In this paper, we present an extensive comparative study of the degradation and recovery kinetics of vertical and lateral-based Ge-on-Si photodiodes. We show that the combination of defects around specific interfaces, in the presence of hot carriers, can lead to localized degradations in the depletion regions. By complementing experimental results with insights from TCAD simulations, we demonstrate the complex interplay between stress, sense conditions, and p-i-n junction types in determining the degradation kinetics.