Quantum algorithm vs quantum gate vs quantum circuit by Ciro Santilli 34 Updated 2024-10-28 Created 1970-01-01
There is no fundamental difference between them, a quantum algorithm is a quantum circuit, which can be seen as a super complicated quantum gate.
Perhaps the greats practical difference is that algorithms tend to be defined for an arbitrary number of N qubits, i.e. as a function for that each N produces a specific quantum circuit with N qubits solving the problem. Most named gates on the other hand have fixed small sizes.