1. Applets can be embedded in HTML pages and downloaded over the Internet but Applications have no special support in HTML for embedding or downloading.

2. Applets can only be executed inside a java compatible container, as in a browser or applet viewer and in case of Applications are executed at command as java.exe or jview.exe.

3. Applets execute under strict security limitations that do not allow certain operations whereas Applications have no inherent security limitations.

4. Applets don''t have the main () method as in applications. In its place they operate on an entirely different device where they are initialized by init (), started by start (), stopped by stop () or destroyed by destroy ().