What is the difference between <jsp:forward page = ... > and response.sendRedirect(url)?

The <jsp: forward> element forwards the request object containing the client request information from one JSP file to another file. The target file can be an HTML file, another JSP file, or a servlet, as long as it is in the same application context as the forwarding JSP file.

sendRedirect sends HTTP temporary redirect response to the browser, and browser creates a new request to go the redirected page.