Static Method vs Instance Method in Java

Static and instance methods in Java define how methods belong to and interact with a class or its objects. A static method belongs to the class, while an instance method belongs to an object of the class.

• Static methods can be called using the class name without creating an object.
• Instance methods require an object and can directly access both instance and static members.

Static Method

A static method belongs to the class rather than any specific object, allowing it to be called without creating an instance. It is commonly used for operations that do not depend on object state.

• Can be called using the class name without creating an object
• Can access only static variables and methods
• Cannot directly access non-static (instance) members

class Geeks {

    // static method
    public static void greet()
    {

        System.out.println("Hello Geek!");
    }
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        // calling the method directly
        greet();

        // using the class name
        Geeks.greet();
    }
}

Explanation: The above example shows a static method greet() inside the Geeks class, static methods can be called without creating an object. In the main method, we are not creating an object of Geeks class we are calling the method directly by the class name which is Geeks and then we are printing the output.

Instance Method

An instance method belongs to an object of a class and is used to operate on object-specific data. It requires creating an instance of the class to be called.

• Can access instance variables, other instance methods, and static members
• Requires an object to invoke the method
• Has access to the this reference, pointing to the current object

class Test {
    String n = "";

    // Instance method
    public void test(String n) { this.n = n; }
}
class Geeks {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        // create an instance of the class
        Test t = new Test();

        // calling an instance method in the class 'Geeks'
        t.test("GeeksforGeeks");
        System.out.println(t.n);
    }
}

Explanation: The above example shows how to use an instance method in Java. We are creating an object of the Test class and calling the test method to set a value and then we are printing the output.

Static Method Vs Instance Method

The following table lists the major differences between the static methods and the instance methods in Java.