The AWS API Gateway Divide: Why HTTP API Wins for Modern Serverless

AWS's decision to offer both REST API and HTTP API flavors of API Gateway reflects a fundamental trade-off: feature richness versus cost efficiency. REST API provides powerful middleware capabilities through VTL, while HTTP API strips away complexity to offer minimal routing and JWT authorization—resulting in 50-70% cost savings for most workloads. Understanding when to use each option is essential for optimizing serverless architectures without sacrificing performance.