Villagers vs wandering traders in Minecraft: How different are the two mobs?

Mobs are living entities in Minecraft, and they can be seen almost everywhere. When exploring the world of Minecraft, players will often come across villagers and wandering traders.

Villagers have been in the game since the very beginning of Minecraft. Many changes were made to them and to the villages in the 1.14 Village & Pillage update. Compared to villagers, wandering traders are more recent as they were added to the game with the 1.14 update.

Minecraft mob comparison: Villagers vs wandering traders

Spawn location

A village in the plains biome (Image via Minecraft)

Almost everyone who has been playing Minecraft for a while knows that villagers spawn inside villages only. They wander around the village all day and then sleep inside the houses during the night.

Wandering traders do not have a specific spawn location in the game, but they may sometimes spawn next to a claimed bell in a village. They are usually spawned within a forty-eight block radius of the player.

Behavior, appearance, and variants

A farmer villager and a wandering trader (Image via Minecraft)

Both villagers and wandering traders are passive mobs. However, wandering traders travel with two trader llamas that are neutral in nature.

In terms of appearance, both villagers and wandering traders look identical, except their outfits are different. The wandering trader can always be seen in a blue robe with gold and red accents.

On the other hand, villagers have a different outfit depending on their profession, their trader level, and the biome they spawned in. A variant of villagers called nitwit always wears a green robe and cannot become a trader. Minecraft also has a baby variant of villagers, but there is no baby variant of wandering traders.

Trading

Wandering traders can start offering items right after they have spawned, but villagers need to become a trader to do so. Players need to place a job site block next to the villager to turn into a trader.

Players might come across villagers that are already traders if there are job site blocks somewhere in the village.

Wandering traders usually sell naturally generated items that are related to nature, such as plants. Villagers can sell a wide variety of items depending on what type of trader they are. For example, a farmer villager can sell bread for emeralds.

Breeding

Players can breed two adult villagers by putting beds next to them and giving them bread, but wandering traders cannot breed. However, the villagers will only breed if they are willing to.

Drops

Both villagers and wandering traders do not drop any item upon death. However, if a wandering trader was killed when holding or drinking a milk bucket or potion, there is an 8.5% chance that it will drop that item.