Spin pumping (SP) and the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), two of the most common methods for generating a pure spin current from ferromagnetic insulators, are considered to share similar physical mechanisms. However, a systematic study of the fundamental difference of their working principle is missing. In this work, we present experimental evidence of the contrast in a pure spin current generated by SP and SSE, based on results from yttrium iron garnet (YIG) with various crystalline properties. It is shown that while the SP-induced spin current could be two-orders-of-magnitude different between the polycrystalline and epitaxial films, the SSE excited spin current is surprisingly insensitive to the different crystal structures. Our results clearly distinguish the coherent mechanism of SP from the noncoherent mechanism of the SSE. Consequently, the robust SSE voltage against poor crystallinity proves that the SSE is a powerful tool to explore pure spin current physics, and suggests that polycrystalline YIG films are a promising candidate for spin caloritronic applications.