The average person visits each day. When they do, these sites will often collect a combination of sessions and cookies to record data on how a person utilizes them.
So, what is a session? What is a cookie? And what are the differences between the two?
These are questions you should know the answers to if you’re someone who visits websites on a regular basis so that you know how information pertaining to you is being stored and used.
Today, we’re going to talk about what sessions and cookies are before discussing the session vs cookie differences. Check out our session and cookie guide below to learn everything you need to know about them.
What Is a Session?
A session refers to the data that is saved by a website’s server when you’re clicking around on it. It begins as soon as you visit a website, and it ends once you leave the site and head elsewhere.
Website owners like to track the sessions of those who visit their websites to monitor how much time they’re spending on them. They also like to track sessions because it gives them an opportunity to see how people are utilizing their sites.
Why Are Sessions Used?
Now that you know the answer to the question, “What is a session?”, let’s touch on why it’s become so common for website owners to use them. It should give you some additional insight into why your website sessions are being tracked.
Sessions make it possible for website owners to store key information connected to their site users. They’re able to store it securely on their servers so that people can use this information as necessary.
For example, if you’ve ever visited a site and seen your User ID automatically populated on it, this is a direct result of a previous session. Your User ID was stored during that session so that it would pop back up again later.
What Is a Cookie?
A cookie refers to the relatively small text-based files that are stored on a person’s browser when they’re visiting a website. Cookies typically take up much less space than sessions do, as they can only reach a maximum size of about 4 KB.
The first time that you visit a website, it will take a bunch of information and transmit it to your browser in the form of cookies. It will then use those cookies again at a later date the next time that you visit this site.
You will be the only one who can get access to the cookies on your browser after visiting a site. The site itself will not have access to them, and any other people who might have accounts on the computer you’re using won’t be able to see your cookies.
Why Are Cookies Used?
Even though there are some people who don’t love the fact that cookies are stored on their browsers while they’re surfing the internet, they can come in handy. They’ll make websites that you visit load up faster, and they’ll also help you fill in information when you’re on these sites.
That being said, there are some people who will delete the cookies on their computers every now and then to stop their browsers from saving too much information about them. But many others like that cookies can make it easier for them to access different sites that they visit regularly.
Those in the marketing industry love cookies as well. Marketing cookies can help these companies to do their jobs more effectively by monitoring what websites people are visiting and how they’re using them.
What Are the Differences Between Sessions and Cookies?
As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, there are some similarities that tie sessions and cookies together. But when it comes to the session vs cookie conversation, there are more differences that set them apart.
For starters, cookies are only collected on people’s own personal browsers, not on the servers of website owners. Sessions, on the other hand, are stored on servers and can be accessed by site owners.
Both cookies and sessions will disappear over time. But cookies will linger on your browser until you remove them, while sessions will disappear as soon as you’re finished visiting a website.
There is also a big discrepancy between how much data cookies and sessions can store. Cookies can store very small amounts of data at one time, while sessions can store a virtually limitless amount of data as long as there is enough room on servers for it.
And even the way in which cookies and sessions are stored is dramatically different. Cookies get stored in tiny text files, while sessions get stored in encrypted formats that will be tough to crack.
Each of these things separates sessions from cookies and makes them unique in their own right.
Make Sure You Understand the Session Vs Cookie Differences
The average internet user doesn’t spend very much time worrying about the session vs cookie debate. All they care about is visiting the sites they want to visit and having them load up fast.
But if you’re going to spend your fair share of time on the internet, you should have a general idea of how sessions and cookies work. It’ll make you a more informed internet user and help you comprehend how your data is being stored and used online.
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