Answer:
Generally both theses two region are similar in the concentration of salt water they contain(both have salt water) and both have hard surfaces.
However, the Coral reefs are usually warm, with sunny environment. It is always submerged,( always covered by water), and very shallow.Complex animals of the aquatic bodies are in the coral reef from varieties of fishes, (shark, rayfish to sponges, etc,. These animals compete for space.
The intertidal zone, one of the three zones, of a typical reefs,is a marine shoreline with constant exposure to air.Hence always above water,unlike Coral reefs.
The continuous fluctuation in tides always change the intertidal zone. Due to constant aeration fro tides, varieties of animals like sea urchins,sea-stars, limpets fished and diverse phyla of species populated this environment,