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Microservices Frameworks for Java: Spring Boot, Quarkus, Micronaut & More

Java and JVM microservices frameworks — mainstream, cloud-native, reactive and event-sourcing options, with activity notes.

25 topics•3 categories•Updated November 2026

Mainstream & Cloud-native Frameworks

9 entries

The most widely used choices.

01Spring Boot & Spring CloudThe de facto standard for building Java microservices — Spring Boot for rapid application setup and Spring Cloud for distributed system patterns like service discovery, config, and circuit breaking. 02MicronautA modern JVM framework for building modular, easily testable microservice and serverless applications — with ahead-of-time compilation for fast startup and low memory footprint. 03DropwizardA Java framework for developing ops-friendly, high-performance RESTful web services — bundling Jetty, Jersey, Jackson, and Metrics into a production-ready package. 04Eclipse MicroProfileAn open specification optimising Enterprise Java for microservices architectures — providing portable APIs for health checks, metrics, fault tolerance, JWT, and OpenAPI. 05Eclipse Vert.xA polyglot, event-driven toolkit for building reactive applications on the JVM — offering high concurrency with non-blocking I/O, suitable for microservices and real-time systems. 06QuarkusA Kubernetes-native Java stack tailored for OpenJDK HotSpot and GraalVM — delivering supersonic startup times and low memory usage by crafting from best-of-breed Java libraries. 07HelidonA collection of Java libraries for writing microservices that run on a fast, reactive web core powered by Netty — available in both SE (functional) and MP (MicroProfile) flavours. 08Open LibertyOpen-source Java runtime supporting MicroProfile and Jakarta EE. 09Jakarta EEEnterprise Java specifications that underpin many microservices runtimes.

Reactive, Actor & Event-sourcing

3 entries

Frameworks built around messaging and events.

10LagomAn open source framework for building systems of Reactive microservices in Java or Scala — with first-class support for event sourcing, CQRS, and service communication. Last commit on the default branch was in August 2023, so consider newer frameworks for new projects. 11Apache PekkoApache fork of Akka 2.6 for building concurrent, distributed, reactive applications. 12AkkaAkka toolkit from Lightbend; later versions use a commercial licence.

Lightweight & Other JVM Frameworks

6 entries

Micro frameworks and Kotlin options.

13GrailsA powerful Groovy-based web application framework for the JVM built on top of Spring Boot — enabling convention-over-configuration development with rapid productivity. Grails is now an Apache project, and its site redirects to grails.apache.org. 14Restlet FrameworkAn open source Java solution for building and consuming RESTful APIs — with a lightweight, component-based architecture suited for microservices and API-first development. 15SparkA micro-framework for creating web applications in Kotlin and Java 8 with minimal effort — designed for simplicity, rapid prototyping, and lightweight REST service development. Spark (Java) has had no commits on its default branch since July 2022. 16WSO2 Microservices Framework for JavaA lightweight, high-performance Java framework from WSO2 for developing and deploying microservices — built on Netty with support for REST, WebSockets, and circuit breaking. The product page blocks automated checks. 17KtorA Kotlin-native framework for creating asynchronous client and server applications — from microservices to multiplatform HTTP client apps, with a flexible, idiomatic API. 18JavalinA simple, lightweight microframework for Kotlin and Java developers who want extreme simplicity and no "magic" — ideal for REST APIs and small, focused microservices.

Related Pages

7 entries

Neighbouring pages on this site.

19Microservices FrameworksFrameworks by language. 20Reactive MicroservicesReactive microservices resources. 21JavaJava resources. 22Software FrameworksFrameworks by language. 23Java FrameworksJava frameworks directory. 24Event-Driven MicroservicesEvent-driven microservices on this site. 25Microservices Architecture (MSA)Hub of microservices patterns, tools, frameworks and resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Java framework should I use for microservices?

Spring Boot is the most widely used, Quarkus and Micronaut focus on fast startup and low memory use for cloud-native deployments, and Helidon, Vert.x and Open Liberty are other well-supported options.

What is the difference between Akka and Pekko?

Apache Pekko is an Apache-licensed fork of Akka 2.6, created after Lightbend moved later Akka versions to a commercial licence.

Which entries show little recent activity?

Lagom's last commit was in August 2023 and Spark Java's in July 2022, so check alternatives for new projects.

How do I choose between Spring Boot, Quarkus and Micronaut?

Spring Boot has the largest ecosystem and community. Quarkus and Micronaut are designed for fast startup and low memory use in containers and Kubernetes, with ahead-of-time or native-image support. Choose by team skills, ecosystem needs and deployment target, and prototype your own workload.

What is MicroProfile and how does it relate to Jakarta EE?

Eclipse MicroProfile is a set of specifications for microservices on enterprise Java, such as health checks, metrics, fault tolerance and JWT. Jakarta EE provides the enterprise Java platform specifications. Runtimes such as Open Liberty and Helidon implement MicroProfile.

How current is this page?

Links were checked on 3 November 2026. Framework repositories on GitHub were checked for activity the same day: Lagom's last commit was in August 2023 and Spark Java's in July 2022, as their cards note, while the other frameworks were updated recently. The WSO2 page returns 403 to automated checks and is kept, so it may need a manual click. Confirm current versions on each project's site.