Hands-On Reinforcement Learning with Python

The difference between Q learning and SARSA

Q learning and SARSA will always be confusing for many folks. Let us break down the differences between these two. Look at the flowchart here:

Can you spot the difference? In Q learning, we take action using an epsilon-greedy policy and, while updating the Q value, we simply pick up the maximum action. In SARSA, we take the action using the epsilon-greedy policy and also, while updating the Q value, we pick up the action using the epsilon-greedy policy.