Both are transport protocols in network technology.

TCP:

  • Builds up a connection between sender and receiver
  • Only when the connection is stable, data is exchanged
  • Each TCP packet can be up to 14 kb
  • TCP is used for HTTP, SFTP, SMTP etc.

UDP:

  • No connection is established
  • Thus, UDP is faster but less secure
  • UDP is commonly used for DNS (usually), DHCP and VoIP - everywhere, where performance matters

There is a dedicated note to both: TCP & UDP