Last updated: 2025-07-30
Jte vs Thymeleaf - advantages and disadvantages
Thymeleaf and jte are both template engines that work great with Spring Boot. What are the differences between them, and which one should you choose?
Thymeleaf
Thymeleaf has been around since 2011 and has become the standard for server-side rendering with Spring Boot in recent years. A typical template might look like this:
Thymeleaf template list.html
Such a template can be opened directly in the browser – all attributes of the Thymeleaf dialect (th:if, th:each, etc.) would simply not be evaluated. Only within Spring MVC are the parameters provided as a model and evaluated by the template engine.
Thymeleaf has a seemingly endless set of commands – ${...}, *{...}, #{...}, @{...}, and ~{...} are just the beginning. Spring Boot has its own dialect, which supports form binding. Additional recommended extensions are available for layouts and for the integration of Spring Security.
Jte
When creating jte, the focus was on minimalism: the entire command set can be learned quickly and intuitively. Here is an example of what a jte template might look like:
Jte template list.jte
The templates are first converted to Java (or Kotlin) code, which is why the output is lightning fast afterwards. For Spring Boot, there is jte-spring-boot-starter-3, which simplifies configuration. However, there are no specific helpers for many typically required functionalities, such as form handling or Spring Security integration. But since Spring MVC already provides many classes here, the amount of code required is not that much in the end.
Kotlin has its own interpreter, and the templates have the extension .kte. The IntelliJ plugin is very helpful, but it does not work for every setup and does not detect all errors. AI is not good at preparing jte templates - probably because there is not enough training data.
Advantages and disadvantages
Both engines are suitable for productive use with Spring MVC. Thymeleaf is much more widely used and has countless helpers. However, the learning curve is very steep and the syntax sometimes requires a lot of getting used to.
Jte is newer with a significantly more compact syntax and even code completion in the IntelliJ plugin. Jte also offers better performance, if that is relevant for the intended use-case. If you need a new function in the template, you often have to implement it yourself - that is not necessarily a disadvantage.
Use the Bootify Builder to configure your own Spring Boot application, including a Thymeleaf or jte frontend. This will prepare the executable app according to your preferences and with all the necessary helpers.
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Further readings
Thymeleaf documentation
Learn jte
