Although workflow and visual workflow have similar names they are completely different features. The only common thing in both of them is that they both help in automating business processes.
Here are some key differences between Visual Workflow and Workflow:-
Flows are apps which are triggered by user instead of an event which is the case with Workflow rules.
Visual workflow offers screens for displaying and collecting information from the user running the flow. However workflow executes rules and actions behind the scenes.
Workflow rules and actions are associated with a specific object (and can cross objects only to update fields on related master record), flows can look up, create, update, and delete records for multiple objects.
