FastCGI: 30 years old and still the better protocol for reverse proxies | Hacker News

A Hacker News discussion revisits FastCGI vs. HTTP and argues that HTTP-based reverse proxies won in practice.

The reasons: HTTP fit existing web stacks, enabled multi-layer proxying, and made auth, SSL, and filtering easier to manage.

FastCGI and SCGI offered tighter control, but their limited flexibility made them a worse fit for modern deployment patterns.

The post highlights a broader tradeoff between protocol simplicity and security control, framed by end-to-end and least-privilege principles.