TLS termination models determine where encrypted traffic is decrypted, influencing security posture, operational visibility, scalability, and audit compliance. SSL Passthrough forwards TLS unchanged to the backend, preserving true end‑to‑end encryption and supporting zero‑trust designs, but it prevents path‑based routing, WAF, or rate limiting and requires certificate management on each service. SSL Termination (or offloading) decrypts traffic at the load balancer, enabling centralized certificate handling, Layer‑7 routing, web‑application firewalls, and observability; however, backend traffic travels in clear text, demanding a trusted internal network.

SSL Bridging combines both approaches by terminating TLS at the proxy and re‑encrypting to the backend, offering compliance‑grade security while still allowing inspection and advanced routing, at the cost of double TLS processing, higher CPU usage, and added operational complexity. The article highlights that no single model optimizes security, operability, scalability, visibility, and cost simultaneously, and that architects must align the chosen model with regulatory requirements such as PCI‑DSS or HIPAA, performance goals, and the need for traffic inspection. Practical guidance recommends SSL termination for simple public apps, SSL bridging for compliance‑heavy systems, and SSL passthrough for strict zero‑trust environments.