Non-compete agreements prohibit parties from competing in certain ways for a specified period and geographic region, while non-disclosure agreements restrict sharing confidential information such as trade secrets. The key differences are that non-compete agreements protect against unfair competition while non-disclosure agreements protect confidential information, and non-compete agreements are generally one-way whereas non-disclosure agreements can be mutual if both parties share confidential information.

2. Non-compete agreements
and
Non-disclosure agreements
are often confused as being one and the same.

3. But these 2 legal agreements are very distinctive
agreements, serving two different purposes.

4. The non-compete agreement
A one-way agreement in which one party (the Recipient) agrees not to
compete against the other (the Disclosing Party):
- In a specific line of business
- In a certain geographic area
- For a specific period of time

6. The non-disclosure agreement
This type of legal agreement simply limits or restricts an independent
contractor, employee, business partner or potential affiliate from dis-
closing confidential information such as trade secrets, documents etc.

7. Differences between
non-compete and non-disclosure

8. 1. Their function
One agreement protects a business from unfair competition while the
other agreement protects its trade secrets and confidential informa-
tion.
Both agreements are designed to protect business interests, but
cover two distinct topics of importance.

9. 2. One-way / mutual
Another distinct difference is in the fact that non-competes are gener-
ally a one-way contract, while non-disclosures, on the other hand, can
often be mutual.

10. For example, when two companies form a joint venture to work on a
specific project, both are likely to be disclosing private and confiden-
tial information to the other, so an non-disclosure agreement will
specify what information, from each party, is to remain confidential.
A non-compete agreement is just a one-way agreement that’s de-
signed to prevent a business from unfair competition from a former
employee or contractor, while the non-disclosure agreement is often
(but not always) a mutual agreement that’s designed to protect pri-
vate and confidential information from being disclosed to competitors
and the public-at-large.