Difference between Session and Caching
What is difference between Session and Caching ?
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17-Jun-2019
Updated on 12-Mar-2025
Khushi Singh
12-Mar-2025Web applications differentiate session from caching through their goals as well as their operational boundaries and duration of data retention.
A web application uses Session to maintain user-specific data for active connections between the application and its user base. State information persist across different requests received from single users due to this functionality. Both the server and user authentication together with shopping cart data tracking and personalized settings management require session storage space. Sessions become temporary and relate to individual users because they automatically terminate after a designated time of inactivity and when users begin their logout process.
Caching functions as a storage method which holds common data that enhances system performance and decreases page load duration. Keeping duplicate versions of popular database requests alongside computation functions is the core operating principle of this system. Users can find caching data in memory or distributed systems or on client computers for storage. Multiple users can access cached data since this information does not require specificity for individual users. A system keeps stored data accessible until expiration happens or an invalidation takes place or it requires refreshing.
Each user's session data gets stored on the server which consumes more memory based on user count whereas caching optimizes performance by maintaining easily accessible frequently used data.
Sessions control temporary user-related information whereas caching functions as a performance optimization feature through data reuse. The tracking of user interactions depends on sessions but caching serves to lower server workload and boost response time performance.