How it works
Spring is a long-standing Java framework for dependency injection, web APIs, data access and security. Spring Boot sits on top: add a 'starter' dependency and it configures the matching pieces automatically, embeds a web server such as Tomcat, and packages the service as one runnable file. Actuator adds health checks and metrics for production.
It is common in enterprise, banking and government backends, and pairs with Spring Data (databases), Spring Security (sign-in and permissions) and Spring Cloud (microservices). Kotlin is fully supported. The JVM uses more memory and starts more slowly than Go or Node.js, although GraalVM native images narrow that gap for containers and serverless.
Spring Boot pros and cons
Pros
- Mature and complete for large, long-lived systems
- Huge ecosystem for data, security, messaging and cloud
- Strong typing and tooling in Java or Kotlin
- Health checks and metrics built in for production
Cons
- Higher memory use and slower start-up than lighter stacks
- Much happens by convention, which can feel like magic
- A lot to learn for a small project
When to use Spring Boot
Pick it when
- Enterprise systems and teams already working in Java or Kotlin
- Large backends with many integrations, queues and databases
Skip it when
- Small APIs or serverless functions where start-up time and memory matter
Spring Boot pricing
Related terms
More in Backend and APIs
Frameworks