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The struct default access type is public. A struct should typically be used for grouping data. 

The class default access type is private, and the default mode for inheritance is private. A class should be used for grouping data and methods that operate on that data. 

In short, the convention is to use struct when the purpose is to group data, and use classes when we require data abstraction and, perhaps inheritance. 

In C++ structures and classes are passed by value, unless explicitly de-referenced. In other languages classes and structures may have distinct semantics - ie. objects (instances of classes) may be passed by reference and structures may be passed by value.

Technically there are only two differences between classes and structures: 

classes are declared using the keyword class while structures are declared using the keyword struct.

structures are entirely public, while classes are private by default.