSuite account credentials and including it with other authentication parameters in the request headers.

To interact with the REST API, you need to:

1. Create a user role with appropriate permissions, including REST Web Services access
2. Create a new integration record for token-based authentication and obtain the consumer key and secret
3. Create a new access token and obtain the token ID and secret

More detailed information is available in the official documentation.

Simplify Authentication with Apideck Vault

The authentication setup process above can be complex and time-consuming for your end users. Apideck Vault provides a white-label, hosted authentication interface that eliminates this complexity entirely.

With Vault, your users can:

• Connect NetSuite in seconds - No technical setup required on their end
• Secure credential storage - OAuth tokens and API keys are stored safely with enterprise-grade security
• Unified experience - Same interface works for NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, and 200+ other integrations
• Self-service management - Users can connect, disconnect, and manage integrations independently

Instead of asking users to create integration records and access tokens, they simply authenticate through Vault's hosted interface. You get the integration data you need without the setup friction that kills conversion rates.

Making a Request to the NetSuite REST API

The base URL for NetSuite REST API requests follows this format: https://{account_id}.suitetalk.api.netsuite.com/services/rest/record/v1/{record_type}

NetSuite uses OAuth 1.0a for authentication, which requires generating a signature for each request. Here's a Python example:

import requests
from requests_oauthlib import OAuth1

# NetSuite credentials
account_id = "your_account_id"
consumer_key = "your_consumer_key" 
consumer_secret = "your_consumer_secret"
token_key = "your_token_key"
token_secret = "your_token_secret"

# Create OAuth1 auth object
auth = OAuth1(
    consumer_key,
    client_secret=consumer_secret,
    resource_owner_key=token_key,
    resource_owner_secret=token_secret,
    signature_method='HMAC-SHA256',
    signature_type='AUTH_HEADER'
)

# Example: Get a customer record
def get_customer(customer_id):
    url = f"https://{account_id}.suitetalk.api.netsuite.com/services/rest/record/v1/customer/{customer_id}"

    headers = {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }

    response = requests.get(url, auth=auth, headers=headers)
    return response.json()

# Example: Create a customer record
def create_customer(customer_data):
    url = f"https://{account_id}.suitetalk.api.netsuite.com/services/rest/record/v1/customer"

    headers = {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }

    response = requests.post(url, auth=auth, headers=headers, json=customer_data)
    return response.json()

# Usage examples
try:
    # Get customer with ID 123
    customer = get_customer("123")
    print("Customer data:", customer)

    # Create a new customer
    new_customer = {
        "companyName": "Acme Corporation",
        "email": "contact@acme.com",
        "phone": "+1-555-0123"
    }

    result = create_customer(new_customer)
    print("Created customer:", result)

except Exception as error:
    print("Error making API request:", error)

The Integration Challenge

As you can see from the examples above, integrating directly with the NetSuite REST API involves several challenges:

1. Authentication complexity: Implementing OAuth 1.0a signature generation requires precise handling of encoding, sorting, and hashing
2. Rate limiting management: NetSuite has strict concurrency limits that require careful request throttling to avoid timeouts
3. Custom field handling: NetSuite's custom fields require specific formatting and field ID mapping that varies by account
4. Error handling complexity: NetSuite's error responses require specific parsing and retry logic for different error types
5. Data transformation: NetSuite's data structures often don't match your application's data models
6. Pagination complexity: Handling large datasets requires implementing cursor-based pagination logic
7. Webhook limitations: NetSuite's webhook support is limited, requiring polling for real-time data needs

Each of these challenges adds development time and increases the potential for bugs in your integration.

The Apideck Unified Accounting API

Integrating with multiple accounting systems, including NetSuite, can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Managing OAuth signatures, handling rate limits, and dealing with different data formats across various platforms requires months of development effort and ongoing maintenance.

The Apideck Unified Accounting API provides a single integration point for 20+ accounting platforms, including NetSuite. This approach abstracts away the complexities of individual APIs, simplifying the integration process.

Key benefits of using the Apideck Unified Accounting API include:

• Real-time data processing: All API calls are processed in real-time, not batched, ensuring your data is always fresh
• Managed authentication with Vault: Apideck Vault handles all OAuth flows and credential management, eliminating complex authentication setup for your users
• Unified data model: Consistent data structures across all 18+ accounting platforms
• Built-in rate limit management: Automatic throttling and retry logic with exponential backoff
• Webhook emulation: Get push notifications from platforms that support webhooks, with Apideck emulating webhooks for platforms that don't
• White-label user interface: Easily embedded interface that gives users a simple and secure connection experience
• Data normalization: Messy, inconsistent APIs are normalized into a single structure while still exposing raw downstream information
• Reduced maintenance burden: Updates to underlying accounting systems don't require changes to your integration

Making Requests with Apideck

Before making API requests through Apideck, you need to configure your NetSuite connection in the Apideck platform.

Here's how simple the same operations become with Apideck's unified API. You can try these requests in our Api Explorer, which makes this even simpler.

import axios from "axios";

const headers = {
  "x-apideck-app-id": "<YOUR-APP-ID>",
  "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR-API-KEY>",
  "x-apideck-consumer-id": "<CONSUMER-ID>", // Your NetSuite consumer
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
};

// Get a customer - unified across all accounting platforms
async function getCustomer(customerId: string) {
  try {
    const response = await axios.get(
      `https://unify.apideck.com/accounting/customers/${customerId}`,
      { headers }
    );
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error retrieving customer:", error);
  }
}

// Create a customer - same API call works for NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, etc.
async function createCustomer(customerData: any) {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post(
      "https://unify.apideck.com/accounting/customers",
      customerData,
      { headers }
    );
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error creating customer:", error);
  }
}

// List all invoices with automatic pagination
async function getInvoices() {
  try {
    const response = await axios.get(
      "https://unify.apideck.com/accounting/invoices",
      { headers }
    );
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error retrieving invoices:", error);
  }
}

// Usage examples
const customer = await getCustomer("123");
console.log("Customer:", customer);

const newCustomer = {
  name: "Acme Corporation",
  email: "contact@acme.com", 
  phone_number: "+1-555-0123"
};

const createdCustomer = await createCustomer(newCustomer);
console.log("Created customer:", createdCustomer);

const invoices = await getInvoices();
console.log("Invoices:", invoices);

Here’s an example of the same request from Apideck’s API Explorer

You can test and make API calls with the simple drag and drop UI, which can easily pre-fill the response headers and body with the required data. You can see the list customers request being done in a single shot.

Compare this clean, simple code to the complex OAuth signature generation and authentication handling required for direct NetSuite integration. With Apideck, the same code works across NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and dozens of other accounting platforms.

Real-World Integration Examples

Here are some practical examples showing how Apideck simplifies common NetSuite integration scenarios. Please note, you can try them out from our Api Explorer.

E-commerce Order Sync:

// Sync new orders from your e-commerce platform to NetSuite
async function syncOrderToNetSuite(order: any) {
  const invoice = {
    number: order.order_number,
    customer: { id: order.customer_id },
    line_items: order.items.map(item => ({
      description: item.name,
      quantity: item.quantity,
      unit_amount: item.price,
      item: { id: item.product_id }
    })),
    due_date: new Date(Date.now() + 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString()
  };

  return await axios.post(
    "https://unify.apideck.com/accounting/invoices",
    invoice,
    { headers }
  );
}

Customer Data Synchronization:

// Keep customer data in sync between your CRM and NetSuite
async function syncCustomerData(crmCustomer: any) {
  const customer = {
    name: crmCustomer.company_name,
    email: crmCustomer.primary_email,
    phone_number: crmCustomer.phone,
    billing_address: {
      line1: crmCustomer.billing_street,
      city: crmCustomer.billing_city,
      state: crmCustomer.billing_state,
      postal_code: crmCustomer.billing_zip,
      country: crmCustomer.billing_country
    }
  };

  return await axios.post(
    "https://unify.apideck.com/accounting/customers",
    customer,
    { headers }
  );
}

Conclusion

In this guide, you learned how to integrate with the NetSuite REST API and discovered the complexities involved in direct integration. As demonstrated, working directly with NetSuite's API requires managing complex OAuth 1.0a signatures, handling rate limits, dealing with custom field mappings, and maintaining error-prone authentication code.

These challenges multiply when you need to support multiple accounting platforms beyond NetSuite. Each system has its own authentication methods, data structures, and API quirks that require separate implementations and ongoing maintenance.

To simplify your accounting integrations and eliminate the complexities of direct API integration, consider using the Apideck Unified Accounting API with the NetSuite Connector. By providing a single, consistent interface across all major accounting platforms, Apideck simplifies development, reduces maintenance overhead, and saves valuable development time and resources.

With Apideck, you can:

• Connect to NetSuite and 20+ other accounting platforms with the same code
• Skip complex authentication implementations
• Get standardized data models across all platforms
• Benefit from built-in rate limiting and error handling
• Access real-time data processing (not batch processing)
• Use webhook emulation for platforms that don't natively support webhooks
• Focus on building features instead of managing integrations

Sign up for Apideck today to start simplifying your NetSuite and accounting integrations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between NetSuite REST API and SOAP API?

The REST API is newer (2019), uses JSON, and is easier to implement, but has limited functionality coverage. The SOAP API has been around longer, offers broader NetSuite feature access, but requires XML handling and is more complex to implement. For bulk operations and advanced features, SOAP is often better. For modern web/mobile apps and simple CRUD operations, REST is preferred. See our SOAP API guide for a detailed comparison.

How do I handle NetSuite's rate limits?

NetSuite uses concurrency-based rate limiting rather than traditional rate limits. Each account has a limit on concurrent API requests (typically 10-25 concurrent requests). When you exceed this limit, you'll get timeout errors rather than 429 rate limit errors. Implement exponential backoff retry logic and consider queuing requests during high-traffic periods. Monitor your usage through NetSuite's API monitoring tools.

Can I use OAuth 2.0 with NetSuite REST API?

Yes, NetSuite supports OAuth 2.0 for REST API authentication, but Token-Based Authentication (TBA) is more commonly used because tokens don't expire like OAuth 2.0 access tokens do. OAuth 2.0 requires refresh token management and has a 7-day refresh limit, making TBA more suitable for server-to-server integrations. However, if you need user-facing authentication flows, OAuth 2.0 is the better choice.