When to Use @Resource vs @Autowired in Spring: Key Differences Explained

In the Spring framework, dependency injection is a crucial technique for achieving loose coupling and high maintainability. @Resource and @Autowired are two commonly used annotations for implementing dependency injection, and the following outlines their differences.

1. Different Origins

@Resource is an annotation defined in the Java EE specification, while @Autowired is provided by the Spring framework.

2. Different Dependency Lookup Order

@Resource can inject by name or by type, controlled via the name and type attributes; @Autowired primarily injects by type, differing from @Resource's name‑based injection.

3. Supported Injection Styles

@Autowired supports constructor injection, field injection, and setter injection, whereas @Resource only supports field injection and setter injection.

4. Application Scenarios

Use @Resource when you prefer the Java EE specification annotation and need name‑based injection.

Use @Autowired in Spring applications when you care about type‑based injection and want Spring's automatic discovery and injection capabilities.