Use html/template for safe web pages with automatic escaping and text/template for raw text files without escaping.
Use text/template for plain text output and html/template for HTML output that requires automatic escaping. html/template prevents XSS attacks by escaping special characters like < and > in user input, while text/template leaves them untouched.
import "html/template"
// html/template escapes < and > automatically
tmpl := template.Must(template.ParseFiles("page.html"))
tmpl.Execute(w, data)
Think of text/template as a raw text editor that prints exactly what you type, while html/template is a safety filter for web pages. You use html/template when building websites to stop malicious code from running in a user's browser. Use text/template for emails, logs, or configuration files where HTML safety isn't needed.