First, let's take a look at the Spear (D&D 5e Player’s Handbook p. 149):
Spear (Simple Melee Weapon)
Cost: 1 gp
Weight: 3lbs
Damage: 1d6 piercing
Properties: Thrown (range 20/60), Versatile (1d8)
I ask this because, when you check the Trident (D&D 5e Player’s Handbook p. 149)…
Trident (Martial Melee Weapon)
Cost: 5 gp
Weight: 4lbs
Damage: 1d6 piercing
Properties: Thrown (range 20/60), Versatile (1d8)
It does the same thing, but it's more expensive and heavier.
So… Is there any reason for you to use a Trident instead of a Spear? I mean mechanically speaking, of course. Because everybody knows that tridents are way cooler.
Best Answer
No
Every class proficient with martial weapons is also proficient with simple weapons, so there would be no mechanical advantage to using a trident over a spear (unless in some unforeseen circumstance you needed the extra 1lb).1
There would be a reason to use a spear (simple weapon) and not a trident (martial weapon), but not the other way around. Bards, clerics, druids, monks, rogues, and warlocks are proficient with simple weapons but not martial weapons. For them, their proficiency bonus would be an advantage of the spear over the trident.
However, these are not the only weapons with the same mechanics (other than price and weight). The following martial weapons are mechanically identical: