The State of Java 2023: Usage Strong, Oracle Share Declines

Azul recently posted their state of Java 2023 report, which we read so you don’t have to. Key user concerns include Oracle pricing, the Log4j hack, and paying for unused cloud space.

Key Findings

The majority of survey respondents use Java in software or infrastructure and rely on Java-based tools and libraries. Over half of them pay for Java. Key user concerns include Oracle pricing, the Log4j hack, and paying for unused cloud space. As a result, a staggering 72% are considering non-Oracle solutions.

What is Azul?

Azul, a company solely focused on Java with the largest Java engineering team outside of Oracle and a global presence, conducted a survey of Java users in 2023. The goal of this survey was to gauge their sentiment about Java and its future. The survey drew feedback from over 2,000 respondents worldwide.

Survey respondents mostly lived in the United States and Canada (47%) but also answered from Central America, Middle East & Africa, Europe, and Asia. For 77% of respondents, Java was a substantial if not the entire focus of their job. Respondents also worked in a range of different company sizes, with the majority working in a large company of 1-5K employees.

Java Usage in 2023

Despite questions about whether Java is declining in popularity or will eventually become obsolete, Azul's findings suggest that it is here to stay.

The Azul survey found that many companies use multiple Java versions, and many are not yet on the latest version, with 40%, 48%, and 45% using versions 8, 11, and 17, respectively. Companies often skip feature releases to upgrade to Long-Term Support (LTS) versions of Java. For example, many respondents are using LTS versions 8, 11, and 17. The goal of moving users to supported and newer versions has been largely successful, with the eventual end of free updates and support being a leading factor.

When it comes to payments and subscriptions, a little over the majority of companies do pay for Java for features such as critical patches and bug fixes. For the 33% that do not pay for Java, they cite it not being in a priority, support not needed, or not having it in the budget; which are more common reasons among smaller companies.

Over half of companies use Java infrastructure (Kafka and Elastic) and they commonly use microservice frameworks such as Spring Boot and Quarkus. 73% of companies have used further Java-based languages such as Kotlin and Groovy. Other common Java-based utilities and tools include Log4J and Maven. Most companies are using Tomcat, JBoss or JETT in terms of Java-based web and application servers.

The State of Oracle

Oracle's pricing model change in 2023 has raised concerns among Java users, with 82% of survey respondents worried about the impact on their pricing and licensing. As a result, a substantial 72% of respondents are considering migrating to non-Oracle Java solutions. This is a serious development for Oracle, even given its significant market share and history.

Java and the Cloud

Java is run in both public (48%) and private (47%) cloud environments, with scalability, flexibility, productivity, and agility cited as the main reasons. However, a significant cost issue is unused cloud capacity, which can be addressed by repatriating some compute to on-premises or using public cloud instead of private.

Java Security

Log4j Shell vulnerabilities remain a top security concern, with 80% of respondents reporting being impacted. While not all surveyees experienced hacks or other bad actors, remediating the issue was a headache for most, and in some cases, incredibly serious. For example, the US Department of Homeland Security spent 33,000 hours resolving exposures.

In Summary

Java remains popular and is likely here to stay. Oracle's pricing change, as predicted, has caused significant backlash and is a major reason why many Java users are considering alternatives. Java users are also heavily affected by vulnerabilities and security issues. Surprisingly, Azul has found that many users are mitigating cloud costs by using a high-performance Java platform. Another unforeseen impact was the Log4j compromise of 2021, which resulted in at least one breach attempt for 1/3 of Java users.

Could Azul be positioning itself as an Oracle alternative? With the tagline “Azul equals Java” that is indisputable and it can definitely boast about clients such as Workday and Puma. As far as what the future holds for Java and Azul, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled.