What are the differences between recommended pages and sponsored stories on Facebook?

[wizard_girl]

Hello everyone!

I would like to know every kind of differences - functional (like: how and when is it used), practical (like: the difference in results), do both have to be payed to Facebook and why would anyone want to use one instead of the other and so on.

Thank you very much in advance

[Aamir]

The major difference between the two is that Facebook introduces Recommended pages to you on the basis of your interests, likes, etc.
Sponsored pages is introduced to you by the page owner and not by Facebook.
Sponsored pages are paid for, while Recommended pages are not.
Recommended pages won't include a huge number of people, whileas Sponsored pages cover a wide variety of people. In sponsored pages, you can even choose which age group, which gender, which country's natives, etc you want to show your ad to.