What’s the difference between @Component, @Repository & @Service annotations in Spring?

Can @Component, @Repository and @Service annotations be used interchangeably in Spring or do they provide any particular functionality besides acting as a notation device?

From Spring Documentation:

In Spring 2.0 and later, the @Repository annotation is a marker for any class that fulfills the role or stereotype (also known as Data Access Object or DAO) of a repository. Among the uses of this marker is the automatic translation of exceptions.

Spring 2.5 introduces further stereotype annotations: @Component, @Service, and @Controller. @Component is a generic stereotype for any Spring-managed component. @Repository, @Service, and @Controller are specializations of @Component for more specific use cases, for example, in the persistence, service, and presentation layers, respectively.

Therefore, you can annotate your component classes with @Component, but by annotating them with @Repository, @Service, or @Controller instead, your classes are more properly suited for processing by tools or associating with aspects. For example, these stereotype annotations make ideal targets for pointcuts.

Thus, if you are choosing between using @Component or @Service for your service layer, @Service is clearly the better choice. Similarly, as stated above, @Repository is already supported as a marker for automatic exception translation in your persistence layer.

┌────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Annotation │ Meaning                                             │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ @Component │ generic stereotype for any Spring-managed component │
│ @Repository│ stereotype for persistence layer                    │
│ @Service   │ stereotype for service layer                        │
│ @Controller│ stereotype for presentation layer (spring-mvc)      │
└────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘