For the purpose of making such requests, HTTP provides many methods such as GET, POST, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS, TRACE, CONNECT, etc. Each of these methods serves a different purpose, however, in this write-up, we are going to stick to the two most common request methods which are the GET and the POST methods, and explore their key differences.
GET Method
The GET method is a fundamental and frequently used HTTP request method that is used to extract data from a resource. The data is extracted by stating the parameters in the URL.
Characteristics of a GET request
Some features of a request made using the GET method are as follows.
1. The requests made using the GET Method are stored in the browsing history and therefore can be cached.
2. Moreover, these requests can be bookmarked thus these should never be used for extracting sensitive data.
3. Furthermore, these have limited lengths and can not be used to modify data.
Pros
Here we have mentioned some pros of the GET method:
1. It can be used to extract data specified in the request-URI.
2. The data extracted can be stored and later viewed from the browsing history.
3. You can store the results of an HTML form using the GET method.
Cons
Below we have mentioned some cons of the GET method:
1. It cannot be used to modify data.
2. This method is not suitable for extracting sensitive data (usernames, or passwords etc).
3. The length of the URL is restricted.
POST Method
The POST Method is another most commonly used HTTP request method. This method is used to make a request to the server-side for fetching some data.
Characteristics of a POST request
Some features of a request made using the POST method are:
1. The modification of a resource using this method means that either the client-side has requested to generate an entirely new resource or update an existing one.
2. The requests made using the POST method are not stored in the browsing history and therefore can not be cached.
3. Moreover, these requests have no limitations in terms of length and can be bookmarked.
Pros
Some pros of the POST method are as follows:
1. This method is used to modify data.
2. A large amount of data can be transmitted easily using the POST method.
3. The data extracted or modified using the POST method can be kept private.
Cons
Some cons of the POST method are mentioned below:
1. The data modified using the POST method is not stored in the browsing history.
2. The POST method is not compatible with numerous firewall versions.
3. This method can take a huge amount of time while uploading large binary files.
Now that we have developed an understanding of what the GET and the POST methods are, let’s explore their key differences.
GET vs POST : Key Differences
The table given below demonstrates some key differences between the GET and the POST methods.
| GET Method | POST Method |
| The data can be bookmarked. | The data cannot be bookmarked. |
| The data extracted can be cached. | The data extracted cannot be cached. |
| The data extracted is saved in the browsing history. | The data extracted is not saved in the browsing history. |
| Parameters used in the URL are visible. | Parameters are hidden in the URL. |
| The URL length has certain restrictions. | The URL length has no restrictions. |
| Only string data types are supported. | Data types like string, int, binary, etc are supported. |
| Not safe for sensitive data. | Safe for sensitive data. |
Conclusion
The GET and POST are some basic HTTP methods that are used to make requests over HTTP. The GET method is used for data extraction only, however, the POST method is used for data modification. Both of these methods render some key differences such as you can bookmark your data using the GET method but you cannot do this using the POST method. Meanwhile, the POST method is safe for sensitive data but the GET method is not. These and many other key differences between the two methods have been discussed in this write-up.
