# The differences between query and filter?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-differences-between-query-and-filter/27491>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 17, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-differences-between-query-and-filter/27491 "2015-08-17T10:46:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KennFalcon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kennfalcon/32/28460_2.png) [@KennFalcon](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KennFalcon)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-differences-between-query-and-filter/27491/1 "2015-08-17T10:46:04Z")

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There are some same points between filter and query when I use Java api. What are the differences between them? When we send the same request, which one can return the response faster?

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-differences-between-query-and-filter/27491/2 "2015-08-17T10:51:55Z")

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Use filters!

They generate a bitset that is cached, so future queries that use the filter can reuse it, which makes things _really_ fast 🙂

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-differences-between-query-and-filter/27491/3 "2017-07-05T23:55:33Z")

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