The differences between Maven and Ant are listed below:
Maven Ant
Maven is descriptive and most of the project information are defined in the pom file. Ant is in form of procedure or method where all the instructions to be performed are given in order.
Maven follows a life cycle. Ant does not follow any life cycle.
Maven is considered as a framework. Ant is considered as a tool box.
Maven is a project management and build tool. Ant is a tool used only for build process.
Maven plugins can be reused. Ant scripts cannot be reused.
Maven follows a protocol for example, Maven projects follow a uniform directory structure across organization. Ant does not follow any specific protocol.