The Eclipse Foundation has released its report on the 2022 Jakarta EE Developer Survey, the results of which highlight the growing use of the Java Enterprise standard in the development of new cloud-native applications and microservices. A total of 1,439 Java developers from around the world responded between March 9 and May 6, 2022, and 53% stated they use Jakarta EE as the foundation for their frameworks in cloud-native application development.

While Jakarta EE usage increased by 6% compared to 2021, Spring/Spring Boot, MicroProfile, and other frameworks such as Micronaut saw slight declines in usage. However, Spring/Spring Boot remains the most popular Java Enterprise framework, accounting for 57% of all mentions. According to the official report, Spring Boot is not competitive with Jakarta EE because it relies on Jakarta EE developments, and both are essential components of a healthy enterprise Java ecosystem.

Top frameworks used for building cloud-native applications (source: Eclipse Foundation)

The Jakarta EE 10 version, which was recently released after several delays, was eagerly awaited, according to the official report. With nearly 60% of developers surveyed indicating that they had already migrated to Jakarta EE or would do so within the next two years, the use of Jakarta EE 9/9.1 in production environments increased by 5% compared to 2021. However, 19% of those polled wanted to skip Jakarta EE 9/9.1 and go straight to Jakarta EE 10.

A look at the Jakarta EE community's wish list reveals no significant changes: native integration with Kubernetes and better support for microservices remain the top priorities. However, while survey participants still desired a faster pace of innovation last year, the focus is now on the faster provision of support from the existing cloud and Java EE/Jakarta EE vendors.

More information on the survey can be found in the blog post by Eclipse Foundation Executive Director Mike Milinkovich. The full 2022 Jakarta EE Developer Survey Report is available for download here.