There are two main differences:
1. The connection relationships are different. The record between two tables connected in relate mode can be "one-to-one", "many-to-one", and "one-to-many", while join (merge join) the two tables connected by the join method can only have one-to-one or multiple-to-one relationships, and cannot be merged.
2. display is different. After relat is connected to two tables, the appearance is either two independent tables. The record of one table enters the selection set, and the record in the other table also enters the selection set. Displayed in respective windows. After the join operation is performed on two tables, the joined tables are merged into the result set, and the fields in the result table are extended. The table display is compact and concise, and the query operation is also simple.
In ArcGIS operations, we often encounter such an expectation that all layers are aggregated into a small area and cannot be displayed in a full graph. This is caused by a blank layer. You only need to check whether there is any blank layer.