Spores are the way fungi and some non-seed plants (ferns and mosses) reproduce.

[1]
[2] They are also made by bacteria for long-term survival. Some protozoa also make
long-term survival spores.

The spores of seed plants are single cells that grow into a pollen grain or the
gametophyte inside the ovule. The structure of seeds in higher plants is more
complicated than spores. The main 'innovation' of seeds is their nutrition for the
developing embryo, which spores do not have.

Fungal spores
Fungi (for example, mushrooms) produce spores, which may be asexual or sexual. The
asexual spores have inside them the genetic material to make a whole new organism
identical to its parent.[3]

Conidia are asexual,[4] non-motile spores of a fungus; they are also called
mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of
mitosis. They are haploid cells genetically identical to the haploid parent, can
develop into a new organism if conditions are favorable, and serve in dispersal.

Asexual reproduction in Ascomycetes (the Phylum Ascomycota) is by the formation of

conidia, which are borne on specialized stalks called conidiophores. The morphology
of these specialized conidiophores is often distinctive of a specific species and
can therefore be used in identification of the species.

Germination
Sporangia
Bacterial spores
Bacterial spores are extremely resistant. Spores of tetanus and anthrax, for
example, can survive in the soil for many years. The origin of these spores was
discovered in the 19th century, when a biologist noticed, under the microscope, a
small, round, bright body inside bacterial cells. This survived even when the
bacteria were boiled for five minutes. This killed the bacteria, but not the
spores. They germinated when conditions were right.[5]p186

Plant spores
Plants have alternation of generations. One of the generations is the sporophyte,
which produces spores by meiosis, and the other is the gametophyte with produces
gametes.