The <img> tag in HTML is used to directly insert an image into the content of a webpage. On the other hand, the background-image CSS property is used to set an image as the background of an element. This means that the <img> tag is for inserting images within content, while background-image is for styling the background of an element.
Furthermore, the <img> tag allows for alternative text, while background-image does not. The CSS property provides more advanced styling options, such as positioning, repeating, and blending modes, whereas the <img> tag simply displays the image as it is without these additional styling capabilities.
