Stack Vs Heap Data Structure Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report What is Stack? A stack is a linear data structure where the last element entered exits first. The order of stack data structure might be LIFO, FILO: According to this technique, the piece that is in last will come out first. As an example, consider a stack of dishes stacked on top of each other. The plate we put last is on top, and because we take the plate at the top, we may claim that the plate we put last comes out first. Basic Operations on Stack: push(): To insert an element into the stackTime Complexity: O(1)isEmpty(): Returns true if the stack is empty else false.Time Complexity: O(1)top(): Returns the top element of the stackTime Complexity: O(1)pop(): To remove an element from the stackTime Complexity: O(1)size(): Returns the size of the stackTime Complexity: O(1)What is Heap Data Structure? A Heap is a kind of Tree-based Data Structure in which the tree is an entire binary tree. A heap is a data structure or memory that is used to hold global variables. All global variables are kept in heap memory by default. It enables the allocation of dynamic memory. The Processor does not handle heap memory. The heap data structure may be built either using arrays or trees. It is an entire binary tree that meets the heap property criterion, whereas a completed binary tree is one in which all levels are entirely filled with the exception of the last one. At the last level, all the vertices would be far as left as possible Basic Operations on Heap Data Structure: Heapify: It is a process of creating a heap from an array.Peek: To examine or locate the heap's most recent element (max or min element for max and min heap).Insertion: Process to insert an element in existing heap time complexity O(log N).Time Complexity: O(log N)Deletion: Removing the heap's top element or the one with the greatest priority, then arranging the heap.Time Complexity: O(log N)Difference between Stack and Heap?S.NStack Heap 1It is a linear data structure, which implies that elements are kept in a linear order, one after the other.Because it is a hierarchical data structure, the components are stored in the form of a tree.2Stack data structure works on LIFO (Last in First Out) property.Heap data structure follows min-heap or max-heap property.3The access time in stack is fasterThe access time in heap is slower4Stacks may be implemented in two ways: array, linked list.The implementation of heap can be done using arrays or trees Comment More infoAdvertise with us Next Article Types of Asymptotic Notations in Complexity Analysis of Algorithms D dido7817 Follow Improve Article Tags : Stack Heap DSA difference Practice Tags : HeapStack Similar Reads Basics & PrerequisitesTime Complexity and Space ComplexityMany times there are more than one ways to solve a problem with different algorithms and we need a way to compare multiple ways. 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