What port does HTTPS use?
HTTPS uses 443 and 8443, and which one depends on what you are doing.
The standard port and the one a process without root privileges uses instead.
| Port | Protocol | Name | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 443 | TCP | HTTPS | Encrypted web traffic. The default for essentially all modern web services, and the transport for HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. |
| 8443 | TCP | HTTPS alternate | The unprivileged counterpart to 443, used by Tomcat and many appliances. |
Exposing it
HTTP/3 runs over QUIC on UDP 443 — if you firewall only TCP, HTTP/3 silently fails and clients fall back.
Checking it is listening
sudo lsof -i :443 # macOS, Linux
netstat -ano | findstr :443 # Windows
nc -zv host 443 # from elsewhereAn "address already in use" error on a port nothing appears to be holding usually means the socket is in TIME_WAIT rather than that a process has it — the ports reference covers that and the ephemeral range.
Frequently asked questions
What port does HTTPS use?
HTTPS uses ports 443, 8443, and they do different jobs. 443: Encrypted web traffic. The default for essentially all modern web services, and the transport for HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. 8443: The unprivileged counterpart to 443, used by Tomcat and many appliances.
Is port 443 safe to expose to the internet?
HTTP/3 runs over QUIC on UDP 443 — if you firewall only TCP, HTTP/3 silently fails and clients fall back.
How do I check whether HTTPS is listening?
sudo lsof -i :443 on macOS or Linux, netstat -ano | findstr :443 on Windows. From another machine, nc -zv host 443 says whether anything answers.
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Port 443 in full · Port 8443 in full · Every service · All port numbers