Very different.
You signed a contract for ED. You are saying if they admit you, you will go, period end of story.
Now there is an affordability release but one has to assume what the NPC says will be the price so this shouldn’t really happen either but some come in higher than forecast, likely due to input errors.
EA has no commitment. If you give a deposit and back out, no problem although you are likely to lose your deposit.
Btw you wouldn’t be on a waitlist if you were accepted ED because you would have withdrawn all apps. In theory, if the ED informed the WL school what you did, they could withdraw their offer.
Hope that helps.
Breaking ED is unethical. Breaking EA is not as you never bound yourself.
If you are not ready to decide, don’t Ed.