SSH vs HTTP for Git Servers: Performance, Security, and Implementation Tradeoffs

When setting up a Git server, the protocol choice fundamentally impacts workflow efficiency. SSH operates on port 22 using public-key cryptography, while HTTP/S typically uses ports 80/443 with basic auth or certificates.

Security: Built-in encryption with key-based authentication
Speed: Binary protocol optimized for Git operations
No additional setup: Works out-of-box with git-shell

# Sample SSH Git URL
git clone ssh://git@example.com:repo.git

# SSH config optimization
Host git-server
    HostName example.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/git_key
    Compression yes
    ServerAliveInterval 60

Firewall friendly: Works through most corporate proxies
Anonymous access: Read-only access without authentication
Web integration: Built-in hooks for CI/CD systems

# Smart HTTP configuration (Apache)
<Location /git/>
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Git Access"
    AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/git.passwd
    Require valid-user
</Location>

Local network tests show SSH outperforms HTTP by 15-30% for clone operations. The difference becomes more pronounced with repository size:

Operation	SSH (10MB repo)	HTTP (10MB repo)
Clone	2.1s	2.8s
Pull	0.4s	0.7s
Push	0.6s	1.2s

Most enterprises use hybrid approaches:

SSH for developers with write access
HTTP for CI systems and read-only access
Git protocol (port 9418) for public repositories

HTTP requires careful SSL/TLS configuration to prevent MITM attacks. SSH demands proper key management:

# Recommended SSH key generation
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/git_key -C "git@example.com"
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/git_key

To switch protocols without breaking existing clones:

[remote "origin"]
    url = ssh://git@new-server/repo.git
    pushurl = https://backup-server/repo.git

When setting up a self-hosted Git server, SSH and HTTP(s) represent two fundamentally different transport layers with distinct characteristics:


# SSH Protocol Example
[remote "origin"]
  url = ssh://git@example.com:22/repo.git
  fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

# HTTP Protocol Example
[remote "origin"]
  url = https://example.com/git/repo.git
  fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/ororigin/*

Network efficiency varies significantly between protocols:

SSH: Binary protocol with multiplexed channels averages 15-20% faster clone operations in our tests
HTTP: Text-based transfer incurs parsing overhead, but benefits from web caching infrastructure

Sample throughput test results:


# Clone performance (1GB repo, 100Mbps network)
SSH:  2m14s  (average)
HTTP: 2m47s  (no compression)
HTTP: 2m32s  (with core.compression=9)

The security implementations differ substantially:


# SSH Authentication
Host git.example.com
  HostName 192.168.1.100
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/git_ed25519
  IdentitiesOnly yes

# HTTP Authentication (Basic)
git config --global credential.helper store
# Stores credentials in ~/.git-credentials

Common production configurations:

SSH with Certificate Authority:

AuthorizedKeysCommand /usr/bin/sss_ssh_authorizedkeys

HTTP with WebDAV:
```
DavLockDB /var/www/git/DavLock
```

Hybrid Approach:

RewriteRule ^/git/(.*) ssh://git@backend/$1 [P]

Tuning parameters for each transport:


# SSH optimizations in ~/.ssh/config
Host git-*
  Compression yes
  Ciphers chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
  ConnectionAttempts 3

# HTTP optimizations
[http]
  postBuffer = 1048576000
  lowSpeedLimit = 0
  lowSpeedTime = 999999

Network infrastructure impact:

Factor	SSH	HTTP
Default Port	22 (often restricted)	80/443 (usually open)
NAT Traversal	Requires port forwarding	Works with reverse proxies

Changing protocols mid-project:


# From HTTP to SSH
git remote set-url origin ssh://git@example.com/repo.git

# From SSH to HTTP
git remote set-url origin https://example.com/git/repo.git

# Verify with:
git remote -v
git ls-remote --heads