For many years, PhoneGap and Apache Cordova have been leaders in building cross-platform hybrid mobile applications. They can often be used interchangeably. Both allow you to create mobile applications with front-end web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
What are the similarities?
Apache Cordova is an open-source project. PhoneGap is Cordova’s Adobe distribution. PhoneGap works with Cordova, but it has a separate command-line tool. Any JavaScript framework that works with Cordova will work equally as well with PhoneGap. You can use the same Cordova plugins across Cordova, PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build.
Therefore, they are the same cross-platform frameworks with different names. The most important thing to understand here is that PhoneGap is compatible with Apache Cordova. PhoneGap is Cordova and some additional Adobe stuff. If you are developing a hybrid mobile app, you can either create it using the appropriate Cordova or select the Adobe ecosystem to use the Cordova PhoneGap distribution.
What are the differences?
Over time, PhoneGap deployment may add additional tools that connect to other Adobe services and are not suitable for the Apache project. Adobe may add other Adobe services which are payable.
An example of this paid Adobe service is the PhoneGap Build Service. PhoneGap Build is a service provided by Adobe that lets you upload your HTML, CSS and JavaScript to Adobe servers and create native applications for you. The main benefit is that local SDKs do not need to be installed on your computer. This allows you to do things like compile iOS apps from Windows.
How did this happen?
PhoneGap is the name of the original project created in 2009 by an initiative called Nitobi. In 2011, the company was purchased by Adobe.
Adobe did not purchase the rights of the actual codebase, just the name and the people working in Nitobi. The open-source core was donated to the Apache Software Foundation, which was first called Adobe Callback and is now known as Apache Cordova.
Adobe has retained its PhoneGap name and created a variety of services around the open-source core Apache Cordova.
Conclusion
In practice, PhoneGap and Cordova are basically the same. You can choose PhoneGap or Cordova when starting a project. The only difference is the CLI (Command Line Interface). PhoneGap’s CLI integrates with Adobe PhoneGap Build. This service allows developers to upload their apps to the PhoneGap Build website and compile their apps on the platform of their choice.