Spring vs. Hibernate — What's the Difference?
By Fiza Rafique & Maham Liaqat — Updated on May 13, 2024
Spring and Hibernate are both popular Java frameworks; Spring offers comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java based enterprise applications across various deployment platforms. Hibernate specializes in data persistence as an ORM.
Difference Between Spring and Hibernate
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Spring is a versatile framework that provides infrastructure support for developing Java applications. It helps manage business objects and promotes good design practices through dependency injection and aspect-oriented programming. Whereas, Hibernate focuses on data persistence and provides a framework for mapping an object-oriented domain model to a traditional database.
Spring simplifies Java EE development and integrates various backend technologies. On the other hand, Hibernate handles the database interaction part of Java EE development, abstracting the complexity involved in CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations through its ORM capabilities.
While Spring can be used to configure both Hibernate and JPA (Java Persistence API) as the data access layer, Hibernate is specifically designed to resolve issues related to data retrieval and storage in relational databases. Hibernate optimizes data queries and manages transaction processing more efficiently than standard JDBC.
Spring’s architecture allows for easy testing and is adaptable to both web and standalone environments. Conversely, Hibernate is ideal for developers who need a powerful, high-performance ORM solution to convert complex relational data into an easy-to-manipulate Java format.
Spring is often praised for its comprehensive ecosystem, which supports a wide range of application needs from security to messaging. Hibernate, while narrower in focus, excels in optimizing complex query capabilities and transaction management, which is crucial for large-scale enterprise data management.
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Comparison Chart
Primary Focus
Comprehensive Java framework
Object-relational mapping
Use Case
Building and managing applications
Data persistence
Integration
Full stack, integrates with various frameworks
Primarily integrates with databases
Strengths
Versatility, modularity, comprehensive features
Efficient data handling, performance in database operations
Typical Applications
Web applications, enterprise applications
Applications requiring complex data relationships
Compare with Definitions
Spring
It supports dependency injection.
Spring injects object dependencies seamlessly at runtime.
Hibernate
Hibernate is an ORM tool for Java.
Hibernate mapped the object-oriented domain model to the database.
Spring
Facilitates aspect-oriented programming.
Spring uses aspects for transaction management.
Hibernate
Focuses on data persistence.
Hibernate simplifies the database interaction using ORM.
Spring
Known for its wide range of capabilities.
Spring offers solutions from web development to messaging services.
Hibernate
Used for managing relational data as objects.
Hibernate transformed complex SQL queries into simple Java API calls.
Spring
To move upward or forward in a single quick motion or a series of such motions; leap
The goat sprang over the log.
Hibernate
Optimizes database operations.
Hibernate enhances performance with caching and batch updates.
Spring
To move suddenly, especially because of being resilient or moved by a spring
I let the branch spring forward. The door sprang shut.
Hibernate
Suitable for applications with complex database relationships.
Hibernate handled relationships and lazy loading effectively.
Spring
To start doing something suddenly
The firefighters sprang into action.
Hibernate
To be in a dormant or torpid state during a cold period, especially during the winter.
Spring
To appear or come into being quickly
New businesses are springing up rapidly.
Hibernate
To be in an inactive or dormant state or period
"In Lawrenceville people hibernated and life passed them by" (Jacqueline Susann).
Spring
To issue or emerge suddenly
A cry sprang from her lips. A thought springs to mind.
Hibernate
To spend the winter in a dormant or inactive state of minimal activity, low body temperature, slow breathing and heart rate, and low metabolic rate; to go through a winter sleep.
Hedgehogs and bears are two of the many mammals that hibernate in winter.
Spring
To arise from a source; develop
Their frustration springs from a misunderstanding.
Hibernate
(intransitive) To live in seclusion.
Spring
(intransitive) To burst forth.
Hibernate
To enter a standby state which conserves power without losing the contents of memory.
Spring
(of liquids) To gush, to flow suddenly and violently.
The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.
Hibernate
To winter; to pass the season of winter in close quarters, in a torpid or lethargic state, as certain mammals, reptiles, and insects.
Inclination would lead me to hibernate, during half the year, in this uncomfortable climate of Great Britain.
Spring
To gush, to flow out of the ground.
Hibernate
Sleep during winter;
Bears must eat a lot of food before they hibernate in their caves
Certain animals estivate
Spring
(of light) To appear, to dawn.
Hibernate
Be in an inactive or dormant state
Spring
(of plants) To sprout, to grow,
Spring
(now chiefly botanical) To grow taller or longer.
Spring
To rise from cover.
Spring
(of landscape) To come dramatically into view.
Spring
(figurative) to arise, to come into existence.
Hope springs eternal.
He hit the gas and the car sprang to life.
Spring
To move with great speed and energy; to leap, to jump; to dart, to sprint; of people: to rise rapidly from a seat, bed, etc.
Deer spring with their hind legs, using their front hooves to steady themselves.
He sprang to his feet.
A bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
Don't worry. She'll spring back to her cheerful old self in no time.
It was the first thing that sprang to mind.
She sprang to her husband's defense and clocked the protestor.
Spring
(usually with from) To be born, descend, or originate from
He sprang from peasant stock.
Spring
To descend or originate from.
The Stoics sprang from the Cynics.
Spring
(obsolete) To rise in social position or military rank, to be promoted.
Spring
To become known, to spread.
Spring
To emit, to spread.
Spring
To grow.
Spring
(transitive) To cause to burst forth.
Spring
To cause to well up or flow out of the ground.
Spring
To bring forth.
Spring
To cause to become known, to tell of.
Spring
To cause to move energetically; (equestrianism) to cause to gallop, to spur.
Spring
To cause to rise from cover.
His dogs sprang the grouse and partridges and flushed the woodcock.
Spring
To shift quickly from one designated position to another.
Spring
To breed with, to impregnate.
Spring
(of mechanisms) To cause to work or open by sudden application of pressure.
He sprang the trap.
Spring
To make wet, to moisten.
Spring
To rise suddenly, (of tears) to well up.
The documentary made tears spring to their eyes.
Spring
To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.
Spring
To go off.
Spring
To cause to explode, to set off, to detonate.
Spring
To crack.
Spring
To have something crack.
Spring
To cause to crack.
Spring
To surprise by sudden or deft action.
Spring
To come upon and flush out
Spring
To catch in an illegal act or compromising position.
Spring
(obsolete) To begin something.
Spring
(obsolete) To produce, provide, or place an item unexpectedly.
Spring
To put bad money into circulation.
Spring
To tell, to share.
Spring
(of news, surprises) To announce unexpectedly, to reveal.
Sorry to spring it on you like this but I've been offered another job.
Spring
To free from imprisonment, especially by facilitating an illegal escape.
His lieutenants hired a team of miners to help spring him.
Spring
To be free of imprisonment, especially by illegal escape.
Spring
To build, to form the initial curve of.
They sprung an arch over the lintel.
Spring
To extend, to curve.
The arches spring from the front posts.
Spring
To turn a vessel using a spring attached to its anchor cable.
Spring
To raise a vessel's sheer.
Spring
To raise a last's toe.
Spring
(transitive) To pay or spend a certain sum, to cough up.
Spring
To raise an offered price.
Spring
To act as a spring: to strongly rebound.
Spring
To equip with springs, especially to equip with a suspension.
Spring
To provide spring or elasticity
Spring
To inspire, to motivate.
Spring
(ambitransitive) To deform owing to excessive pressure, to become warped; to intentionally deform in order to position and then straighten in place.
A piece of timber sometimes springs in seasoning.
He sprang in the slat.
Spring
To reach maturity, to be fully grown.
Spring
To swell with milk or pregnancy.
Spring
To sound, to play.
Spring
(intransitive) To spend the springtime somewhere
Spring
(of animals) to find or get enough food during springtime.
Spring
(countable) An act of springing: a leap, a jump.
Spring
(countable) The season of the year in temperate regions in which plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.
Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.
You can visit me in the spring, when the weather is bearable.
Spring
(astronomy) The period from the moment of vernal equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) to the moment of the summer solstice (around June 21); the equivalent periods reckoned in other cultures and calendars.
Spring Festival" throughout East Asia because it is reckoned as the beginning of their spring.
Spring
(meteorology) The three months of March, April, and May in the Northern Hemisphere and September, October, and November in the Southern Hemisphere.
I spent my spring holidays in Morocco.
The spring issue will be out next week.
Spring
The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.
Spring
A period of political liberalization and democratization
Arab Spring
Spring
Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
Spring
(countable) Something which springs, springs forth, springs up, or springs back, particularly
Spring
(geology) A spray or body of water springing from the ground.
This beer was brewed with pure spring water.
Spring
The rising of the sea at high tide.
Spring
(oceanography) nodot=a, the especially high tide shortly after full and new moons.
Neap tide
Spring
A mechanical device made of flexible or coiled material that exerts force and attempts to spring back when bent, compressed, or stretched.
We jumped so hard the bed springs broke.
Spring
(nautical) A line from a vessel's end or side to its anchor cable used to diminish or control its movement.
Spring
(nautical) A line laid out from a vessel's end to the opposite end of an adjacent vessel or mooring to diminish or control its movement.
You should put a couple of springs onto the jetty to stop the boat moving so much.
Spring
(figurative) A race, a lineage.
Spring
(figurative) A youth.
Spring
A shoot, a young tree.
Spring
A grove of trees; a forest.
Spring
An erection of the penis. en
Spring
A crack which has sprung up in a mast, spar, or (rare) a plank or seam.
Spring
(uncountable) Springiness: an attribute or quality of springing, springing up, or springing back, particularly
Spring
Elasticity: the property of a body springing back to its original form after compression, stretching, etc.
The spring of a bow
Spring
Elastic energy, power, or force.
Spring
(countable) The source from which an action or supply of something springs.
Spring
(countable) Something which causes others or another to spring forth or spring into action, particularly
Spring
A cause, a motive, etc.
Spring
(obsolete) A lively piece of music.
Spring
To leap; to bound; to jump.
The mountain stag that springsFrom height to height, and bounds along the plains.
Spring
To issue with speed and violence; to move with activity; to dart; to shoot.
And sudden lightSprung through the vaulted roof.
Spring
To start or rise suddenly, as from a covert.
Watchful as fowlers when their game will spring.
Spring
To fly back; as, a bow, when bent, springs back by its elastic power.
Spring
To bend from a straight direction or plane surface; to become warped; as, a piece of timber, or a plank, sometimes springs in seasoning.
Spring
To shoot up, out, or forth; to come to the light; to begin to appear; to emerge; as a plant from its seed, as streams from their source, and the like; - often followed by up, forth, or out.
Till well nigh the day began to spring.
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.
Do not blast my springing hopes.
O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born.
Spring
To issue or proceed, as from a parent or ancestor; to result, as from a cause, motive, reason, or principle.
[They found] new hope to springOut of despair, joy, but with fear yet linked.
Spring
To grow; to thrive; to prosper.
What makes all this, but Jupiter the king,At whose command we perish, and we spring?
Spring
To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert; as, to spring a pheasant.
Spring
To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly; as, to spring a surprise on someone; to spring a joke.
She starts, and leaves her bed, and springs a light.
The friends to the cause sprang a new project.
Spring
To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.
Spring
To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.
Spring
To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.
Spring
To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and allowing it to straighten when in place; - often with in, out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar.
Spring
To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.
Spring
To release (a person) from confinement, especially from a prison.
Spring
A leap; a bound; a jump.
The prisoner, with a spring, from prison broke.
Spring
A flying back; the resilience of a body recovering its former state by its elasticity; as, the spring of a bow.
Spring
Elastic power or force.
Heavens! what a spring was in his arm!
Spring
An elastic body of any kind, as steel, India rubber, tough wood, or compressed air, used for various mechanical purposes, as receiving and imparting power, diminishing concussion, regulating motion, measuring weight or other force.
Spring
Any source of supply; especially, the source from which a stream proceeds; an issue of water from the earth; a natural fountain.
Spring
Any active power; that by which action, or motion, is produced or propagated; cause; origin; motive.
Our author shuns by vulgar springs to moveThe hero's glory, or the virgin's love.
Spring
That which springs, or is originated, from a source;
Spring
That which causes one to spring; specifically, a lively tune.
Spring
The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and grow; the vernal season, usually comprehending the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator.
Spring
The time of growth and progress; early portion; first stage; as, the spring of life.
O how this spring of love resemblethThe uncertain glory of an April day.
Spring
A crack or fissure in a mast or yard, running obliquely or transversely.
Spring
The season of growth;
The emerging buds were a sure sign of spring
He will hold office until the spring of next year
Spring
A natural flow of ground water
Spring
A metal elastic device that returns to its shape or position when pushed or pulled or pressed;
The spring was broken
Spring
A light springing movement upwards or forwards
Spring
The elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length
Spring
A point at which water issues forth
Spring
Move forward by leaps and bounds;
The horse bounded across the meadow
The child leapt across the puddle
Can you jump over the fence?
Spring
Develop into a distinctive entity;
Our plans began to take shape
Spring
Spring back; spring away from an impact;
The rubber ball bounced
These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide
Spring
Produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly;
He sprang a new haircut on his wife
Spring
Develop suddenly;
The tire sprang a leak
Spring
Produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly;
He sprang these news on me just as I was leaving
Spring
Spring is a comprehensive Java framework.
Spring was used to develop a robust enterprise application.
Spring
Provides infrastructure for enterprise applications.
Spring manages security and data access seamlessly.
Common Curiosities
What is the main difference between Spring and Hibernate?
Spring is a comprehensive framework for building Java applications, while Hibernate focuses specifically on ORM to facilitate data persistence.
Is Spring suitable for large-scale applications?
Yes, Spring is designed to support large and complex enterprise-level applications efficiently.
Which is better for data handling, Spring or Hibernate?
For direct database interactions and ORM, Hibernate is generally better, while Spring provides broader data management capabilities.
How do Spring and Hibernate enhance Java application development?
Spring offers a robust foundation and versatile infrastructure for managing all aspects of an application, while Hibernate specializes in efficient data mapping and database operations.
Do I need to use Hibernate with Spring?
No, while Hibernate is a popular choice for ORM with Spring, Spring also supports other data access technologies like JPA.
Which framework should I choose for a new Java project?
The choice depends on your specific needs: if you need a comprehensive framework for application development, go with Spring; if your focus is on efficient data handling, Hibernate might be the better choice.
Can Spring and Hibernate be used together?
Yes, they are often used together to build robust applications, with Hibernate handling the ORM part and Spring providing broader application support.
Can Hibernate work with databases other than SQL?
Hibernate is designed primarily for relational databases but can be extended to work with NoSQL databases through additional configurations.
What are the benefits of using Hibernate?
Hibernate simplifies database interactions, reduces boilerplate code, and improves application performance with its data handling strategies.
What is the learning curve for Spring and Hibernate?
Both frameworks have a moderate learning curve, but extensive community support and documentation help in mastering them.
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Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
