Some companies, mostly in the UK and Europe, offer a scrip dividend: instead of the cash, you can take new shares of about the same value. It's an election — you choose, through your broker, by a deadline before the payment date, and if you do nothing you normally get cash. A stock dividend, more common in the US, is paid in shares automatically, with no choice involved.
What you're choosing is who keeps the cash. Scrip shares are newly created, so the company holds on to its money and the share count rises — anyone who took cash now owns a slightly smaller slice. That's the difference from a DRIP, which buys existing shares in the market. The app books the dividend's cash value either way; if you took shares, add them as a buy at the company's reference price so your share count catches up.
Same value on the day. The difference is what happens next.
Educational content only. It is not personal financial advice.