Question 1

What's the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

Accepted Answer

HTTP sends data in plain text, so it can be read or modified by someone who intercepts the traffic. HTTPS is HTTP plus encryption using TLS (Transport Layer Security), which helps protect data privacy and integrity and verifies the server identity with certificates. For most websites and APIs today, you should use HTTPS.

Question 2

When should I use HTTP?

Accepted Answer

Use HTTPS for real user traffic, logins, payments, APIs, and anything on the public internet. Plain HTTP is mainly appropriate for limited cases like internal health checks, local development, or private networks where encryption is handled elsewhere. Even then, many organizations standardize on HTTPS everywhere to reduce risk.

Question 3

How much does HTTP cost?

Accepted Answer

HTTP itself is free to use because it is an open standard. Costs come from the infrastructure that serves HTTP traffic (servers, load balancers, bandwidth/egress, CDNs, API gateways) and operational needs (monitoring, scaling, security). If you use HTTPS, certificates can be free (e.g., via automated certificate authorities) but you may still pay for managed services that handle TLS termination and traffic processing.

HTTP

Definition

Real-World Example

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Cloud Provider Equivalencies

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