Spring IDE plugin vs STS: feature comparison for version 3.3.0

Taoufik Mohdit picture Taoufik Mohdit · Aug 14, 2013 · Viewed 12.1k times · Source

Does anyone know where I can find the most recent feature comparison document for Spring IDE plugin vs SpringSource Tool Suite STS (version 3.3.0)?

I believe Eclipse made some good progress in Kepler release, (for example Maven support being shipped in) so was wondering if the feature gap between Eclipse+Spring IDE plugin and STS highlighted in 2.9.2 Feature Comparison were reduced in Eclipse Java EE Kepler.

Answer

Andrew Eisenberg picture Andrew Eisenberg · Aug 14, 2013

There is not much difference now between Eclipse + Spring-IDE and STS. The main difference is that when you download STS, you are guaranteed that all the bits and pieces work together. When you install Eclipse + Spring-IDE, you may have some compatibility problems and trouble installing or upgrading.

My advice is this: if you already have an Eclipse that has custom plugins installed, then go with Eclipse + Spring-IDE and if you are starting from scratch, go with STS.