They're both delicious logs of meat, but that doesn't mean they're not unique in their own right. When it comes to salami versus pepperoni, the two are very different.
Simply put, both salami and pepperoni are dry-cured salamis. Salami is a more general term for a variety of sausages, whereas pepperoni is a specific type of salami.
Pepperoni is the American equivalent of the centuries-old European salami. Early 1900s Italian Americans in New York produced pepperoni.
Pepperoni is made with finely ground beef, pork, and fowl with a spicy flavor. The end product is smaller than salami, which contains ground pork, veal, beef, and sometimes fowl.
"Processing salami takes roughly two weeks to finish, whereas the manufacture of pepperoni could take as few as five or six days."
Pepperoni lends itself to milder foods because of its smoky, peppery flavor and spice, but salami is considerably gentler and goes well with sandwiches and salads.
While pepperoni is limited to pizzas, calzones, and sandwiches, salami goes with soups, eggs, spaghetti dishes, and salads.
It's hard to go wrong with either of these when eaten straight from the fridge. In this respect, they're almost identical.