painstaking vs conscientious

painstaking and conscientious both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
painstaking	No	Yes	No	No
conscientious	No	Yes	No	No

As adjectives, painstaking and conscientious are synonyms defined as:

painstaking and conscientious: characterized by extreme care and great effort

Other synonyms of painstaking include scrupulous.

painstaking (adjective)	conscientious (adjective)
characterized by extreme care and great effort	guided by or in accordance with conscience or sense of right and wrong
	characterized by extreme care and great effort