SSE is suitable for one-way push of servers, and WebSocket is suitable for two-way real-time communication. SSE is based on the HTTP protocol and is implemented through the EventSource API, supporting automatic reconnection, and is suitable for news push and other scenarios; WebSocket is a full duplex protocol, and requires connections to be established through ws:// or wss://, which is suitable for high-real-time scenarios such as online games and instant messaging. The main differences between the two include communication direction, protocol basis, compatibility, connection management and resource consumption; when choosing, it should be determined based on factors such as whether two-way communication is needed, delay requirements, and development complexity.
SSE and WebSocket are technologies used to implement real-time communication, but their applicable scenarios and working mechanisms are different. If you need web pages to receive server updates in real time, such as stock market, chat messages or notification push, these two technologies may be useful, but choosing the wrong solution may cause performance or development troubles.

What are Server-Sent Events (SSE)?
SSE is part of HTML5 and is a technology that allows servers to push data to browsers in one-way . In other words, the client only needs to establish a connection once, and the server can continuously send new data until the connection is closed. It is based on the HTTP protocol and uses standard GET requests.

- Clients establish connections through
EventSource
API - The content type returned by the server is
text/event-stream
- Supports automatic reconnection, event identification and other features
Suitable for scenarios like news push and status updates where only the server needs to send messages to the client.
What is WebSockets?
WebSocket is a full-duplex communication protocol. Once the connection is established, messages can be sent in both directions between the client and the server, and communication is more efficient and has lower latency.

- Use
ws://
or encryptedwss://
protocol - The connection establishment process is an HTTP upgrade request
- Message can be text or binary
Suitable for online games, multi-player collaborative editing, instant messaging and other scenarios that require frequent interaction.
The main differences between SSE and WebSocket
Although both can implement "server push", there are several key differences in actual use:
- Different communication directions : SSE is one-way (server → client), while WebSocket is two-way.
- The protocol basis is different : SSE is based on HTTP, and WebSocket is an independent TCP protocol.
- Compatibility : SSE is well supported in modern browsers, but almost not feasible on IE; WebSocket supports it in almost all mainstream browsers.
- Connection management complexity : SSE is simpler, with automatic reconnection and breakpoint continuous transmission mechanisms built-in; WebSocket needs to handle the disconnection and reconnection logic by itself.
- Server resource consumption : SSE is a long connection, but each client occupies less resources; although WebSocket is efficient, it keeps the cost per connection higher.
How to choose SSE or WebSocket?
Which one to choose depends on your project requirements:
If your application:
- Only the server needs to push data to the client
- Not very frequent updates, or do not require too low latency
- Don't want to introduce additional libraries or complex server configurations → then SSE is a lightweight and practical option.
If you need:
- The client can also send messages to the server
- Real-time requirements are high, such as typing synchronization and online battles
- There is special WebSocket server support → WebSocket is more suitable.
Basically that's it. Both technologies have their own advantages. Don’t blindly pursue high performance. First, see if you really need it.
The above is the detailed content of Understanding Server-Sent Events vs HTML5 WebSockets. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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