How did hieroglyphs differ from hieratic writing?

While both systems share the same underlying structure, hieroglyphic writing and hieratic script differ primarily in their form, medium, and usage.1

• Form and Medium: Hieroglyphs were formal, pictorial characters typically carved or painted on monuments. In contrast, hieratic was a cursive, simplified form of these signs, designed to be written rapidly with a reed pen and ink on papyrus, potsherds, or stone flakes.231
• Direction: Hieroglyphs could be written in various directions, whereas hieratic was written exclusively from right to left, initially in vertical columns and later in horizontal lines.12
• Efficiency: To increase writing speed, hieratic utilized ligatures to combine multiple signs into a single stroke. It also employed diacritical marks to distinguish between signs that had become visually similar due to the cursive style.1
• Usage: Hieroglyphs were reserved for formal, monumental inscriptions. Hieratic was the standard for administrative, literary, and religious documents, playing a larger role in daily life and education until it was largely replaced by demotic for secular use in the 7th century BCE.12