You might have seen both getClass(), and instanceof operator in Java can be used in the equals() method to verify the type of the object you are checking for equality. Do you know what the difference is between using getClass() vs instanceof operator in Java? What would be the consequence of using one over the other in the equals() method? This is one of the tricky Java interview questions, which some of you might have encountered. There is a very subtle difference between getClass() and instanceof operator, which can cause potential issues with respect to the equals() method.