How does EIGRP differ from OSPF?

EIGRP's DUAL algorithm allows it to support both equal and unequal cost load balancing, a significant advantage in optimizing network resource utilization. It can send traffic over multiple paths even if their metrics differ, as long as the feasible condition is met. OSPF, on the other hand, only supports equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) load balancing. It will only use multiple paths to a destination if all paths have the exact same cost. EIGRP is generally less prone to routing loops due to DUAL's loop-free guarantee for feasible successors. Both EIGRP and OSPF are efficient with CPU and memory, though specific implementations and network scale can influence usage. EIGRP maintains a topology table with all learned routes, while OSPF builds a complete link-state database (LSDB) representing the entire area's topology, not just directly connected neighbors.