02/15/2026
🔥 vs in Spring Boot
If you’re learning Spring Boot, this is one of the first things that can confuse you.Both look similar, but they are used for different purposes!!
Let’s make it simple:
👉 Used for Web MVC applications
👉 Returns HTML views (Thymeleaf, JSP, etc.)
When you use , Spring expects you to return a view name, not JSON. If you want to return JSON with , you must add:
Otherwise, Spring will try to find a view file.
👉 Used for REST APIs
👉 Returns JSON automatically
= +
No need to add .
💡 When Should You Use Each?
✅ Use
• When building server-rendered web apps
• When using Thymeleaf or JSP
✅ Use
• When building REST APIs
• When building microservices
• When your frontend is React, Angular, Vue, Mobile App