As the name suggests CURDATE() function will return the current date. In simple words, we can say that it would return only the date not time.
mysql> select CURDATE(); +------------+ | CURDATE() | +------------+ | 2017-10-28 | +------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
In contrast, NOW() function will return current date and time.
mysql> Select NOW(); +---------------------+ | NOW() | +---------------------+ | 2017-10-28 09:10:16 | +---------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)