Web Sockets, Web Workers, Service Workers… these are terms you may have read or overheard. Maybe not all of them, but likely at least one of them. And even if you have a good handle on front-end development, there’s a good chance you need to look up what they mean. Or maybe you’re like me and mix them up from time to time. The terms all look and sound awful similar and it’s really easy to get them confused.

So, let’s break them down together and distinguish Web Sockets, Web Workers, and Service Workers. Not in the nitty-gritty sense where we do a deep dive and get hands-on experience with each one — more like a little helper to bookmark the next time I you need a refresher.

Quick reference

We’ll start with a high-level overview for a quick compare and contrast.