Rollers used in spherical roller bearings are thicker in the middle and narrow at the ends, and its race is shaped to match. They can adjust to support misaligned loads.
The construction of spherical rollers are complex and difficult to produce so they are expensive. Apart from that these bearings have higher friction compared to ball bearing because different parts of the spherical rollers run at different speeds on the rounded race. Thus there are opposing forces along the bearing/race contact increasing the friction.

Spherical bearings are used in numerous applications where rotational motion changes the alignment of its axis of rotation. One of its important example is a tie rod on a vehicle suspension. Other important uses of spherical bearings have been in car suspensions, trackballs, computer mouse, heavy machinery, sewing machines, drive shafts, etc.