The application controller and front controller patterns are quite similar and can create confusion for some users. The problem that the application controller pattern and front controller patterns solve are similar because both are used to centralize the logic at one point. As well as that, both work together using the design pattern command.

The main difference between the application controller and the front controller is that the application controller works to solve the complexity of view and flow page logic, and the front controller works to solve the complexity of the requests and the configurations of them. When the view and flow logic is simple, all logic is sometimes inserted into the front controller, and the application controller is not then used. However, when the logic within the view and flow page is complex, it is recommended to use the application controller in order to decouple the view and flow logic and organize the code.