PRACTICAL COMPARISON

Release notes vs changelog: what belongs in each?

Compare release notes and changelogs by audience, source, cadence, structure, and the links that keep both records useful.

Start with the audience
Release notes select what customers or another named audience need to understand and use. A changelog serves readers who need a more complete chronological record of shipped changes.
Choose source material deliberately
Release notes translate verified engineering input into customer-facing outcomes and actions. A changelog can retain versions, technical categories, issue references, and implementation detail when those help its readers trace change.
Set cadence for the job
Publish release notes when a customer-visible update is ready to explain. Update a changelog whenever the maintained project records a release, using the version or date convention its readers already follow.
Use a structure readers can scan
Organize release notes around improvements, fixes, and any verified action. Keep a changelog chronological and consistent so readers can locate a version and compare it with earlier entries.
Link the records instead of merging them
Point release notes to the relevant changelog entry when technical detail helps. Point the changelog to release notes when readers need the customer context, without duplicating every sentence in both places.

Turn shipped changes into customer-facing notes.

Paste commit or pull-request summaries, then keep the resulting release note focused on the audience who needs it.