What is the difference between creating a Pull Request and a Merge Request in version control systems?

Pull Request (PR) and Merge Request (MR) are essentially the same: a request to merge changes from one branch into another in a version control system. The difference in terminology is related to the platform used:

• Pull Request — used in GitHub and Bitbucket.
• Merge Request — used in GitLab.

Both concepts allow developers to propose changes, discuss them, conduct code reviews, and then merge into the main branch.

In essence, there is no technical difference; these are just different names for the same process on different tools.