What is the difference between @Controller and @RestController annotations in Spring?

The @Controller annotation in Spring is used to designate a class as a controller in an MVC application. Methods of such a controller typically return the name of the view to be rendered.

The @RestController annotation is a specialized version of @Controller that automatically adds the @ResponseBody annotation to all methods of the class. This means that methods return data (usually in JSON or XML format) directly in the HTTP response body, rather than a view name.

Example:

@RestController
public class MyRestController {
    @GetMapping("/api/data")
    public MyData getData() {
        return new MyData("value"); // will be serialized to JSON
    }
}

@Controller
public class MyController {
    @GetMapping("/page")
    public String getPage() {
        return "pageView"; // name of the template for rendering
    }
}