Cookies vs LocalStorage
Developers should learn about cookies when building web applications that require user authentication, session management, or personalization features, such as e-commerce sites or social media platforms meets developers should use localstorage when they need to persist non-sensitive user data like preferences, form drafts, or application state locally in the browser, particularly for progressive web apps (pwas) or offline functionality. Here's our take.
Cookies
Developers should learn about cookies when building web applications that require user authentication, session management, or personalization features, such as e-commerce sites or social media platforms
Cookies
Nice PickDevelopers should learn about cookies when building web applications that require user authentication, session management, or personalization features, such as e-commerce sites or social media platforms
Pros
- +They are essential for implementing features like 'remember me' functionality, shopping carts, and user-specific settings, though modern alternatives like localStorage and sessionStorage are often preferred for non-sensitive data due to better performance and security considerations
- +Related to: http, session-management
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
LocalStorage
Developers should use LocalStorage when they need to persist non-sensitive user data like preferences, form drafts, or application state locally in the browser, particularly for progressive web apps (PWAs) or offline functionality
Pros
- +It's ideal for scenarios requiring simple client-side storage without complex setup, such as remembering user settings, caching small datasets, or maintaining session-like state across page reloads, but should be avoided for sensitive data due to lack of encryption and XSS vulnerabilities
- +Related to: session-storage, indexeddb
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
These tools serve different purposes. Cookies is a concept while LocalStorage is a web-api. We picked Cookies based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.
Based on overall popularity. Cookies is more widely used, but LocalStorage excels in its own space.
Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev