What is the difference between custom controls and user controls?

Custom controls are basically compiled code i.e. DLLs. These can be easily added to toolbox, so it can be easily used across multiple projects using drag and drop approach. These controls are comparatively hard to create.

But User Controls (.ascx) are just like pages (.aspx). These are comparatively easy to create but tightly couple with respect to User Interface and code. In order to use across multiple projects, we need to copy and paste to the other project as well.

Difference between a CustomControl and a UserControl

So now you have got the difference between a Custom Control and a User Control, I guess. Let's summarize the differences again. Read the comparison below to make things clear:

Custom Control	User Control
A loosely coupled control w.r.t code and UI	A tightly coupled control w.r.t code and UI
Derives from Control	Derives from UserControl
Defines UI in a ResourceDictionary	Defines UI as normal XAML
UI is skinable	Child controls are skinable
Has dynamic layout	Has static layout
UI can be changed in different projects	UI is fixed and can't have different looks in different project
Has full toolbox support	Can't be added to the toolbox
Defines a single control	Defines a set of controls
More flexible	Not very flexible like a Custom Control
Requires in-depth knowledge of Silverlight UI Model	Does not require indepth knowledge of the UI Model

Hope you now have a better understanding from the above comparison table.