Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Grails VS Hibernate

Compare Grails VS Hibernate and see what are their differences

Grails logo Grails

An Open Source, full stack, web application framework for the JVM

Hibernate logo Hibernate

Hibernate an open source Java persistence framework project.
  • Grails Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-17
  • Hibernate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-25

Grails features and specs

  • Rapid Development
    Grails promotes rapid development through its convention-over-configuration approach and powerful features, like scaffolding and GORM (Grails Object Relational Mapping), which speed up the coding process significantly.
  • Groovy Language Integration
    Being built on Groovy, a dynamic language for the Java platform, Grails provides the flexibility and expressiveness of Groovy while maintaining compatibility with Java libraries and tools.
  • Spring Boot Foundation
    Grails is built on top of Spring Boot, leveraging its robust dependency injection, security, and configuration management capabilities, which ensures the stability and scalability of applications.
  • Plugin Ecosystem
    Grails offers a rich ecosystem of plugins for extending the framework. This allows developers to easily integrate various functionalities without reinventing the wheel.
  • Convention-over-Configuration
    The framework emphasizes conventions for many aspects of the development process, reducing the need for extensive configuration and allowing developers to focus more on business logic.
  • Strong Community and Documentation
    Grails has a strong community and extensive documentation, which make it easier for developers to find solutions to problems, share knowledge, and get support.

Possible disadvantages of Grails

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its many conveniences, Grails has a steep learning curve, particularly for developers not familiar with Groovy or the underlying Spring framework.
  • Performance Overheads
    The abstraction layers and dynamic aspects of Groovy may introduce performance overheads, making Grails applications potentially slower than those built with more streamlined frameworks.
  • Limited Flexibility
    While Grails' conventions can be beneficial, they can also limit flexibility, forcing developers into certain patterns and practices even when they may not be ideal for all scenarios.
  • Less Popularity
    Compared to other frameworks like Spring Boot alone or Hibernate, Grails has a smaller market share, leading to fewer job opportunities and a smaller pool of resources.
  • Complex Debugging
    The dynamic nature of Groovy can sometimes make debugging more complex and challenging, especially for those accustomed to statically-typed languages like Java.
  • Dependency Management Issues
    Managing dependencies in Grails can occasionally be problematic, particularly when dealing with transitive dependencies or conflicts between plugins.

Hibernate features and specs

  • Object-Relational Mapping
    Hibernate simplifies database interaction in Java by providing Object-Relational Mapping (ORM), allowing developers to map Java objects to database tables without writing repetitive SQL code.
  • Automatic Table Generation
    Hibernate can automatically generate database tables based on your Java entity classes, reducing the need for manually creating and maintaining database schemas.
  • HQL (Hibernate Query Language)
    Hibernate provides its own query language, HQL, which allows developers to write queries in an object-oriented manner and reduces the dependency on SQL.
  • Caching
    Hibernate supports caching mechanisms like first-level cache (session cache) and second-level cache, which can significantly improve performance by reducing the number of database hits.
  • Transaction Management
    Hibernate integrates with the Java Transaction API (JTA) to provide robust transaction management, ensuring data consistency and reducing the complexities of handling transactions manually.
  • Lazy Loading
    Hibernate supports lazy loading of associated entities, which can optimize performance by retrieving only the necessary data from the database on-demand.

Possible disadvantages of Hibernate

  • Learning Curve
    Hibernate has a steep learning curve for beginners due to its extensive set of features and configurations, which can be overwhelming initially.
  • Performance Overhead
    The abstraction layer provided by Hibernate can introduce a performance overhead compared to using plain SQL queries, especially in complex queries or large-scale applications.
  • Complexity in Configuration
    While Hibernate provides flexibility in configuration, it can become complex and cumbersome to manage, especially in large applications or when tuning performance.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging issues in Hibernate can be challenging due to its abstraction and proxy mechanisms, making it harder to trace problems back to the source.
  • Dependency Management
    The use of Hibernate adds additional dependencies to your project, which can complicate dependency management and increase the size of your application.
  • Limited Control Over SQL
    Hibernate abstracts away SQL, which can be a disadvantage for developers who need fine-grained control over the generated SQL and database optimizations.

Grails videos

BUYING MY SNEAKER GRAILS ON STOCKX!

More videos:

  • Review - TOP 5 SNEAKER GRAILS
  • Review - Top 5 Grails with Superpower Review | Berkfamily54comics

Hibernate videos

Should you Hibernate, Shut down, or put your PC to sleep?

More videos:

  • Review - GELERT Hibernate 400 sleeping bag review.
  • Tutorial - Java Hibernate Tutorial Part 8 Chapter 1 Review 1

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Grails and Hibernate)
Developer Tools
75 75%
25% 25
Web Frameworks
62 62%
38% 38
Python Web Framework
100 100%
0% 0
Development
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Grails and Hibernate. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Grails and Hibernate

Grails Reviews

17 Popular Java Frameworks for 2023: Pros, cons, and more
Although you have to write your code in Groovy, Grails works well with other Java-related technologies such as the Java Development Kit, Jakarta EE containers, Hibernate, and Spring. Under the hood, Grails is built on top of Spring Boot to make use of its productivity-friendly features like dependency injection. With Grails, you can achieve the same results with much less...
Source: raygun.com
10 Best Java Frameworks You Should Know
Grails is a web application framework developed using Apache Groovy Language. It is a Framework that follows the coding by convention method which provides a Standalone environment. Also, it supports instance development with no configuration required.

Hibernate Reviews

17 Popular Java Frameworks for 2023: Pros, cons, and more
MyBatis is somewhat similar to the Hibernate framework, as both facilitate communication between the application layer and the database. However, MyBatis doesn’t map Java objects to database tables like Hibernate does — instead, it links Java methods to SQL statements. As a result, SQL is visible when you’re working with the MyBatis framework, and you still have control over...
Source: raygun.com
10 Best Java Frameworks You Should Know
Hibernate is one of the best Frameworks which is capable of extending Java's Persistence API support. Hibernate is an open-source, extremely lightweight, performance-oriented, and ORM (Object-Relational-Mapping) tool.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hibernate should be more popular than Grails. It has been mentiond 16 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Grails mentions (6)

  • Mastering Node.js
    Trails is a modern web application framework. It builds on the pedigree of Rails and Grails to accelerate development by adhering to a straightforward, convention-based, API-driven design philosophy. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • RIFE2 web framework under development
    And frameworks like Grails build conventions and helpers on top of Spring. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Web app in Java with Template Engine
    I don't have any direct experience and am only suggesting it because you mentioned RoR...But Grails (https://grails.org/) is basically the JVM version of RoR (Groovy on Rails -> Grails). Source: over 2 years ago
  • Libraries other than Spring Boot for creating web APIs
    Grails - Spring under the hood. Much less boilerplate. Opinionated, which helps keep things consistent. Uses Spring-Security plugin for authentication. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • "get-it-done" MVC web framework like Django in Java?
    Also, Grails, which a Rails like framework build on Groovy, a JVM scripting language. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Hibernate mentions (16)

  • How To Secure APIs from SQL Injection Vulnerabilities
    Object-Relational Mapping frameworks like Hibernate (Java), SQLAlchemy (Python), and Sequelize (Node.js) typically use parameterized queries by default and abstract direct SQL interaction. These frameworks help eliminate common developer errors that might otherwise introduce vulnerabilities. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Top 10 Java Frameworks Every Dev Need to Know
    Overview: Hibernate is a Java ORM (Object Relational Mapping) framework that simplifies database operations by mapping Java objects to database tables. It allows developers to focus on business logic without worrying about SQL queries, making database interactions seamless and more maintainable. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • In One Minute : Hibernate
    Hibernate is the umbrella for a collection of libraries, most notably Hibernate ORM which provides Object/Relational Mapping for java domain objects. In addition to its own "native" API, Hibernate ORM is also an implementation of the Java Persistence API (jpa) specification. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Spring Boot – Black Box Testing
    I'm using Spring Data JPA as a persistence framework. Therefore, those classes are Hibernate entities. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • How to Secure Nodejs Application.
    To prevent SQL Injection attacks to sanitize input data. You can either validate every single input or validate using parameter binding. Parameter binding is mostly used by developers as it offers efficiency and security. If you are using a popular ORM such as sequelize, hibernate, etc then they already provide the functions to validate and sanitize your data. If you are using database modules other than ORM such... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Grails and Hibernate, you can also consider the following products

Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

Spring Framework - The Spring Framework provides a comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java-based enterprise applications - on any kind of deployment platform.

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Sequelize - Provides access to a MySQL database by mapping database entries to objects and vice-versa.

Meteor - Meteor is a set of new technologies for building top-quality web apps in a fraction of the time.

Mikro orm - TypeScript ORM for Node.js based on Data Mapper, Unit of Work and Identity Map patterns.