Do you know the Difference between SMPP Protocol & HTTP Protocol?

Often new entrants in the SMS industry get confused about the two terminologies - SMPP Protocol and HTTP Protocol. Before explaining you the difference between HTTP Protocol and SMPP Protocol, let me first start with the meaning of these two types of protocols.

HTTP Protocol stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The main backbone of all data communication across the internet, HTTP protocol is used to exchange and transfer hypertext in the World Wide Web. You can spot it at the start of all website address. It signals web servers and browsers about different actions to be taken according to users command.

SMPP Protocol stands for Short Message Peer to Peer Protocol. It was developed for easy data transmission, which means where flexible data can be sent from one Message Center to another. This protocol is used to send and receive messages from and to GSM, UMTS, iDEN, CDMA and TDMA cell phones.

Out of two protocols, SMPP and HTTP, the former is widely used, owing to faster delivery of SMS messages.

As a SMS Service provider, you will need to offer Two-Way Messaging Services, and here SMPP Protocol is a must have. When you scale up in your SMS Business, you will need greater bandwidth, higher throughput with SMPP Telco Gateway, and multiple session connectivity over SMPP. These requirements can only be fulfilled by an SMPP Protocol.

It is not that HTTP Protocol does not have any advantage compared to SMPP. HTTP is easy to implement and well supported across various platforms. Unlike SMPP API, which requires you to have an advanced knowledge of the protocol, HTTP Protocol tools are freely available online, and as I have mentioned earlier, it can be freely implemented.

However, if you want a platform to send large volume of SMS, SMPP protocol is undoubtedly the best thing to go for.

Coming to the end of this post, I want you to recognize that SMPP protocol is useful for brands handling large volume of bulk SMS. A TCP/IP based protocol, SMPP is widely used when connecting to mobile operators and service providers. It has an edge over HTTP API when it comes to speed and volume.

If you want more information about SMPP Gateway, you can refer to this blog https://www.revesoft.com/blog/sms-platform/smpp-gateway/