6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Spring boot | Limitations & Benefits of Spring boot

Spring boot is an open source framework that can be used to build mobile and web applications with
the help of micro services. This includes both Java applications and WAR deployments. 

Developed by the company Pivotal software Inc, this framework intends to make the original spring framework more user-friendly. Spring boot is a type of integration framework. All its libraries must be configured often. Meanwhile, it allows developers to instantly get started with Spring rather than setting up the configurations. The main reason for the creation of Spring boot is to ease the development process of Spring applications with minimum complications. 

Al though Spring boot is highly flexible in terms of Database transactions, XML configurations and batch processing that doesn't mean it is flawless. By evaluating the ups and downs of Spring boot, you can decide if you need to use this in your next project.

In this article, I will be listing out 6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Spring boot | Limitations & Benefits of Spring boot. From this post, you will know the pros and cons of using Spring boot.

Let's get started,

Advantages of Spring boot

1. Autoconfiguration

Spring application comes with automatic configuration functions. They intend to reduce the efforts from the developer. Other than that, by following an automatic approach developers can easily save significant amount of time spent in development. Thus, we can say Spring boot offers greater flexibility.

2. Native Server

On default, Spring boot is included with a native Tomcat server. Besides that, you can also choose other services like Undertow and Jetty by removing the default dependencies. Each of them improves the functionality of applications in their own way. Therefore, the developers are not required to setup a separate servlet container. Once the application is launched, it will not run as an executable jar file.

3. Memory Allocation

Spring boot uses a boot strapping technique for saving memory space. In this method, the source language is compiled by using a boot initializer. As a result, the applications will be loaded much faster.

4. XML Configurations

Spring boot provides the option to use either XML configurations or annotations. Many of the developers choose annotations over XML configurations in order to avoid extra steps of writing code. 

5. WAR File Requirement

Currently, Spring boot supports two types of files known as Web Application Resource (WAR) and JAR (Java Resource). Compared to WAR, JAR is a type of lightweight file that is useful for the developer in many ways. For an example, the WAR files makes it possible to connect applications with respective tools quickly. 

And also, the development team is further benefited through these two options. For instance, they can choose either of the two files depending on their requirement.

6. Community Support

Since Spring boot is an open source based software, if consists of a large community of developers. These people are ready to share their knowledge or even provide pre-build codes for the development. Regardless of the technical expertise, you can find various learning materials online.

Disadvantages of Spring boot

1. No Control

Generally, the development file size of Spring boot is larger due to its design. The developers have no control over the file size. The design of Spring boot adds needless dependencies which is mostly unused. All these excess dependencies increase the binary size of applications. 

2. Large Scale Project Support

Spring boot is built focusing on micro services. In face, it works seamless on these applications. However, they are not recommended to be used in large monolithic applications.

3. Time Consumption

Another problem faced by the developers is the time it takes to convert a Spring framework project into Spring boot applications. When there is a framework conversion, the integration will be greater. The underlaying bottom layer also becomes complicated. This makes Spring boot not to be used in existing projects.

4. Modifications

Modifications are not an easy task in Spring boot. Unless you have strong knowledge on Spring systems and history, you cannot modify or troubleshoot Spring boot. 

5. Resource Utilization

Autoconfiguration feature of Spring boot enables several unnecessary features. When this process is automatically enabled, it will definitely utilize excess amount of PC resources by being fully configured.

6. Lack of Tools

Spring boot only comes with some basic sets of tools. Developers cannot use these tools for other major tasks. Especially, for tasks like converting legacy spring code.