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Q & A Developer · September 11, 2026

What is the difference between JWT and session cookies?

Session cookies are opaque IDs the server maps to a stored session record. JWTs are self-contained tokens carrying the claims directly, verified cryptographically without a server lookup. Trade-off: JWTs are stateless (scale horizontally, no session store) but hard to revoke (they remain valid until they expire). Session cookies are easy to revoke (delete the record) but require a shared session store. Use JWTs for microservice APIs, OAuth, and stateless services. Use session cookies for traditional web apps with server-rendered pages.

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What Is a JWT?
JWT (JSON Web Token) is the dominant format for API authentication, OAuth access tokens, and stateless session management. Three base64-encoded segments carry the header, claims, and signature — anyone can read them, but only the key holder can produce a valid token.
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