All the 16 personality types described in the Myers Briggs Type inventory have their own share of similarities and differences that makes them quaint and exclusive.

When looking at ESFJ vs. ENFJ, you may find them possessing many qualities that look similar and closely connected but these two personality types are not the same.

Let us understand their distinctive contrasts in this piece of writing.

ESFJ vs. ENFJ

From the outset, ESFJs and ENFJs look similar personality types but in reality they possess many contrasting shades that set them apart from each other.

Both these personality types are extroverts. So they are outgoing, energetic, and social. The feeling-judging characteristics make them emotional and organized beings. 

ESFJs are people-centric personalities with a strong sense of duty. ENFJs also have good networking ability but they are highly thoughtful and pragmatic types. Due to the influence of intuition, ENFJs are logical and prefer to delve deeper into everything. They never take things for granted.

Both ESFJs and ENFJs are sensing-feeling personality types. They process situations emotionally. They love to set plans much ahead before doing a task because they need to know what to expect from a situation.

Being an intuitive type, ENFJs are creative, systematic, and methodical. They love to see the bigger picture of a plan or situation. On the contrary, ESFJs prefer to live in their moments. They cannot execute long term plans because they lack the ability to foresee future opportunities and goals.

Let us now learn more about the similarities and contrasts of these two extrovert types.

The points of similarities between ESFJ and ENFJ

ESFJ and ENFJ possess great energy and social skills. They love mingling with diverse groups and communities of people. ESFJs are usually more talkative than ENFJs but both these types possess good communication and networking skills.

ESFJs have extraverted sensing as their dominant cognitive function. ENFJs have extroverted feeling as their dominant cognitive function. This means that they differ in their perspectives and emotional components.

ESFJs are grounded in reality because of their sensing function. They prefer to stay present in their moments and not ruminate about past or future events. ENFJs thrive in intuition and looking at future possibilities is what they like the most.

There are a number of similarities between these two Myers Briggs personality types. They are as follows:

  • Both of them are extroverts. 
  • They are socially present and love to create good social connections.
  • You will always find ESFJs and ENFJs moving out of their comfort zone to assist others.
  • Both these types are systematic and organized. They do not like many changes in their routine life.
  • They have good leadership ability.
  • Both of them possess excellent networking ability.
  • People of these two personality types are emotional and compassionate. They are quick to understand and analyze people’s feelings.
  • Both these personality types love to make a difference in people’s lives. They care deeply about others’ comforts and as such both these types are good community builders.
  • ESFJs and ENFJs feel great if others appreciate their good deeds. They love to be valued for who they are.
  • ESFJs and ENFJs do not like to be judged. They feel inadequate and insecure if others accuse them of some gross mistakes.
  • Both feel stressed out if they need to spend time alone. They love spending time with many friends or family members around them. These extroverts always love to enjoy the joy of living together.
  • ENFJs and ESFJs find it hard to deal with changes. Both of them will prefer a structured and consistent work environment.
  • Both these personality types are warm, sensitive, and loving. They prefer stable relationships in their life.
  • ESFJs and ENFJs thrive well in harmonious groups. They struggle if asked to resolve a conflict, thus prefer not to get involved in one such conflict.
  • Both act as committed friends and partners in their daily life.
  • ESFJs and ENFJs are social butterflies because of their extraverted traits.

In spite of having so many similarities, ESFJs and ENFJs are not the same personality type. They differ from one another in many ways. 

Let us get into the details of their contrasts and differences now.

ESFJ vs. ENFJ – The key differences

ESFJENFJ
ESFJs love stability and consistency in their life. They love routine and structure and can go on doing monotonous activities without any complaint. ESFJs are comfortable with scheduled work and desk jobs that are the same every day and do not require any innovation.ENFJs enjoy structured, organized setups but they cannot do desk jobs always. They prefer routine only to a certain extent. Being an intuitive personality, they also like creating and innovating with new ideas and concepts. Thus, routine and monotonous work is not for an ENFJ.
For an ESFJ, their real world is all that they believe in. They have keen observation power and will trust things that are practical and serve a good purpose in life.ENFJs are intuitive types. They are deep thinkers who love to merge their creation with the real world. For them, life is uncertain and they prefer to live in this uncertainty. They will quickly notice complicated things and will try to resolve it in their own sweet ways.
The ESFJ personality type loves to remember old memories. They cherish moments of happiness spent with their loved ones. ESFJs love photography and clicking pictures is also a favorite pastime for themENFJ personality types are future-oriented. They love to plan ahead of their time and can plan things as per future needs so that they can accomplish future goals without a hassle.
ESFJs use literal language to describe their experiences. They are detail-oriented and love to explain vividly. ESFJs state facts and figures rather than playing with words, theories, and vague ideas.ENFJs will use a lot of analogies and metaphors to describe their experiences. They never do straight talk rather prefer to add spice while narrating their varied life experiences to others. They focus on the big picture and then get into the details of what they have experienced in reality.
ESFJs are cautious and careful while selecting a life partner for them. They always prefer partners who are committed, stable, and are not into one-night stand relationships. They cannot relate with a prospective partner if he/she has a history of past troubled relationships.ENFJs are social and can mingle with their partner very well. They are not as careful as the ESFJs. But they also relate well with partners who are serious and committed types.
Regarding friendships, ESFJs make few and well-chosen friends. Though they prefer to mingle in large social circles, they will make close friendship ties with only a chosen few.ENFJs usually have many friends. They like people who are thoughtful and think about future possibilities. ENFJs prefer deep conversations with their friends. So, people who are boring and cannot stimulate an ENFJ mentally cannot become their close pals.
An ESFJ is action-oriented and possesses great work ethics. They choose careers that are structured and have a set framework to be accomplished. ESFJs are fiercely meticulous and hard working.ENFJs choose work that can help them serve others better. They believe in community development programs and always love to be a part of such endeavors.They choose careers that are creative, innovative, and follow a definite pattern and structure as well.
Their ideal career option is engineer, social work, health care professional, teacher, and event manager.ENFJs can become good painters, or get into performing arts because of their inclination towards creativity and innovation. They love to play with new ideas and challenges like no other extrovert types in MBTI.
ESFJs have no interest in knowing the unknown. They hate ambiguous things. Theories and abstractions are not for an ESFJ because they don’t find any interest in these things.ENFJ loves creating ideas and working with abstract concepts and unclear things. Their auxiliary function is introverted intuition that helps them focus on the big picture and future possibilities of events or circumstances.
The ESFJ personality loves stability, security, and reliability in life.ENFJs thrive well in challenges. They feel stuck if there is monotony around them. 
ESFJ vs. ENFJ

To Sum Up

From the discussion, it becomes clear that ESFJs and ENFJs have many similar qualities and tastes, yet they are not the same. There are finer differences that may not appear anything big from outside but influences their overall behavior to a great extent.

By knowing the individual differences of these two types separately, you can identify their interesting sides and motivations that make them exclusive and unique.