In TypeScript, we can define types in a variety of ways to fit our code. We’ve used the type keyword to define types, however, there’s another way to define types with the interface keyword.

Here’s a type that you’ve seen before:

type Mail = {
  postagePrice: number;
  address: string;
}

const catalog: Mail = ...

And here is an identical type that utilizes interface:

interface Mail {
  postagePrice: number;
  address: string;
}

const catalog: Mail = ...

In this example, we used both a type and an interface to create a typed object named Mail. The syntaxes for type and interface are slightly different, since interface does not require an equals sign (=) before the typed object. Functionally, the two Mail types in the example are identical: both will enforce the typed object at compile time when typing a variable.

The biggest difference between interface and type is that interface can only be used to type objects, while type can be used to type objects, primitives, and more. As it turns out, type is more versatile and functional than interface. So why would we use interface?

Sometimes, we don’t want a type that can do everything. We’d like our types to be constrained so we’re more likely to write consistent code. Since interface may only type objects, it’s a perfect match for writing object-oriented programs because these programs need many typed objects. So, let’s get started writing types with interface.