When a consumer application is written to use static binding, the program binds to a specified address at run time (that is, an endpoint that is already known by the program). When a developer creates a program that uses static binding, he or she will get the endpoint of the service from CentraSite at design time. Typically, this end point is added to a configuration file or a parameter setting that the consumer program reads at run time. If the actual endpoint of the service ever changes, the consumer program must be configured to access the service at its new endpoint.

When a consumer application is written to use dynamic binding, the program "looks up" the service's address at run time and binds to that address. To use this type of binding, a developer must write a query to retrieve the service's endpoint from CentraSite. At run time, the consumer program executes the query and binds to the endpoint that the query returns. If the endpoint of the service changes, one only has to update the service's endpoint information in CentraSite. Nothing has to be changed in the consumer application.