I was looking through some of my old blog posts, and I came across my post about the state of the Java ecosystem which I wrote in December 2023. I figured that now was a good time for an update.
Without further ado, let’s jump in…
Java Versions: The Changing of the Guard
In 2023, Java 8 and 11 were still the “comfort blankets” of the enterprise. Fast forward to 2025/26, and there’s been a huge shift. With Java 25 (LTS) having been released in September 2025, the production choices have changed:
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Java 21 (LTS) is currently the “King of Production”. Some reports (New Relic, Snyk) now place it at ~45% usage. The draw was the stability and power of Virtual Threads and general performance improvements.
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Java 17 (LTS) is holding steady at ~25% to 30%, though it is starting to decline as teams move to newer versions.
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Java 8 & 11 (LTS): Finally, we are seeing the sunset of the old guard. Combined, they’ve dropped to under 20% of the ecosystem. Many developers are finally being forced to upgrade due to security compliance concerns and the fact that modern frameworks (Spring Boot 3.x) simply won’t run on them.
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Java 25 (LTS): Adoption is already at ~10%. This is incredibly fast for an LTS release that is only a few months old. This is probably driven by the new Compact Object Headers which provide instant “free” memory savings and speed increases.
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Non-LTS versions see some experimental use but, as expected, are generally avoided for production use.
The important takeaway is that the “safe” bet has shifted. While developers still play it safe with LTS versions, the definition of “safe” has moved forward from Java 8 and 11 to Java 17 and 21.
Frameworks: The Spring Dominance Continues
Some things never change. The Spring Framework remains the undisputed heavyweight champion.
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Spring usage has actually increased slightly to the 75% range. The 2024-2025 push for Spring AI and built-in support for Virtual Threads has made it the default for the vast majority of enterprise Java systems.
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Spring MVC remains the foundational web layer, reported between 30% and 40%.
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Micronaut & Quarkus have carved out a niche for cloud-native and low-footprint applications, hovering 10-12% combined, largely because of the rise of Serverless and “Native Java” (GraalVM).
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JUnit 5 is the undisputed standard in the testing world, with usage around 85% to 90%. In a world of change, JUnit is the one constant all developers agree on. Mockito has held its ground as the leading mocking framework (around 50% to 55%), though adoption of newer alternatives is slowly rising.
Build Systems and IDEs
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Maven vs. Gradle: Maven still holds the lead at around 65%, but the gap is closing. Gradle has climbed to ~55%. Many developers use both, so these numbers add up to over 100%. Gradle dominates in the Android world with its improved Kotlin DSL for build scripts.
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IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA remains the gold standard, holding around 75%. Firmly in second place is Visual Studio Code, which has seen an increase to ~18%. It’s no longer just a text editor. For microservices and polyglot developers, it’s a serious (and lighter) alternative to the JetBrains IDE, due to excellent Java extensions. Eclipse usage continues its slow decline, now generally reported in the 5% to 8% range.
The New Variable: AI Integration
When I wrote the original blog post in 2023, AI wasn’t even on my radar. Now, LangChain4j and Spring AI show up in almost every developer survey. About 35% of Java developers report that their primary application now interacts with an AI LLM via Java-native libraries.
Further Reading and Signing Off
Too many numbers already! There are lots of other interesting statistics in the reports, including the rise of native compilation with GraalVM and the steady adoption of JDKs from vendors like Amazon, Microsoft, and Azul.
If you want to do your own research, here are some useful links. Note that some may need an email address to download the full report.
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State of Java Survey 2025 by Perforce/JRebel. This is a link to the highlights page only.
Final Thoughts: The ecosystem is faster and leaner than it was three years ago, but the core lesson remains: learn the LTS versions, master Maven (or Gradle), and keep an eye on those Virtual Threads.
Was this interesting? Please share your comments, and as always, stay safe and keep learning!