The difference between the two is denoted by Apple with different logos: Internet Recovery is signaled by a spinning globe instead of the company logo. Macs released after 2011 feature the built-in recovery – which occupies space on the startup disk – and recovery over the internet, which will require an internet connection as it will download the recovery disk image from Apple's servers. Some of these features include restoring data from Time Machine, reinstalling the operating system, getting help online, repairing or erasing the disk, and more. MacOS Recovery is a separate partition on the startup disk, independent from the bootable OS, and includes utilities that you will need in hard times such as a startup disk failure.
Longtime Mac users may recall that this was when Apple moved the operating system from an installation disk to the App Store. Every Mac has included a partition called Recovery ever since OS X 10.7 Lion was introduced.
