A smaller branch office of a country's diplomatic mission, located outside the capital, handling citizen services like passports, notarizations, and visas.
A consulate is the branch office: same government, smaller mandate, placed in major cities away from the capital. It exists mostly for people, not politics. Passport renewals, birth registrations, notarizations, and visa applications happen here. A country keeps one embassy in the capital and as many consulates as its citizens and trade justify. For most nomad problems, the nearest consulate is the faster door than the embassy itself.
A German in Brazil does not fly to Brasilia for a passport renewal. The consulate in Sao Paulo or Rio handles it. The embassy steps in only for the things a branch office cannot do.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
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