With technology being upgraded every day now, especially for modern electronic devices, people are getting more and more information about the concepts that make the Internet what it is today.
They want to know the basics and the working of things and the components that make the net reliable and help in overall web development.
JSP and ASP are both types of technology used for web development. They are both server-side application programs. Though people may get confused between the two languages as their concepts are similar, though there are some features that make them different.
Key Takeaways
- JSP is a Java-based technology used for dynamic web page creation, while ASP is a Microsoft technology used for creating dynamic web pages.
- JSP pages are compiled into Java servlets before execution, whereas the server interprets ASP pages at runtime.
- JSP is platform-independent, while ASP is limited to Windows operating systems.
JSP vs ASP
Java Server Pages (JSP) is a technology used for developing dynamic web pages based on HTML/XML and is language-independent. Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft’s technology for server-side scripting that enables embedding scripts in HTML pages to create dynamic web pages, primarily using VBScript.

JSP is an acronym for Java server pages. It is basically a technology that makes the code in a computer compatible with the net. It is one of the most used programming languages by coders.
It has many pros and protections. For example, This language-creating program has inbuilt memory leak protection as well as inbuilt security protection.
ASP is a platform-dependent program, meaning it. It uses either JScript or VBScript, and one of the best things about this particular language is that any browser can work with ASP pages. ASP, or Active server pages, run on IIS, which is an Internet information server.
Comparison Table
Parameters of Comparison | JSP | ASP |
---|---|---|
Abbreviation | Java server pages | Active server pages |
Extensions | .jsp | .asp |
Independent platform | Yes | No |
Created by | Sun Microsystems | Microsoft |
Costs | JSP is free to use. | Costs are required. |
Supporters | JSP can support many popular platforms like Windows O/S, Mac O/S, etc. | Only supported by Microsoft. |
What is JSP?
JSP is a computer language that is used to make web pages. As cleared by its full name- Java server pages- this scripting language’s program is based on Java.
A Java compiler is used to get “servlets”. Servlets are a type of Java code that can accept all protocol requests. In fact, JSP itself is an extension of Java servlets.
JSP is quite easy to maintain. The code for these pages runs faster as well, and the code from the program of the pages is compiled during run time.
It is not popular among Windows users but is supported by Apache Tomcat web and Linux-based servers. One would find working on Linux easier than on Apache Tomcat.
Though it has many advantages, just like any program, it has some disadvantages as well, that are: The difficulty in debugging and one has to have knowledge of Java in order to use JSP if they want to program the coding effectively.
What is ASP?
ASP, which is an acronym for Active server page, is a technology to create web pages. It was first established in 1998 by Microsoft, which is the provider of this language.
The technology transforms HTML pages into interactive web pages. It was the first of its kind and the first server-side scripting language.
An ASP page would contain three things: Client-side code: The client waits for the server to start by sending signals to it. Server-side code: A statement would be required to execute it as it is a unique identification.
A certain tag(s) would be used for comments, one for an individual comment and another for multiple comments, and lastly, HTML tags are the main components that make the root of any document.
There are two files made in ASP. One for designing and one for coding. One can add HTML pages, Scripts, and ActiveX server components in the program to make the web pages dynamic.
And it is seen that sites made on ASP are cleaner, but the pitfall is that, unlike other free language programming technologies, it is not free to use. A certain amount has to be paid. A bit of a downfall would be that error handling is quite difficult in an ASP code.
Main Differences Between JSP and ASP
- It is seen that JSP is better at security in comparison to ASP. JSP comes up with better-inbuilt security.
- JSP code is compiled. On the other hand, ASP cannot be compiled. It is interrupted by the server. It is also known that JSP scripts execute faster than ASP ones.
- Microsoft produced ASP, and it is still used by them. JSP, in comparison, was made by Sun Microsystems but is now distributed by Oracle.
- JSP is free to use, and on the other hand, there are costs for the use of ASP.
- JSP is platform-independent. That is, it can run on many software. While in comparison, ASP is platform-dependent. It is a disadvantage since it will only work on a particular platform and not multiple operating systems.
