Soft macro Vs Hard macro?

Soft macros?
Soft macros are used in SOC implementations. Soft macros are in synthesizable RTL form, are more flexible than Hard macros in terms of reconfigurability. Soft macros are not specific to any manufacturing process and have the disadvantage of being unpredictable in terms of timing, area, performance, or power. Soft macros carry greater IP protection risks because RTL source code is more portable and therefore, less easily protected than either a netlist or physical layout data. Soft macros are editable and can contain standard cells, hard macros, or other soft macros.

Hard macro?
Hard macos are targeted for specific IC manufacturing technology. They are block level designs which are optimized for power or area or timing and silicon tested. While accomplishing physical design it is possible to only access pins of hard macros unlike soft macros which allows us to manipulate the RTL. Hard macro is a block that is generated in a methodology other than place and route ( i.e. using full custom design methodology) and is imported into the physical design database (eg. Volcano in Magma) as a GDS2 file.