Difference between Spring framework and springboot

The main difference between Spring Framework and Spring Boot lies in their purpose and approach to application development:

Spring Framework:

• General-purpose framework: Spring provides a comprehensive framework for building Java-based applications. It offers features like Dependency Injection (DI), Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), transaction management, and more.
• Manual configuration: With Spring, you typically need to set up and configure things like application context, beans, and XML/Java-based configuration. It requires you to make decisions about which components and tools to use.
• Flexibility: Spring gives you a lot of control over the configuration and structure of your project. It’s ideal for applications that require fine-grained control and customization.

Spring Boot:

• Specialized for microservices and rapid development: Spring Boot is built on top of the Spring Framework, aiming to simplify and speed up the development process. It helps you set up production-ready applications quickly, especially for microservices.
• Auto-configuration: One of the key features of Spring Boot is its auto-configuration. It automatically configures components based on the project’s dependencies, which reduces the need for manual configuration.
• Standalone applications: Spring Boot allows you to build standalone applications (with embedded servers like Tomcat or Jetty), so you don’t need to deploy to an external server.
• Opinionated defaults: Spring Boot comes with sensible defaults to make the development experience smoother, but still allows customization when needed.
• Minimal setup: You typically don’t need to create complex configuration files or boilerplate code. Spring Boot’s starter dependencies simplify the inclusion of commonly-used libraries.

In short, Spring Framework is a comprehensive toolkit for building applications with a lot of flexibility, while Spring Boot is a streamlined, opinionated framework designed to make Spring application development faster and easier, particularly for microservices or standalone applications.