Minecraft's item content is more centralized on building and crafting, whilst Terraria's item content is focused more upon exploration and battling. If you were to compare the two games, the only thing you could really say is that Minecraft is better for sandbox building, and Terraria is better for adventure.
Just after a few days of playing on my first world, I quickly realized what made Terraria so different from Minecraft (and so much harder). It wasn't the combat, the huge crafting tree, or anything in the gameplay. It was the inventory management. Think about an inventory in Minecraft.