HTTP Request: GET vs. POST

Two commonly used methods for a request-response between a client and server are: GET and POST.

• GET - Requests data from a specified resource
• POST - Submits data to be processed to a specified resource

GET is basically used for just getting (retrieving) some data from the server. Note: The GET method may return cached data.

POST can also be used to get some data from the server. However, the POST method NEVER caches data, and is often used to send data along with the request.

The GET Method

GET is used to request data from a specified resource.

GET is one of the most common HTTP methods.

Note that the query string (name/value pairs) is sent in the URL of a GET request:

Some other notes on GET requests:

• GET requests can be cached
• GET requests remain in the browser history
• GET requests can be bookmarked
• GET requests should never be used when dealing with sensitive data
• GET requests have length restrictions
• GET requests is only used to request data (not modify)

The POST Method

POST is used to send data to a server to create/update a resource.

The data sent to the server with POST is stored in the request body of the HTTP request:

POST is one of the most common HTTP methods.

Some other notes on POST requests:

• POST requests are never cached
• POST requests do not remain in the browser history
• POST requests cannot be bookmarked
• POST requests have no restrictions on data length