---
title: "Explain the differences between a Thread and a Process?"  
description: "Explain the differences between a Thread and a Process?"  
author: "Sanjay Goenka"  
published: 2022-04-06  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/96763/explain-the-differences-between-a-thread-and-a-process  
category: "troubleshooting"  
tags: ["troubleshooting", "software engineering", "software"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Explain the differences between a Thread and a Process?

[Explain the differences](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159830/explain-the-differences-between-window-functions-and-aggregate-functions) between a Thread and a [Process](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83832/a-brief-about-machine-learning-life-cycle-process)?

## Answers

### Answer by Hitesh Vohra

- A **process** is a running programme, or an active programme. A **thread** is a small, self-contained process that can be handled by a scheduler.
- **Time to switch contexts-**Because processes are more complex, context switching takes longer. Because threads are lighter than processes, context switching takes less time.
- **Sharing Memories-**Processes are completely self-contained and do not exchange memory. A thread's peers may share some memory with it.
- **Communication-**It takes longer to communicate between processes than it does between threads. Thread communication takes less time than communication between processes.
- **Blocked-**If a process is blocked, the rest of the processes can continue to run. When a user level thread is blocked, it causes all of its peer threads to be blocked as well.
- **Consumption of Resources-**Threads use fewer resources than processes.

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**Read More[: What is the difference between an EXE and a DLL?](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/96764/what-is-the-difference-between-an-exe-and-a-dll)**


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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/96763/explain-the-differences-between-a-thread-and-a-process

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