Storing data across pages using PHP is done with two variables in the global scope, called $_SESSION and $_COOKIE, and although accomplishing the same end goal, the both go about it in very different ways. The purpose of this article is to give a brief look into the differences between cookies and sessions, when it’s better to use one versus the other, and the pros and cons of the two. The difference is in how each store data. Cookies store data locally in the user’s browser, while sessions store data on the webserver. Session Basics Sessions are simply server-side cookies each with a corresponding client side cookie that contains only a reference to its server-side counterpart. When a user visits a page, the client sends the reference code to the server, and PHP will then match that reference code to a server-side cookie and load the data in the server’s cookie into the $_SESSION superglobal. Pros 1. Can store very large amounts of data easily. 2. Save bandwidth by passing only ...