Question

Other than the type it returns and the fact that you call it differently of course

<% Html.RenderPartial(...); %>
<%= Html.Partial(...) %>  

If they are different, why would you call one rather than the other one?
The definitions:

// Type: System.Web.Mvc.Html.RenderPartialExtensions
// Assembly: System.Web.Mvc, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
// Assembly location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET MVC 2\Assemblies\System.Web.Mvc.dll

using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace System.Web.Mvc.Html
{
    public static class RenderPartialExtensions
    {
        public static void RenderPartial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName);
        public static void RenderPartial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName, ViewDataDictionary viewData);
        public static void RenderPartial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName, object model);

        public static void RenderPartial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName, object model,
                                     ViewDataDictionary viewData);
    }
}

// Type: System.Web.Mvc.Html.PartialExtensions
// Assembly: System.Web.Mvc, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
// Assembly location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET MVC 2\Assemblies\System.Web.Mvc.dll

using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace System.Web.Mvc.Html
{
    public static class PartialExtensions
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString Partial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName);

        public static MvcHtmlString Partial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName,
                                        ViewDataDictionary viewData);

        public static MvcHtmlString Partial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName, object model);

        public static MvcHtmlString Partial(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string partialViewName, object model,
                                        ViewDataDictionary viewData);
    }
}

Answer 1

The only difference is that Partial returns an MvcHtmlString, and must be called inside <%= %>, whereas RenderPartial returnsvoid and renders directly to the view.

If you look at the source code, you’ll see that they both call the same internal method, passing a StringWriter for it to render to.

You would call Partial if you want to view, save, or manipulate the generated HTML instead of writing it to the page.