Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 bankruptcy

Main difference

Chapter 7 is liquidation bankruptcy. All your debts that are not on exempt list will be sold by the bankruptcy trustee in order to pay your creditors.
Chapter 13 is a reorganization plan. During a 3 to 5 years period you pay the creditors according to a payment plan.

Payments

Chapter 7: in this case there is no payment involved (Others than the bankruptcy fees).
Chapter 13: you have to pay a certain % from your income according to payment plan developed by you and approved by the trustee and court. If you fail to make a single payment your case may be dismissed.

Debts

Chapter 7: all your unsecured debts are wipeout. You still have to pay in full debts like tax debts, child support or alimony.
Chapter 13: When you make the payment plan you have to make sure that the administrative claims and priority debts will be paid 100%.Also the secure debts must be fully paid if you want to keep your property. Unsecured debts will be paid anywhere from 0% to 100% of what you owe with the money left after you paid rest of the debts.

Discharge

Chapter 7: all your unsecured debts will be wipeout
Chapter 13: a part of your secure debts may be discharge. You will know exactly what will be discharged after you made the payment plan.

Timeline

Chapter 7: It takes between 4 and 6 months
Chapter 13: It takes between 3 to 5 years, depending of the monthly amount you can pay

Properties

Chapter 7: You will loose all of the non exempt properties. The trustee will sell these properties in order to partially pay your creditors. Consult the federal and state exempt list to see what you can keep.
Chapter 13: As long as you stick with the payment plan you will keep your properties. Make sure that the mortgages and car loans are paid 100% in your plan if you want this to happen.