Survey: Which Java Frameworks Lead in Production in 2024

Survey: Which Java Frameworks Are Used in Production

The Java ecosystem continues to evolve, and choosing a framework for a production environment remains one of the key decisions for a development team. A recent survey conducted among professional Java developers revealed which technologies are actually used in real-world projects, not just in pet projects. The results were predictable, but with unexpected nuances.

Market Leaders: Spring Boot Uncontested

The undisputed leader remains Spring Boot — it is used by 72% of surveyed developers. The framework from VMware (now Broadcom) dominates thanks to its mature ecosystem, extensive documentation, and support for microservice architecture. Most respondents noted that Spring Boot is chosen for:

• Ready-made starters for quick setup (Spring Data, Spring Security, Spring Cloud);
• Integration with GraalVM for Native Image (increasingly in production);
• A large community and abundance of learning materials.

However, developers complain about the redundancy of starters and slow application startup, which pushes them toward lighter alternatives.

Rising Stars: Micronaut and Quarkus

In second place with a result of 14% is Micronaut. This framework from Object Computing is valued for:

• Instant startup (thanks to compile-time compilation);
• Low memory consumption (ideal for serverless and containers);
• Built-in support for reactive programming.

Third place went to Quarkus (Red Hat) with 11%. It is called "Kubernetes-native Java" and is actively used in microservices on OpenShift and cloud platforms. Developers appreciate Quarkus for its integration with GraalVM and Dev Services (autonomous test services).

Classics and Niches: Jakarta EE, Helidon, and Others

Jakarta EE (formerly Java EE) is still used in 7% of projects — mainly in legacy systems of large banks and government organizations. Helidon from Oracle scored 3%, while Vert.x and Dropwizard each got 1-2%. Interestingly, Play Framework has almost disappeared from production — its share is less than 1%.

Trends and Conclusions

The survey confirmed that Spring Boot remains the "gold standard," but Micronaut and Quarkus are actively eating into market share thanks to optimization for cloud environments. There is also a noticeable increase in interest in Native Image (compilation to native code) — it is already used by 23% of respondents. For Java beginners, we recommend starting with Spring Boot, and for microservices in Kubernetes — take a closer look at Quarkus or Micronaut.

The full report with breakdowns by industry and company size is available on the website pythonlib.ru. Stay tuned for updates!