Comparision between SMTP and HTTP
| SMTP | HTTP |
| Transfer files (eg;email messages) from one mail server to another mail server | Transfers files from web server to web user agent (ie. The browser) |
| Push protocol: the sending mail server pushes the file to the receiving mail server. In particular, the TCP connection is initiated by the machine that wants to send the file. | Pull protocol: someone loads information on a web server and users use HTTP to pull the information off the server at their convenience. In particular, the TCP connection is initiated by the machine that wants to receive the file. |
| Requires each user message, including the body of each message to be in 7 –bit ASCII format. If the message contains that are not 7-bit ASCII, then the message has to be encoded into 7-bit ASCII | Do not impose this restriction |