What is the difference between goroutine and thread?
Jul 12, 2025 am 02:58 AMThe difference between Goroutine and thread lies in resource consumption, scheduling methods and usage scenarios. 1. Goroutine is lighter, with only 2KB initial stack space, automatically managed, dynamically scalable, while thread stacks are usually 1MB to 8MB, which is expensive to create. 2. In terms of scheduling mechanism, threads are scheduled by the operating system kernel, and context switching is expensive; while goroutine is scheduled by the Go runtime in the user state, using the GMP model, which is more efficient. 3. In terms of concurrency model, goroutine naturally cooperates with channel to implement the CSP model, recommends communication rather than shared memory, reduces the use of locks, and makes it easier to write safe concurrent code; threads rely on mechanisms such as mutex and condition variable, which are more prone to errors. In summary, goroutine is more suitable for highly concurrent server programs, and threads are more general but heavier.
The difference between Goroutine and thread is mainly in resource consumption, scheduling methods and usage scenarios. Simply put, goroutine is a lightweight concurrent execution unit natively supported by Go, while threads are the basic execution unit at the operating system level. They differ significantly in performance and use.

Goroutine is lighter
The overhead of creating a goroutine is very small, the initial stack space is usually only about 2KB, and can be dynamically grown or reduced as needed. By contrast, the default stack size of operating system threads is usually between 1MB and 8MB, which makes running thousands of threads simultaneously unrealistic.
- Low creation cost
- Automatic stack space management
- Fast context switching
For example, it is very simple to start a goroutine in Go:

go someFunction()
Creating threads in Java or C is much more complicated, and mechanisms such as thread pools should be considered to avoid resource exhaustion.
Different scheduling mechanisms
Threads are scheduled by the operating system kernel, and each context switch needs to enter the kernel state, which is expensive. goroutine is scheduled by the runtime of Go and is a user-state scheduling.

Go uses a scheduling mechanism called the "GMP" model:
- G: goroutine
- M: System thread
- P: Processor, determines how many threads can be executed in parallel
This model makes goroutine scheduling more efficient and easier to achieve high concurrency.
Concurrency model and collaboration method
goroutine naturally cooperates with channel to implement CSP (Communicating Sequential Processes) concurrency model, and it is recommended to pass data through communication rather than shared memory.
- It is recommended to use channel to pass data
- Reduce lock usage
- It is easier to write safe concurrent code
For example:
ch := make(chan string) go func() { ch <- "hello" }() msg := <-ch
In thread programming, we more commonly use mutex, condition variable and other mechanisms to protect shared resources. This method is more prone to errors and is more difficult to maintain.
Let's summarize
Although goroutines and threads are both used for concurrent processing tasks, they have significant differences in implementation mechanisms, resource usage, scheduling efficiency, etc. goroutine is more suitable for building highly concurrent server programs, while threads are more general but heavier.
Basically that's it.
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