| S. No. |
Parameters |
Hardware |
Software |
| 1. |
Basic Definition |
Hardware is a physical part of the computer that causes the processing of data. |
Software is a set of instructions that tells a computer exactly what to do. |
| 2. |
Development |
It is manufactured. |
It is developed and engineered. |
| 3. |
Dependency |
Hardware cannot perform any task without software. |
The software can not be executed without hardware. |
| 4. |
Process of creating |
Electronic and other materials are used to create hardware. |
Created by utilizing a computer language to write instructions. |
| 5. |
Tangible |
Hardware is tangible as hardware is a physical electronic device, that can be touched. |
Software is intangible as we can see and also use the software but can’t touch them. |
| 6. |
Durability |
Hardware typically wears out over time. |
The software does not wear out with time. However, it may contain flaws and glitches. |
| 7. |
Types |
It has four main categories: input devices, output devices, storage, and internal components. |
It is mainly divided into System software and Application software. |
| 8. |
Virus effect |
Hardware is not affected by computer viruses. |
Software is affected by computer viruses. |
| 9. |
Transfer |
It cannot be transferred from one place to another electrically through the network. |
It can be transferred via a network means. |
| 10. |
Machine-Level language |
Only machine-level language is known to be understood by hardware. |
The program accepts human-readable input, interprets it in machine-level language, and sends it to hardware for additional processing. |
| 11. |
Replacement |
If hardware is damaged, it is replaced with a new one. |
If the software is damaged, its backup copy can be reinstalled. |
| 12. |
Failures |
Dust, overheating, humidity and other factors are commonly responsible for hardware failures. |
Overloading, systematic error, major-minor version error, and other factors are commonly responsible for software failures. |
| 13. |
Examples |
Ex: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Printer, CPU, Hard disk, RAM, ROM, etc. |
Ex: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, MySQL, etc. |
