Current Java Frameworks in Production: 2024 Survey Results

Java Frameworks in Production: 2024 Survey Results

The Java ecosystem continues to be one of the most in-demand in enterprise development. However, choosing the right framework for a production environment is no easy task. A recent survey of over 2,000 Java developers, conducted by the analytical portal JetBrains Developer Ecosystem and supplemented with data from the Stack Overflow Survey 2024, sheds light on engineers' real preferences. We have gathered key figures and trends to help you navigate the world of Java frameworks.

Market Leaders: The Unwavering Spring and Its Competitors

As in previous years, the Spring ecosystem remains the absolute leader. According to the survey, Spring Boot is used in production by 72% of respondents, and the classic Spring Framework by about 58%. This is due to its huge community, abundance of ready-made starters (Spring Data, Spring Security, Spring Cloud), and detailed documentation. However, the monopoly is gradually eroding.

• Micronaut (12%) — a framework focused on microservices and serverless. Its advantage is fast startup and low memory consumption due to the absence of reflection at runtime. Ideal for cloud deployments.
• Quarkus (9%) — a "substrate for Kubernetes." Developed by Red Hat, it is optimized for container environments. The survey noted that Quarkus is especially popular among developers migrating from monoliths to microservices.
• Jakarta EE / Eclipse MicroProfile (7%) — an enterprise standard that is gaining a second wind. Used in the banking sector and large enterprise systems where strict specification and long-term support are important.
• Helidon (4%) — a lightweight framework from Oracle, gaining traction in cloud-native projects.

Why Choose Spring Over Alternatives?

Despite the growth of alternatives, 65% of respondents cited development speed as the main reason for choosing Spring Boot. The built-in embedded Tomcat, auto-configuration, and ready-made repositories allow you to launch a production-ready application in minutes. However, there is a downside: 23% of developers complained about Spring's "heaviness" under high loads, which pushes them to explore Micronaut or Quarkus.

Interesting fact: among developers working with Java 17 and higher, the share of Quarkus grew by 40% compared to 2022. The reason is support for virtual threads (Project Loom) in the latest versions, making lightweight frameworks even more efficient.

Trends and Predictions

The survey also revealed growing interest in reactive frameworks (WebFlux, Vert.x). Although they currently account for only 6% of production solutions, in high-load systems (e.g., fintech and IoT) their share reaches 15%. Additionally, one in five respondents plans to adopt GraalVM Native Image to speed up application cold start — a key feature of Quarkus and Micronaut.

For those just starting their journey in Java: the survey confirms that learning Spring Boot remains a must-have, but knowledge of at least one lightweight framework (Micronaut or Quarkus) significantly increases