Spring Boot vs Express for a student project

Sample post — replace me in the editor.

For a course project I needed a small REST API: users, tasks, and due dates. I built it in both Spring Boot and Express.

Setup time

Express was running in ten minutes. Spring Boot took longer, but the structure it pushed me into paid off once the project grew.

Typing and validation

With Java records and Bean Validation, bad requests were rejected before they reached my code. In Express I had to add that myself.

Verdict

For a weekend hack: Express. For a team project that has to survive a semester: Spring Boot.