SQL Server various snapshot types

Snapshot publication:
The publisher sends a snapshot of the published data to the Subscriber at a predetermined interval.

Transactional publications:
After the subscriber receives the initial snapshot of the published data, the publisher streams the transaction to the Subscriber.

Peer Publishing:
Peer publishing supports multi-master replication. The publisher streams the transaction to all peers in the topology. All peer nodes can read and write changes, and all changes are propagated to all nodes in the topology.

Merge publications:
After the subscriber receives the initial snapshot of published data, the Publisher and Subscribers can independently update the published data. Changes are periodically merged. Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition can only subscribe to merge publications.

SQL Server various snapshot types