What is the difference between Git merge and rebase?

I'm new to Git and confused about when to use merge vs. rebase. Which one is better and why?

Merge keeps the full history of both branches with a commit, which is useful for visibility. Rebase creates a linear history by rewriting commits.

Use merge when collaborating to preserve team history. Use rebase for cleaning up commits before pushing to shared branches.

Avoid rebasing public branches. It rewrites history, which can break shared workflows.