Spring Boot
The dominant Java framework for building production-ready REST APIs and microservices. Spring Boot's opinionated defaults eliminate boilerplate and get Java developers to production fast. The standard for enterprise Java.
Why Spring Boot?
You're building a Java backend service or REST API
Your organization has a Java-first engineering culture
You need enterprise features: security, transactions, JPA, messaging
Signal Breakdown
What drives the Trust Score
Download Trend
Last 12 months
Tradeoffs & Caveats
Know before you commitYou're not a Java shop — Python FastAPI or Node Express are faster to build with
You need a lightweight microservice (Quarkus or Micronaut are better fits)
Your team is new to Java — the Spring ecosystem is large to learn
Pricing
Free tier & paid plans
100% free, open-source (Apache 2.0)
Free & open-source
VMware Tanzu support plans available
Alternative Tools
Other options worth considering
The most popular modern Python web framework for building APIs. FastAPI leverages Python type hints for automatic validation, serialization, and interactive OpenAPI docs. One of the fastest Python frameworks available.
Often Used Together
Complementary tools that pair well with Spring Boot
Learning Resources
Docs, videos, tutorials, and courses
Get Started
Repository and installation options
View on GitHub
github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot
mvn spring-boot:run./gradlew bootRunQuick Start
Copy and adapt to get going fast
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/tools")
public class ToolController {
@Autowired
private ToolService toolService;
@GetMapping
public List<Tool> getAllTools() {
return toolService.findAll();
}
@PostMapping
@ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CREATED)
public Tool createTool(@RequestBody @Valid CreateToolRequest req) {
return toolService.create(req);
}
}Code Examples
Common usage patterns
JPA entity and repository
Define a JPA entity and use a Spring Data repository
@Entity
@Table(name = "tools")
public class Tool {
@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
private String name;
private String category;
private int trustScore;
// getters/setters or use @Data with Lombok
}
@Repository
public interface ToolRepository extends JpaRepository<Tool, Long> {
List<Tool> findByCategoryOrderByTrustScoreDesc(String category);
Optional<Tool> findBySlug(String slug);
}Spring Security JWT
Secure endpoints with JWT bearer token authentication
@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {
@Bean
public SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
return http
.csrf(AbstractHttpConfigurer::disable)
.sessionManagement(s -> s.sessionCreationPolicy(STATELESS))
.authorizeHttpRequests(auth -> auth
.requestMatchers("/api/auth/**").permitAll()
.anyRequest().authenticated()
)
.addFilterBefore(jwtFilter, UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter.class)
.build();
}
}application.yml config
Configure datasource, JPA and server in YAML
spring:
datasource:
url: ${DATABASE_URL}
driver-class-name: org.postgresql.Driver
jpa:
hibernate:
ddl-auto: validate
show-sql: false
properties:
hibernate.format_sql: true
server:
port: 8080
error:
include-message: alwaysCommunity Notes
Real experiences from developers who've used this tool