afterwards vs later on

afterwards and later on both are adverbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
afterwards	No	No	No	Yes
later on	No	No	No	Yes

As adverbs, afterwards and later on are synonyms defined as:

afterwards and later on: happening at a time subsequent to a reference time

Other synonyms of afterwards include after, afterward, later, subsequently.

afterwards (adverb)	later on (adverb)
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time	happening at a time subsequent to a reference time