Comparing Communication Efficiency: HTTP/3 versus HTTP/1.1 Latency in RESTful APIs

This research presents an empirical comparison of HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/3 in the context of RESTful API development, specifically focusing on their impact on various latency components. As HTTP/3 emerges promising improvements [1] over the universally implemented HTTP/1.1, there exists a pressing need for data-driven insights into their relative performance. A controlled environment was established using a Google Cloud server, employing a modified version of the curl package [2], packaged in a Docker container, to send requests to a representative REST API equipped with both protocols. Key latency components, such as connection, redirection, transfer times, download and upload speeds, were meticulously measured and documented, providing granular insights into the mechanics of HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/3. Our study highlights HTTP/3’s significant performance improvements in the RESTful API context, largely owing to its utilization of QUIC protocol and enhanced download speed.