Slice – https://cognifide.atlassian.net/wiki/display/SLICE, current version is 4.1 (AEM6.*-compliant) Sling Models - http://sling.apache.org/documentation/bundles/models.html, current version is 1.0.4, out-of-the-box bundle from AEM, tightly coupled to AEM release.

Feature Slice Sling Models

Map JCR Primitives Yes Yes Map JCR Multi Properties Yes Yes Map Enumerated Type (from String property) Yes No Map Direct Child Model Yes Yes Map Collection of Child Models Yes No, will be in 1.2.0? Map Referenced (via path) Model Yes No Map Current Resource Yes Yes Map Current Page Yes No, will be in 1.2.0? Map SlingHttpServletRequest Yes No, will be in 1.2.0? Map ResourceResolver Yes No, will be in 1.2.0? Post Construct Method Yes Yes OSGI Standard (OOB) Service Yes Yes OSGI Custom Service Yes Yes Map Child Model via its interface No No Map Inheritable Property Yes (custom code) Yes (custom pretty ugly code required due to lack of custom annotations) Custom Annotations Yes, via Guice No, will be in 1.0.6 Programmatic injection (using framework API) Yes No, will be in 1.2.0? @Via and @Source annotations No Yes @Escape annotation Yes No

Deployment complexity 4 bundles None AEM compliance 3rd party bundle. Native bundle. Tightly coupled with certain AEM release (1.0.4 for AEM60 SP1) Ease of Use Yes Yes Framework Extensibility Easy/Medium Easy/Medium

Slice and Sling Models CAN be used in one AEM application if correctly split into different bundles.

Current AEM version (6.0 with SP1) contains Sling Models v1.0.4 which lacks many useful features and loses the battle with Slice. Some of these features can be obtained by adding third-party bundles and writing custom code, but it’s yet another layer of complexity. Since version 1.2.0 Sling Models will become a good alternative for Slice and potentially can even beat it because it is a native Sling framework which comes OOB and is being very actively developed. Nowadays it is still on the early stages of maturity.

I consider Slice to be a preferred framework with prevailing proven features. I also recommend returning to this comparison once AEM includes Sling Models 1.2.*