What is @Bean vs @Component — when do you use each? @Bean बनाम @Component — प्रत्येक का उपयोग कब करें?

@Component (and its stereotypes like @Service) is a class-level annotation used when you own the source code — Spring detects the annotated class during component scanning and registers it as a bean automatically.

@Bean is a method-level annotation used inside a @Configuration class, giving explicit, programmatic control over how a bean is constructed — essential for registering beans from third-party libraries you don't own and can't annotate, for beans that need custom construction logic, or for conditionally creating beans based on properties or profiles.

@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
    @Bean
    public RestTemplate restTemplate(RestTemplateBuilder builder) {
        return builder.setConnectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(5)).build();
    }
}