What is the difference between localStorage, sessionStorage, session and cookies?

Question

What are the technical pros and cons of localStorage, sessionStorage, session and cookies, and when would I use one over the other?

Answer 1

This is an extremely broad scope question, and a lot of the pros/cons will be contextual to the situation.

In all cases, these storage mechanisms will be specific to an individual browser on an individual computer/device. Any requirement to store data on an ongoing basis across sessions will need to involve your application server side - most likely using a database, but possibly XML or a text/CSV file.

localStorage, sessionStorage, and cookies are all client storage solutions. Session data is held on the server where it remains under your direct control.

localStorage and sessionStorage

localStorage and sessionStorage are relatively new APIs (meaning, not all legacy browsers will support them) and are near identical (both in APIs and capabilities) with the sole exception of persistence. sessionStorage (as the name suggests) is only available for the duration of the browser session (and is deleted when the tab or window is closed) - it does, however, survive page reloads (source DOM Storage guide - Mozilla Developer Network).

Clearly, if the data you are storing needs to be available on an ongoing basis then localStorage is preferable to sessionStorage - although you should note both can be cleared by the user so you should not rely on the continuing existence of data in either case.

localStorage and sessionStorage are perfect for persisting non-sensitive data needed within client scripts between pages (for example: preferences, scores in games). The data stored in localStorage and sessionStorage can easily be read or changed from within the client/browser so should not be relied upon for storage of sensitive or security-related data within applications.

Cookies

This is also true for cookies, these can be trivially tampered with by the user, and data can also be read from them in plain text - so if you are wanting to store sensitive data then the session is really your only option. If you are not using SSL, cookie information can also be intercepted in transit, especially on an open wifi.

On the positive side cookies can have a degree of protection applied from security risks like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)/Script injection by setting an HTTP only flag which means modern (supporting) browsers will prevent access to the cookies and values from JavaScript (this will also prevent your own, legitimate, JavaScript from accessing them). This is especially important with authentication cookies, which are used to store a token containing details of the user who is logged on - if you have a copy of that cookie then for all intents and purposes you become that user as far as the web application is concerned, and have the same access to data and functionality the user has.

As cookies are used for authentication purposes and persistence of user data, all cookies valid for a page are sent from the browser to the server for every request to the same domain - this includes the original page request, any subsequent Ajax requests, all images, stylesheets, scripts, and fonts. For this reason, cookies should not be used to store large amounts of information. The browser may also impose limits on the size of information that can be stored in cookies. Typically cookies are used to store identifying tokens for authentication, session, and advertising tracking. The tokens are typically not human readable information in and of themselves, but encrypted identifiers linked to your application or database.

localStorage vs. sessionStorage vs. Cookies

In terms of capabilities, cookies, sessionStorage, and localStorage only allow you to store strings - it is possible to implicitly convert primitive values when setting (these will need to be converted back to use them as their type after reading) but not Objects or Arrays (it is possible to JSON serialise them to store them using the APIs). Session storage will generally allow you to store any primitives or objects supported by your Server Side language/framework.

Client-side vs. Server-side

As HTTP is a stateless protocol - web applications have no way of identifying a user from previous visits on returning to the web site - session data usually relies on a cookie token to identify the user for repeat visits (although rarely URL parameters may be used for the same purpose). Data will usually have a sliding expiry time (renewed each time the user visits), and depending on your server/framework data will either be stored in-process (meaning data will be lost if the web server crashes or is restarted) or externally in a state server or database. This is also necessary when using a web-farm (more than one server for a given website).

As session data is completely controlled by your application (server side) it is the best place for anything sensitive or secure in nature.

The obvious disadvantage of server-side data is scalability - server resources are required for each user for the duration of the session, and that any data needed client side must be sent with each request. As the server has no way of knowing if a user navigates to another site or closes their browser, session data must expire after a given time to avoid all server resources being taken up by abandoned sessions. When using session data you should, therefore, be aware of the possibility that data will have expired and been lost, especially on pages with long forms. It will also be lost if the user deletes their cookies or switches browsers/devices.

Some web frameworks/developers use hidden HTML inputs to persist data from one page of a form to another to avoid session expiration.

localStorage, sessionStorage, and cookies are all subject to "same-origin" rules which means browsers should prevent access to the data except the domain that set the information to start with.

For further reading on client storage technologies see Dive Into Html 5.

Answer 2

1. LocalStorage

   Pros:

   1. Web storage can be viewed simplistically as an improvement on cookies, providing much greater storage capacity. If you look at the Mozilla source code we can see that 5120KB (5MB which equals 2.5 Million chars on Chrome) is the default storage size for an entire domain. This gives you considerably more space to work with than a typical 4KB cookie.
   2. The data is not sent back to the server for every HTTP request (HTML, images, JavaScript, CSS, etc) - reducing the amount of traffic between client and server.
   3. The data stored in localStorage persists until explicitly deleted. Changes made are saved and available for all current and future visits to the site.

   Cons:

   1. It works on same-origin policy. So, data stored will only be available on the same origin.

2. Cookies

   Pros:

   1. Compared to others, there's nothing AFAIK.

   Cons:

   1. The 4K limit is for the entire cookie, including name, value, expiry date etc. To support most browsers, keep the name under 4000 bytes, and the overall cookie size under 4093 bytes.

   2. The data is sent back to the server for every HTTP request (HTML, images, JavaScript, CSS, etc) - increasing the amount of traffic between client and server.

      Typically, the following are allowed:

      • 300 cookies in total
      • 4096 bytes per cookie
      • 20 cookies per domain
      • 81920 bytes per domain(Given 20 cookies of max size 4096 = 81920 bytes.)

3. sessionStorage

   Pros:

   1. It is similar to localStorage.
   2. The data is not persistent i.e. data is only available per window (or tab in browsers like Chrome and Firefox). Data is only available during the page session. Changes made are saved and available for the current page, as well as future visits to the site on the same window. Once the window is closed, the storage is deleted.

   Cons:

   1. The data is available only inside the window/tab in which it was set.
   2. Like localStorage, it works on same-origin policy. So, data stored will only be available on the same origin.

Checkout across-tabs - how to facilitate easy communication between cross-origin browser tabs.

Answer 3

OK, LocalStorage as it's called it's local storage for your browsers, it can save up to 10MB, SessionStorage does the same, but as it's name saying, it's session based and will be deleted after closing your browser, also can save less than LocalStorage, like up to 5MB, but Cookies are very tiny data storing in your browser, that can save up 4KB and can be accessed through server or browser both...

I also created the image below to show the differences at a glance:

Answer 4

These are properties of 'window' object in JavaScript, just like document is one of a property of window object which holds DOM objects.

Session Storage property maintains a separate storage area for each given origin that's available for the duration of the page session i.e as long as the browser is open, including page reloads and restores.

Local Storage does the same thing, but persists even when the browser is closed and reopened.

You can set and retrieve stored data as follows:

sessionStorage.setItem('key', 'value');

var data = sessionStorage.getItem('key');

Similarly for localStorage.

Answer 5

here is a quick review and with a simple and quick understanding

from teacher Beau Carnes from freecodecamp

Answer 6

Local storage: It keeps store the user information data without expiration date this data will not be deleted when user closed the browser windows it will be available for day, week, month and year.

In Local storage can store 5-10mb offline data.

//Set the value in a local storage object
localStorage.setItem('name', myName);

//Get the value from storage object
localStorage.getItem('name');

//Delete the value from local storage object
localStorage.removeItem(name);//Delete specifice obeject from local storege
localStorage.clear();//Delete all from local storege

Session Storage: It is same like local storage date except it will delete all windows when browser windows closed by a web user.

In Session storage can store upto 5 mb data

//set the value to a object in session storege
sessionStorage.myNameInSession = "Krishna";

Session: A session is a global variable stored on the server. Each session is assigned a unique id which is used to retrieve stored values.

Cookies: Cookies are data, stored in small text files as name-value pairs, on your computer. Once a cookie has been set, all page requests that follow return the cookie name and value.

Answer 7

The Web Storage API provides mechanisms by which browsers can securely store key/value pairs, in a much more intuitive fashion than using cookies. The Web Storage API extends the Window object with two new properties — Window.sessionStorage and Window.localStorage. — invoking one of these will create an instance of the Storage object, through which data items can be set, retrieved, and removed. A different Storage object is used for the sessionStorage and localStorage for each origin (domain).

Storage objects are simple key-value stores, similar to objects, but they stay intact through page loads.

localStorage.colorSetting = '#a4509b';
localStorage['colorSetting'] = '#a4509b';
localStorage.setItem('colorSetting', '#a4509b');

The keys and the values are always strings. To store any type convert it to String and then store it. It's always recommended to use Storage interface methods.

var testObject = { 'one': 1, 'two': 2, 'three': 3 };
// Put the object into storage
localStorage.setItem('testObject', JSON.stringify(testObject));
// Retrieve the object from storage
var retrievedObject = localStorage.getItem('testObject');
console.log('Converting String to Object: ', JSON.parse(retrievedObject));

The two mechanisms within Web Storage are as follows:

• sessionStorage maintains a separate storage area for each given origin^{Same-origin policy} that's available for the duration of the page session (as long as the browser is open, including page reloads and restores).
• localStorage does the same thing, but persists even when the browser is closed and reopened.

Storage « Local storage writes the data to the disk, while session storage writes the data to the memory only. Any data written to the session storage is purged when your app exits.

The maximum storage available is different per browser, but most browsers have implemented at least the w3c recommended maximum storage limit of 5MB.

+----------------+--------+---------+-----------+--------+
|                | Chrome | Firefox | Safari    |  IE    |
+----------------+--------+---------+-----------+--------+
| LocalStorage   | 10MB   | 10MB    | 5MB       | 10MB   |
+----------------+--------+---------+-----------+--------+
| SessionStorage | 10MB   | 10MB    | Unlimited | 10MB   |
+----------------+--------+---------+-----------+--------+

Always catch LocalStorage security and quota exceeded errors

• QuotaExceededError: When storage limits exceeds on this function window.sessionStorage.setItem(key, value);, it throws a "QuotaExceededError" DOMException exception if the new value couldn't be set. (Setting could fail if, e.g., the user has disabled storage for the site, or if the quota has been exceeded.)

  DOMException.QUOTA_EXCEEDED_ERR is 22, example fiddle.

• SecurityError : Uncaught SecurityError: Access to 'localStorage' is denied for this document.

   CHROME:-Privacy and security « Content settings « Cookies « Block third-party cookies.
  

StorageEvent « The storage event is fired on a document's Window object when a storage area changes. When a user agent is to send a storage notification for a Document, the user agent must queue a task to fire an event named storage at the Document object's Window object, using StorageEvent.

Note: For a real world example, see Web Storage Demo. ^{check out the source code}

Listen to the storage event on dom/Window to catch changes in the storage. fiddle.

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Cookies (web cookie, browser cookie) Cookies are data, stored in small text files as name-value pairs, on your computer.

JavaScript access using Document.cookie

New cookies can also be created via JavaScript using the Document.cookie property, and if the HttpOnly flag is not set, existing cookies can be accessed from JavaScript as well.

document.cookie = "yummy_cookie=choco"; 
document.cookie = "tasty_cookie=strawberry"; 
console.log(document.cookie); 
// logs "yummy_cookie=choco; tasty_cookie=strawberry"

Secure and HttpOnly cookies ^{HTTP State Management Mechanism}

Cookies are often used in web application to identify a user and their authenticated session

When receiving an HTTP request, a server can send a Set-Cookie header with the response. The cookie is usually stored by the browser, and then the cookie is sent with requests made to the same server inside a Cookie HTTP header.

Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value> 
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Expires=<date>

Session cookies will get removed when the client is shut down. They don't specify the Expires or Max-Age directives.

Set-Cookie: sessionid=38afes7a8; HttpOnly; Path=/

Permanent cookies expire at a specific date (Expires) or after a specific length of time (Max-Age).

Set-Cookie: id=a3fWa; Expires=Wed, 21 Oct 2015 07:28:00 GMT; Secure; HttpOnly

The Cookie HTTP request header contains stored HTTP cookies previously sent by the server with the Set-Cookie header. HTTP-only cookies aren't accessible via JavaScript through the Document.cookie property, the XMLHttpRequest and Request APIs to mitigate attacks against cross-site scripting (XSS).

Cookies are mainly used for three purposes:

• Session management « Logins, shopping carts, game scores, or anything else the server should remember
• Personalization « User preferences, themes, and other settings
• Tracking (Recording and analyzing user behavior) « Cookies have a domain associated to them. If this domain is the same as the domain of the page you are on, the cookies is said to be a first-party cookie. If the domain is different, it is said to be a third-party cookie. While first-party cookies are sent only to the server setting them, a web page may contain images or other components stored on servers in other domains (like ad banners). Cookies that are sent through these third-party components are called third-party cookies and are mainly used for advertising and tracking across the web.

Cookies were invented to solve the problem "how to remember information about the user":

• When a user visits a web page, his name can be stored in a cookie.
• Next time the user visits the page, cookies belonging to the page is added to the request. This way the server gets the necessary data to "remember" information about users.

GitHubGist Example

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As summary,

• localStorage persists over different tabs or windows, and even if we close the browser, accordingly with the domain security policy and user choices about quota limit.
• sessionStorage object does not persist if we close the tab (top-level browsing context) as it does not exists if we surf via another tab or window.
• Web Storage (session, local) allows us to save a large amount of key/value pairs and lots of text, something impossible to do via cookie.
• Cookies that are used for sensitive actions should have a short lifetime only.
• Cookies mainly used for advertising and tracking across the web. See for example the types of cookies used by Google.
• Cookies are sent with every request, so they can worsen performance (especially for mobile data connections). Modern APIs for client storage are the Web storage API (localStorage and sessionStorage) and IndexedDB.

Answer 8

LocalStorage:

• Web storage can be viewed simplistically as an improvement on cookies, providing much greater storage capacity. Available size is 5MB which considerably more space to work with than a typical 4KB cookie.

• The data is not sent back to the server for every HTTP request (HTML, images, JavaScript, CSS, etc) - reducing the amount of traffic between client and server.

• The data stored in localStorage persists until explicitly deleted. Changes made are saved and available for all current and future visits to the site.

• It works on same-origin policy. So, data stored will only be available on the same origin.

Cookies:

• We can set the expiration time for each cookie

• The 4K limit is for the entire cookie, including name, value, expiry date etc. To support most browsers, keep the name under 4000 bytes, and the overall cookie size under 4093 bytes.

• The data is sent back to the server for every HTTP request (HTML, images, JavaScript, CSS, etc) - increasing the amount of traffic between client and server.

sessionStorage:

• It is similar to localStorage.

• Changes are only available per window (or tab in browsers like Chrome and Firefox). Changes made are saved and available for the current page, as well as future visits to the site on the same window. Once the window is closed, the storage is deleted The data is available only inside the window/tab in which it was set.

• The data is not persistent i.e. it will be lost once the window/tab is closed. Like localStorage, it works on same-origin policy. So, data stored will only be available on the same origin.