Differences between asimple product and configurable product when using configurations.

[johanhur]

I've tried to make a product with Simple product and Configurable product. Both of them can use configurations (i.e. 1) color 2) size ) and I had applied the same attributes in both products type.  And it turned out to be the same on a frontend page. My question is that is there a two ways to make a configurable product ultimately or is there any differences in both products though it looks the same on a frontend page? 

[Dmitry_Fedyuk]

Magento keeps the stock status for a configurable product's simple variants , but does not do so for a simple product's configurable options.

[Store_Manager]

In addition to stock keeping differences (quantities of variations are not tracked for simple products with options and for configurable goods inventory can be managed) there are also the following differences:

- associated to configurable simple products are independent items, so they can be used in search and in layered navigation (for filtering), custom options cannot be used for the mentioned purposes

- SEO approach - configurable items with associations are so-friendly and if sold separately can be taken into account by search engine and bring more interested clients to your store

Here is the article with detailed comparison -

https://www.mag-manager.com/useful-articles/tipstricks/simple-products-with-custom-options-vs-config...