Dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) have drawn much interest for the regeneration of mineralized tissues, and several studies have compared DPSC to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC). However, conflicting results, possibly due to donor-associated variability, have been published and the regenerative potential of DPSC is currently unclear. In the present study we have sought to address this problem using a donor-matched experimental design to robustly compare the biological properties of DPSC and BMMSC. All experiments were performed using cells isolated from a single adult Sprague-Dawley rat. Our results show that DPSC and BMMSC had similar morphologies and flow cytometry profiles, were capable of forming colonies in vitro, and were capable of osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic differentiation. However, quantitative comparisons revealed that DPSC had a faster population doubling time and a higher percentage of stem/progenitor cells in the population as determined by clonogenic assays. Furthermore, while both cell populations formed mineral in vitro, DPSC had significantly higher alkaline phosphatase activity than BMMSC after three weeks in osteogenic medium. These data show several key differences between DPSC and BMMSC and support the possibility of using DPSC for mineralized tissue regeneration.