Grace framework inherits the excellent concepts and designs of Grails, and based on this, has undergone significant restructuring to ensure that each module is independent and decoupled, such as Grace API, Grace Boot, Grace CLI, Grace Plugin API, Grace Spring, Grace Util. Meanwhile, in order to better focus on maintenance and upgrades, Grace framework also merged the previously spun-off modules, Converters plugin, GSP, Grace Test Support. Grace Boot, as a Spring Boot Auto-configuration, it will load all other modules and plugins. Grace framework follows good modular design, and these modules can be used independently in Spring Boot applications.

Spring is the foundation for Grace framework, which is built on top of Spring Boot. To better support Spring Boot and integrate with other Spring ecosystems, Grace framework has rewritten Plugin.doWithSpring() using Spring Boot’s Auto-configuration, which also reduces redundant configurations and provides significant performance improvements. Grace framework has also provided Configuration Metadata files include in Grace plugins' jars, the files are designed to let IDE developers offer contextual help and "code completion" as users are working with application.properties or application.yaml files. So, a Grace plugin is an extended Spring Boot Starter.

It is worth mentioning that Grace framework supports all current versions of Spring Boot, including 2.7, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5. This makes the upgrade path easier and more manageable.

Grace framework has been actively developing, bringing numerous improvements and new features, including Plugins, GSP, Console, Shell, and Profiles. Of course, it has also fixed a large number of legacy defects left in Grails 5/6, this makes developers happy.

You can learn more on the page Grace Framework vs Spring Boot.

Grace and Spring Boot frameworks are excellent for building web applications, but their use depends on what you want. Generally, Grace framework may be advantageous in full-stack and monolithic applications, but Spring Boot is preferred for developing complex and microservice applications.

Grace framework is not a replacement for Spring Boot, it is a "framework of frameworks" built on top of Spring Boot. It provides its' own Spring Boot Starters - Grace Boot, as an AutoConfiguration, it will load all other modules and plugins. Grace framework follows good modular design, and these modules can be used independently in Spring Boot applications. So, a Grace application is really a Spring Boot application. And Grace plugins also gives your applications more extended capabilities, like Dynamic Modules, Runtime Hooks, Artifacts, Scaffold Templates and Taglibs, so you can write less code and get more done. That’s the secret to boosting development efficiency.

Grace framework has better developer productivity than Spring Boot. Because it follows the convention over the configuration principle, it minimizes code requirements. This enhances productivity and fosters faster app development. The framework creates faster and more functional prototypes than Spring Boot due to its simple code generation like scaffolding and CoC.

Grace framework has better support Groovy than Spring Boot. Grace framework fully embraces Groovy to enable many features that would not be possible using Java alone, including flexible and powerful Plug-in architecture and a rich Plugin ecosystem and many built-in Dynamic Module types, many DSLs, AST Transformations, Trait-based solutions, and much more.

Grace framework provides a powerful CLI that allows you to quickly create new projects of many different types using Application Profiles and Application Templates and get started easily. These are all extensible and easy to customize, you can create your own Profiles, Templates, and Commands to meet any of your needs. The learning curve for Grace framework is moderate and more straightforward than Spring Boot due to its emphasis on convention and simplicity.

Spring Boot 4 has refactored its codebase into a more modular structure, this is the right direction for the future. Grace framework 2024.0 and 2024.1 have been released, and have refactored a lot of the core plugins and modules. Grace’s plugins will be independent, more focused, and at the same time, they will integrate better with Spring Boot’s modules.