What is the difference between required and ng-required?

AngularJS form elements look for the required attribute to perform validation functions. ng-required allows you to set the required attribute depending on a boolean test (for instance, only require field B - say, a student number - if the field A has a certain value - if you selected "student" as a choice)

As an example, <input required> and <input ng-required="true"> are essentially the same thing

If you are wondering why this is this way, (and not just make <input required="true"> or <input required="false">), it is due to the limitations of HTML - the required attribute has no associated value - its mere presence means (as per HTML standards) that the element is required - so angular needs a way to set/unset required value (required="false" would be invalid HTML)

I would like to make a addon for tiago's answer:

Suppose you're hiding element using ng-show and adding a required attribute on the same:

<div ng-show="false">
    <input required name="something" ng-model="name"/>
</div>

will throw an error something like :

An invalid form control with name='' is not focusable

This is because you just cannot impose required validation on hidden elements. Using ng-required makes it easier to conditionally apply required validation which is just awesome!!