What is IRA contribution. Is it same as 401K?

[JohnR1]

No - IRA plans and 401k plans are different kinds of retirement plans.

A principal distinction between them is that 401k plans are offered by many employers to their employees, which allow employees to contribute their pre-taxed dollars for retirement; whereas IRAs are self-directed accounts that you directly contribute towards and they are basically classified based on how your money will be taxed – traditional IRAs are taxed when you withdraw from it (during retirement) and Roth IRAs are taxed when you put money in.

Here is a TurboTax blog which provides a good comparison between an IRA plans and a 401k plans:

http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/income-and-investments/401k-ira-stocks/which-should-i-invest-in-firs...