To build the container images for Spring Boot applications with Maven, there are currently two plugins to consider:

Both provide a tight integration into Maven but are completely different from their approach. The Spring Boot Maven plugin uses CloudNative Buildpacks whereas the Jib plugin provides a more direct approach but with the benefit of not requiring Docker at all.

We chose the Jib plugin, because it allows us to provide more customizability without the need of a custom buildpack. It also allows us to use our custom base image to provide a seamless migration. See java-application-base image for more information.