Top 10 Exciting Spring Boot Projects & Topics For Beginners [2024]

The best way to learn any technology is by using it. So, if you want to strengthen your knowledge of Spring Boot, you should work on a few Spring Boot projects. A significant issue with projects is it’s quite challenging to come up with their ideas. 

To help you there, I have compiled a list of Spring Boot project ideas. The list contain Spring Boot project ideas for beginners as well ad advance professionals. You can pick any one of the ideas we’ve shared here so you can test your knowledge. 

In this article, you will learn about  the top 10 exciting Spring Boot Projects for Beginners

1. Use Spring Boot to build a Web Application
2. Create REST Service for an Education Site
3. Create an Employee Management System (Using Spring Boot and Thymeleaf)
4. Work on the Open-source Project Sagan
5. Create a Web App with Spring Boot Starter Web
6. Use LDAP to Authenticate a User
7. Create a Contact Us Page (Handle Form Submission)
8. Create a Virtual Bookstore
9. Personal Finance Tracker
10. Health and Fitness App with Spring Boot

Read more to know each in detail.

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But before discussing the projects, let’s look at the basics of Spring Boot. 

What is the Spring Boot?

Spring Boot is an open-source framework based on Java, which allows users to create micro Services. A microservice enables developers to develop and deliver services independently. Here, every service has its process, which enhances the lightweight model. Spring allows you to develop a production-grade stand-alone application you can run. You can start your process without performing the stressful configuration setup of Spring.

The best use case for Spring Boot is to leverage its extensive ecosystem to streamline the development and deployment of microservices, web apps, and enterprise systems by rapidly producing stand-alone, production-ready applications with less configuration.

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That’s why it’s widely popular among Java developers. Developing and understanding spring applications is relatively easy. Moreover, as it gets rid of the complex configuration process, you develop and deploy applications faster with higher efficiency and productivity. 

Why Is Spring Boot Popular?

Before delving into the different Spring boot project topics listed below, let’s understand the reasons contributing to the huge popularity of Spring Boot and why more and more people are inclined toward working with Spring projects. 

Spring Framework has a unique feature, known as dependency injection, with the help of which objects define their own dependencies, which are later injected into them by the Spring container. Thus, developers are able to create modular applications that comprise loosely coupled components. This is especially beneficial for microservices and distributed network applications.

Secondly, Spring Framework is equipped with an in-built support system for typical tasks that an application needs to perform. These might include data binding, exception handling, resource and event management, and many more. It can then easily integrate with multiple Java EE technologies such as RMI, AMQP, and others. Thus, developers are provided with all the tools and features required for creating loosely coupled Java EE applications that can run in any environment.  

Spring Boot also offers a wide range of advantages to its users. Some of them might include 

• It works well with several servlet containers.
• Spring Boot uses Boot initializer, which actually saves memory space. 
• The in-memory database and embedded server of Spring Boot can generate decreased boilerplate code.
• Developers enjoy the freedom of choosing either annotations or XML configurations.
• WAR files are not necessary while using Spring Boot. 

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the most interesting spring boot project examples that are listed below. 

Read: Top 35 Spring Interview Questions & Answers

Let’s now focus on different Spring Boot project ideas:

10 Best Spring Boot Projects with Source Code:

1. Use Spring Boot to build a Web Application

This is a beginner-level project. You can start your Spring learning journey by creating a simple web application. You’ll use either Maven 3.2+ or Gradle 4+. You’ll first have to create an application class then run the application. You’ll also have to add unit tests. For starters, you can build a website for a business. Apart from application class and unit tests, your web application will require services too. To add services, you’ll have to use the actuator module of Spring Boot. 

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Here’s the sample code for creating the application class:

package com.example.springboot;
import java.util.Arrays;
import org.springframework.boot.CommandLineRunner;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
@SpringBootApplication
public class Application {
 public static void main(String[] args) {
  SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
 }
 @Bean
 public CommandLineRunner commandLineRunner(ApplicationContext ctx) {
  return args -> {
   System.out.println("Let's inspect the beans provided by Spring Boot:");
   String[] beanNames = ctx.getBeanDefinitionNames();
   Arrays.sort(beanNames);
   for (String beanName : beanNames) {
    System.out.println(beanName);
   }
  };
 }
}

To find out more about this project, you can go here. 

After you’ve created a web application with Spring Boot, you’ll be familiar with the basics of this powerful tool. You can take this a step further by adding more features to your web app and enhance its functionality. 

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Source Code: Use Spring Boot to build a Web Application

2. Create REST Service for an Education Site

In this project, you’ll create a REST service for a course-providing website. REST is an abbreviation for REpresentational State Transfer, and to create these services; you’ll use Spring Boot. For example, one service can ask for the courses a particular student signed up for, through the Get request method. Other service examples include asking for the students of a specific class, as well as a request to register a student. 

To complete this project, you’ll need Maven 3.0+, an IDE, and JDK 1.8+. You should also be familiar with the Richardson Maturity Model as you’ll need that to identify the level of maturity of your Restful Web Service. This project will help you get more familiar with REST and its implementation through Spring Boot.

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REST gives architectural constraints to services, which are called RESTful services. These constraints comprise of Cacheable results (such as HTTP cache), uniform URL, presence of a service consumer and producer, and statelessness. 

You can use the Spring Web MVC as your web framework. To bootstrap this project (as well as other Spring Boot projects), you can use Spring Initializr. You’d have to choose the Group, the Artifact, and Web, Actuator, and DevTools as your dependencies there. Your service will require data too. For that purpose, you can use an in-memory store such as “ArrayList”.

You’ll also get accustomed to using various request methods while completing this project because you’ll have to use GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE. 

Read: 21 Interesting Web Development Project Ideas For Beginners

Source Code: Create REST Service for an Education Site

3. Create an Employee Management System (Using Spring Boot and Thymeleaf)

By using Spring Boot and Thymeleaf, you can build an employee management system for an organization. But for this, you should be familiar with the basic concepts of both of these technologies. The user of your EMS solution should be able to add an employee, view all employees, delete any employee, sort the data, and paginate. 

It is a rather complex project that might take you some time to complete. However, once you’re done, you’d be familiar with the Thymeleaf CRUD, Spring Boot, and their various functionalities in handling databases. 

You’ll have to use an IDE, Spring Data JPA, Spring Boot 2.2, Maven 3.2+, and Spring Framework 5.2. You should divide it into steps and complete them one-by-one. Start with setting up the database, and then start adding the required features. 

Source Code: Employee Management System Using Spring Boot and Thymeleaf

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4. Work on the Open-source Project Sagan

Project Sagan is a real-world app that facilitates the official website of Spring Boot (spring.io). It’s available on Github and is a popular open-source project. By working on this project, you’ll get to learn a lot about the capabilities of Spring Boot while also getting familiar with its framework, Elasticsearch, Thymeleaf UI, and Gradle.

As it powers a real website, you can see its results anytime. You can see the progress of other developers and how they’ve worked on this project as well. 

It’s a great way to experience the various functionalities of Spring Boot. 

Source Code: Project Sagan

5. Create a Web App with Spring Boot Starter Web

Spring Boot starters can help you get rid of many complicated steps present in the development process. They are dependency descriptors you can add in your application and get all the benefits of Spring. Spring Boot Starter Web is a popular starter. It allows you to build an app with restful services. 

In this project, you’ll first have to use the Spring Initializr to bootstrap the project. Then, you’ll add Spring Boot Starter Web. It performs auto-configuration and adds the necessary dependencies you’d need for any web application.

This means your project gets dependencies for Tomcat, Validation API, beans, MVC, and many others. As you can see, by using Spring Boot Starter Web, you can easily make the development process more productive. 

This was just an example, and you can use many other Spring Boot starters and enhance your results. 

Source Code: Web App with Spring Boot Starter Web

Read: AI Project Ideas & Topics

6. Use LDAP to Authenticate a User

User authentication is a popular requirement of nearly every website and application. Without a valid user authentication measure, a platform would risk compromising the data of that respective user. That’s why we have multiple authentication solutions available. In this project, you’ll work on an LDAP-based authentication system. To create this system, we’ll use Spring Security.

You should be familiar with Spring Security, Maven (or Gradle), and the fundamentals of LDAP before you begin working on this project.  

LDAP authentication refers to validating the combination of the password and username with a directory server (such as OpenDJ, MS Active Directory). It is quite common as it follows the client/server model. Working on this project will make you more familiar with LDAP and help you implement it in other places. You’ll get familiar with the concept of cybersecurity by working on this project as well. 

Like all other Spring projects, you should first begin by going to Spring Initializr and bootstrap your project. You can use Maven or Gradle to work on this project. You’ll then have to create an unsecured web application and set up Spring Security, after which you’ll have to use LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) files to transfer user data.

Source Code: Use LDAP to Authenticate a User

7. Create a Contact Us Page (Handle Form Submission)

You can create a contact us page for any company that has a form. Handling form submission is a great skill, and completing a project in this field will enable you to solve many problems related to the same. 

You’ll first have to use Spring Initializer, then build a web controller (they handle HTTP requests), and once you’ve done that, make your application executable. Test the results once you’ve created the form. This is one of the beginner-level Spring Boot project ideas, but it’ll make you familiar with a vital concept of back-end development. 

If the project seems too simple, you can take it a step further and add the functionality of validating form inputs. Input validation is necessary for sensitive fields such as Login windows. 

Some other interesting Spring Boot project examples might include the following:

• Angular 9 and Spring Boot CRUD App

This is yet another interesting project that makes it to the list of some of the top spring boot project examples. It involves developing a CRUD Web Application with the help of Angular 9 as the front end and Spring Boot 2 restful API as the back end. 

• Spring Boot Thymeleaf Hibernate CRUD Database

Here is another fascinating example of a Spring Boot sample project that basically involves creating a simple Employee Management system with the help of Spring Boot and Thymeleaf. Some of the features of this system include

1. List Employee Feature
2. Add Employee Feature
3. Sorting Feature
4. Search Feature and 
5. Update Employee feature among others

• Java Blogs Aggregator

Last but not least, is the Java Blogs Aggregator which is basically a Spring Boot MVC-based web application. As the name suggests itself, Java Blogs Aggregator is designed to aggregate top Java blogs, and articles via RSS Feed. 

Also read: Python Project Ideas & Topics for Beginners

With that said, these are some of the most interesting Spring projects topics that are available currently. You can make your selection accordingly. Spring projects are definitely one of the best ways to give that extra value to your resume. Ensure to go through several Spring Boot sample projects to gain maximum experience.

Source Code: Contact us form using Spring-Boot framework

8. Create a Virtual Bookstore

The Virtual Bookstore is one of the most common spring boot projects for beginners. It is a dynamic web application with key features that include user registration, a book catalog management system, and a shopping cart function. By taking advantage of the Spring Boot framework, developers can access its MVC architecture, Thyme-leaf templating engine, and Hibernate for smooth integration with a database.

The users can sign up, log in, and browse through a virtual library of books with full descriptions and genres. The site search function enables users to find titles, and a clear shopping cart system makes it easy for people to checkout. Being a full-stack project, novices will learn the practical aspect of creating responsive user interfaces and securely implementing authentication as well as saving persistent data.

The project is not only teaching basic web development skills, but it also helps to find out the importance of creating scalable and maintainable applications. Through utilizing Spring Boot’s capabilities, newbies can learn the intricacies of developing a working e-commerce site.

Source Code: Virtual Bookstore

9. Personal Finance Tracker 

This in-depth project is aimed at the development of a web application that allows users to efficiently manage their finances, which makes it possible for one to track expenses, set budgets as well generate financial reports. 

Utilizing the Spring Boot framework, developers can focus on incorporating RESTful API development to facilitate smooth communication between the front end and backend. The use of Spring Data JPA and Hibernate guarantees the user transaction data processing is made simpler, as well as persistent storage. 

The software allows users to build accounts, log their expenses, and create budget goals as well as display interactive reports for visual analysis of how funds have been utilized. The project not only familiarises developers with important concepts such as CRUD operations but also highlights secure user authentication and data management principles. 

Through this project, beginners acquire hands-on knowledge of building and developing a full-stack web application that enables them to grasp the basics entailed in designing dynamic data-driven interfaces. 

Source Code: Personal Finance Tracker

10. Health and Fitness App with Spring Boot

This spring project with source code includes building a dynamic web app suited for wellness development, with components including user signup, exercise tracking, and health goal setting. The developers can use the features of Spring Boot to develop RESTful APIs that ensure smooth communication between frontend and backend components. The use of Spring Data JPA streamlines user data management, improving the application’s scalability and maintainability. 

The users can create accounts, record their workout activities, set health objectives, and track them in the form of charts that are interactive. The initiative not only covers developers in key concepts like CRUD operations but also focuses on secure user authentication and the incorporation of responsive frontend elements. 

This project provides the budding software developer with hands-on experience in constructing a comprehensive, data-driven web application. It offers insights on developing modular codebases that are easy to maintain and further contributes towards understanding principles that govern full-stack development for health and fitness. 

Source Code: Health and Fitness App with Spring Boot

Conclusion

Spring Boot is easily one of the most popular tools among Java developers and back-end developers. If you’re interested in learning more about such tools and solutions, we recommend heading to our blog. There, you’ll find plenty of valuable resources on these topics along with guides and tutorials. 

Also, let us know the Spring Boot projects you liked the most in our list above? Have you worked on any of these projects? Do you have any suggestions? You can let us know in the comment section below. 

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