Session vs Token Auth

Introduction

Two paradigms, one decision: server-side sessions (cookie ↔ session in Redis) vs self-contained tokens (JWT, no server state).

Understanding the topic

Picking between them:

• Sessions — instant revocation, smaller cookie, requires sticky sessions or shared store. Best for monoliths and traditional web apps.
• JWT — stateless, scales horizontally, can't revoke instantly without a deny-list. Best for microservices, mobile, third-party APIs.
• Hybrid — JWT for service-to-service, session+cookie for the browser. Common in modern stacks.