Is a scooter different from a mobylette?

BASICALLY a mobylette is a ‘moped’: it is low-powered and typically has pedals to assist the rider in getting uphill.
In fact Mobylette was originally a French brand of two-wheelers of this type.

The formal legal term for the category is now cyclomoteur, which are actually no longer obliged have pedals but are legally-defined as being a two or three-wheeler of no more than 50cc and with a top speed of 45kph.

A small scooter also falls into this cyclomoteur legal category, but it does not have pedals – your feet rest on a flat area.

As with a mobylette, small scooters up to 50cc can be ridden from age 14 with a short course leading to a road safety certificate (brevet de sécurité routière), typically offered to young people in collège.

Scooters from 50cc to 125cc technically fall into a category of motocyclette légère (light motorbike). They can be used on motorways and require you to pass an A1 licence test from age 16, or a seven-hour training course if you hold a car driving licence (permis B). However, the latter is not required if you held your licence before 2011 and were insured for a scooter at some point in 2006-2010.

More powerful scooters generally require full motorbike licences, with the exception of three-wheelers, which may be as much as 300cc to 400cc, but can also be ridden with a permis B plus the training course.