If you’re building a serious project in 2025, something that needs to handle real traffic, stay up 24/7, and work with the tools companies actually use, Java is still hard to ignore.
It’s not the shiny new language everyone tweets about, but it’s solid, proven, and runs everything from banking systems to supply chain platforms without breaking a sweat. The real question isn’t whether Java works. It’s which framework you should build with.
There are a lot of options out there for web app development. Some are built for speed, others for flexibility, and a few are just trying to keep up. In this post, we’re cutting through the noise and focusing on seven Java frameworks that actually matter this year.
If you want to make smart decisions for your web app and avoid rewrites later, start here.
There’s no shortage of Java frameworks out there, but most either try to do too much or haven’t kept up with how modern teams build apps. This list skips the noise and focuses on the ones that are relevant right now for real-world web development.
If you're doing anything remotely enterprise-grade in Java, Spring Boot is probably already on your radar and for good reason. It takes the complexity of the broader Spring ecosystem and makes it way more manageable.
With the latest versions, Spring Boot keeps getting better: faster startup times, better support for containerized deployments, and cleaner integration with tools like Docker and Kubernetes. You don’t have to babysit configurations for days just to get moving.
Most importantly, it scales. It handles REST APIs, background jobs, database layers, whatever you throw at it. If your project needs to grow over time (and most do), Spring Boot is a solid bet.
Micronaut feels like it was built by people who were tired of Java frameworks getting in the way. It’s clean, lightweight, and fast, both at runtime and during development.
The big win? No reflection at runtime, which means super fast startup and lower memory usage. That matters if you're doing microservices, serverless functions, or anything cloud-native. It also plays nicely with GraalVM if you’re going down the native image route.
You don’t get the deep ecosystem of Spring, but for lean apps that need to move quickly, Micronaut is a great pick. It just works and it stays out of your way.
Quarkus is built with modern Java in mind, especially if you’re deploying to the cloud. It’s tuned for Kubernetes, containers, and environments where startup time and memory usage actually matter. Like Micronaut, it supports native images via GraalVM, but adds a slick developer experience on top.
Live reload, fast build cycles, and first-class support for reactive programming make Quarkus feel a lot more modern than many older Java stacks. It’s especially useful when you’re dealing with real-time features or spinning up lots of short-lived services.
Jakarta EE is what Java EE turned into after Oracle passed the torch. If you’ve worked in enterprise Java over the years, you’ll recognize the patterns but Jakarta EE has come a long way. It’s cleaner, more modular, and more aligned with how modern apps are built and deployed.
It doesn’t try to be flashy. It’s for teams that care about standards, portability, and long-term stability. If you’re modernizing a legacy Java stack or working in industries where compliance and structure matter more than speed, Jakarta EE still holds up.
Helidon doesn’t get as much hype, but it’s quietly one of the most efficient microservice frameworks in the Java space, especially if you care about performance. It’s backed by Oracle, plays well with GraalVM, and offers two flavors: SE (barebones, for reactive apps) and MP (MicroProfile-based, for those coming from Jakarta EE).
What sets Helidon apart is how lean it is. It gets out of your way and lets you build fast, modular services without overhead. If you're building APIs that need to be fast, small, and container-ready from day one, Helidon’s worth a look.
JHipster is a scaffolding tool, but don’t let that fool you, it’s surprisingly powerful. It lets you spin up full-stack Java web apps with Spring Boot on the backend and React, Angular, or Vue on the front. You pick your stack, and it sets up a clean, production-ready project in minutes.
It’s especially useful if you need to prototype fast or get a solid base without hacking things together. You still need to know what you're doing, but JHipster gives you a head start and sets you up with modern tooling out of the box.
Vaadin takes a different route from the rest, it lets you build the front end of your web app entirely in Java. No need to write a separate React or Angular codebase. If your team’s more comfortable in Java than JavaScript, this can seriously simplify things.
It shines when you're building business apps with a lot of UI complexity with dashboards, admin panels, and data-heavy interfaces. It’s not trying to win over the latest startup crowd, but for internal tools or B2B platforms that need to look polished and just work, it delivers.
Every Java framework on this list is capable but they’re not interchangeable. The right one can save you months of rework. The wrong one? It'll show up in scaling problems, performance bottlenecks, and rising dev costs.
So before you choose a framework, ask:
What will this app need six months from now when you have real users, real traffic, and real stakes?
Good web app development plans account for that. Great ones start with it.
Listen to this podcast to explore the 7 best Java frameworks for web app development in 2025 and find the right fit for building scalable, modern apps.
If you’re planning something real, not a demo, not a throwaway, you need more than just good code. You need the right framework, the right structure, and a team that knows how to think long-term.
That’s where a seasoned Java development company makes a difference. We help teams build apps that don’t just work, but scale, evolve, and last.
Let’s build something solid
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