Cookies are small pieces of data sent from a website and stored on a user’s device. They have a size limit of around 4KB. Despite their size constraint, cookies are useful for maintaining session state, such as login credentials.

However, cookies have limitations. They are sent with every HTTP request, which can impact website performance. Also, they are vulnerable to security risks like CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attacks if not properly secured.

Storing Data in Cookies vs. Local Storage

On the other hand, local storage provides a larger storage space, typically up to 5MB per domain. Unlike cookies, data stored in local storage isn’t automatically sent with every request, reducing unnecessary overhead and potentially improving website performance.

Local storage is ideal for storing larger amounts of data that need to persist across sessions, such as user settings, cache data, or offline content. It’s accessible via JavaScript APIs, making it easy to work with for web developers.

In summary, while cookies are suitable for small amounts of data and session management, local storage offers a larger storage capacity and better performance for persisting data across sessions.