Concessions and public-private partnerships have become increasingly popular in public services manage-ment in the Republic of Moldova, mostly due to some situations that have gained national attention. There is, however, a lack of understanding on the true meaning of these two notions, mostly due to the disinformation on social media or regular media, where all the legal subtleties are obviously only superficially known. For this reason, it is necessary to emphasize several conceptual delimitations between these notions. Thus, even if they both imply involvement of contest-selected and contract-operating private entities in the public services delivery, the risks and the consequences are quite different for public authorities in case of concession and public-private partnerships, and these must be well acknowledged before making a decision.