The main differences between LAN and WAN are:
1. A LAN is restricted to the limited geographical coverage of a few kilometres but a WAN can be spread throughout the country or the entire world.
2. The cost of transmitting data in LAN is negligible since the transmission medium is usually owned by the user organization. However, in the case of WAN, this cost may be very high because the transmission medium used are leased lines or public systems such as telephone lines, microwaves and satellite links.
3. In LAN, the computers, terminals and peripheral devices are physically connected with wires and coaxial cables. Whereas, in WAN, there may not be a direct connection between various computers.
4. Data transmission speed is much higher in LAN as compared to WAN. Transmission speed in LANs is 0.1 to 100 megabits per second. On the other hand, in WAN, the data transmission speed is normally of the order of 1800 to 9600 bits per second. LANs are less error-prone as compared to WANs. Since in a LAN, distance covered by data is limited, less error occurs in LAN.