Two ways to be paid for a PhD
The same three or four years of doctoral work can be funded in two structurally different ways, and they are not interchangeable. Knowing which one you are looking at changes where you search, how you apply, and what you actually receive.
A funded PhD position is a job
Common in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. You are recruited onto a project, given an employment contract, and paid a salary through the university’s payroll, with social insurance and pension contributions. The advert appears on the university’s vacancy pages, states a contract length, and often quotes a national pay scale rather than an award value.
What follows from that: you apply with a CV and a motivation letter, as for any job; the project is usually defined by the grant that pays for it; you have employment rights, holiday and, in most countries, the right to bring dependants; and the money is taxed like a salary, so the net amount is lower than the headline.
A PhD scholarship is a grant
Common in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and much of Asia, and used by national schemes everywhere. It pays your tuition and a living stipend, usually tax-free, for a fixed number of years. You normally need an offer of admission to the programme first, and you propose your own research topic more often than in the employment model.
What follows: the application is academic — proposal, transcripts, references; the stipend may be lower than a salary but is untaxed; and social insurance, pension and employment protection are usually not included, so check health cover and visa conditions carefully.
Which is better?
Neither, in the abstract. Compare four things for the specific offers in front of you: the net monthly amount after tax and insurance; whether tuition is charged at all; whether the topic is yours or the grant’s; and what happens in year four if the work runs long. A salaried post in a high-cost city can leave you with less than a stipend in a cheaper one, and a fixed topic can suit you better than an open one.
Where to search for each
For positions: university vacancy pages, research-institute career pages, and national portals. For scholarships: graduate research pages, national scheme sites and faculty award lists. This site indexes both, marks which structure each listing uses, and shows the pay scale or award value where the provider publishes one — see how to find funded PhD positions and what “fully funded” really means.