0| Site Definition | Site Template |
| A site definition defines a unique SharePoint site. | Site Templates are created from an existing site. Usually created after customization. |
| Files are stored on Web Front End Server/Disk. So better performance | Files are stored on Content Database so less compare to. |
| Customization of site definition requires more effort than creating custom templates. | Custom templates are easy to create. |
| Site definition is a combination of multiple files like .xml, .aspx, .ascx, and .master page, .gif , .doc etc and are stored in Hive\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates directory. | They are less efficient in large-scale environments. |
| Feature Stapling is supported by Site Definitions but it is not supported by Site Template. | If the site definition on which the custom template is based does not exist on the front-end server or servers, the custom template will not work. |
