Urban ponds serve as important objects both for ecological research - spanning biodiversity conservation, landscape connectivity, ecosystem properties - and for studies on ecoevolutionary dynamics due to anthropogenic stressors driving rapid adaptation in these ecosystems. They also hold several connections to human society and these interdisciplinary connections can be tackled within the ecosystem services-disservices framework. Garden ponds have mostly been overlooked as important elements of urban landscapes, even though they might fulfil some of the same ecosystem roles as their larger counterparts - public urban ponds - and may even be more numerous in many areas worldwide. By synthesising the knowledge available on both types of urban ponds as key anthropogenic aquatic habitats, we highlight their role in biodiversity conservation, their ecosystem services (i.e., nature's contributions to people, NCPs) and disservices, while we also identify potential ecosystem service multifunctionality and trade-offs that might be tackled by future research in the context of ecosystem services, climate change, and urban sustainability.