5 Best Java Frameworks For Microservices

Microservices are extensively being used to create complex applications with multi-functionality by combining every piece and putting them layer by layer in a single unit. Many of us might not be aware of the fact that Microservices is an approach to crafting a single app in a set of small services, where each service runs on its own process.

In other words, Microservices are more of a service-oriented architecture that enables any app to be assembled in small chunks rather than creating a whole single unit. Even today, many organizations and developers love working under this bridge as it enables them to work independently. The primary reason behind this is that “Dependency of the same programming language literally ends” here! This clearly saves the boat on cost management and improves efficiency.

Best Java Frameworks For Microservices

So, let's get started with the 5 Best Java Frameworks For Microservices.

1. Spring Boot

Possibly one of the finest and easy-to-go frameworks in Java for developing microservices. It’s open-source, loaded with massive features and functionality that we might have seen so far. Besides this, it can easily be deployed literally on many platforms (like Docker). It offers a strong backup of a vast community network of developers, you can get each query resolved and that’s for sure. It also enables to provide some fascinating in-built functionality like security, auto-configuration, starter dependency (that boosts rapid app dev.), and a list of other services. Let’s have some key features of using this framework:

• Spring Boot helps in monitoring multiple components simultaneously.
• It enables maximum throughput and efficiency by using the load balancing method where traffic is being distributed in small chunks.
• It also offers the distributed messaging system which follows the Pub-Sub (publish-subscribe) model.

2. Quarkus

It was introduced to create modern yet high-functionality java applications to meet the expectations of a cloud-native environment. Besides this, it’s a full-stack Kubernetes-native platform tailored for JVMs (Java Virtual Machine) dedicatedly for containers which enables them to sustain in a purposeful cloud, or serverless kind of environment. It was designed with java frameworks like Eclipse, Kafka, Spring, and so on. It offers the right contextual information to GraaIVM (a high-performance JDK distribution) to enable support in the native compilation of Java applications. Thus, working with Quarkus can be real fun, it also enables some other key features which include:

• It is designed to sustain in a low power consumption environment by allowing first-class support for Graal, real-time metadata processing, and so on.
• The development model of Quarkus can easily adopt the development pattern of your project and can be a good suit, especially for those who don’t like switching things and this makes it a perfect solution for today’s serverless architecture. 
• Quarkus also offer a single unified configuration system which means that with a single configuration file, Quarkus applications can be easily configured at every single extension.

3. Micronaut

From the Micronaut developer documentation:

Micronaut is a modern, JVM-based, full stack Java framework designed for building modular, easily testable JVM applications with support for Java, Kotlin, and Groovy. 

Micronaut is developed by the creators of the Grails framework and takes inspiration from lessons learnt over the years building real-world applications from monoliths to microservices using Spring, Spring Boot and Grails. 

The best part of using Micronauts is you don’t need to worry about the startup time or memory consumption, though it offers a swift flow of speed despite the code length. It’s not wrong to say that Micronaut is a truly modern developer toolkit, designed for today’s developers that helps with injection dependency, AOP, configure management, and much more and that’s what makes it a simple yet elegant Java Framework. Also, below, we’re mentioning a few more important elements that might be helpful for you to understand:

• It offers both HTTP client and server that is built on Netty (client-server framework) which also includes an extensive range of tools that suits the cloud environment. These are also swappable for other transport layers, such as gRPC and WebSockets.
• Seamless support for running on serverless infrastucture.
• It also provides AOT compilation (ahead of time - the act of compiling a higher-level programming language into a lower-level language before execution of a program) that promotes low memory, IoT, serverless apps, and much more.
• Built in support for building native images with GraalVM. This reduces startup time even further as there is no longer a need to bootstrap a JVM.
• Micronaut also supports an extensive range of support for building applications over Java, Groovy, and Kotlin.

4. Eclipse Vert.x

Formed under the Eclipse foundation, it is a perfect solution for crafting react apps over JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Eclipse Vert.x is also a perfect solution for the execution of all kinds of constrained environments (such as VM and Containers). Besides this, Vert.x is a toolkit that offers high flexibility and accuracy for building blocks for any components. The best about vert.x is the independency of creating any components with all the usual libraries. This makes it interesting to work with Eclipse vert.x in your project. Although there are certain key factors to consider beforehand:

• The developer will have the option to use multiple languages in their project by using the basic APIs for writing asynchronous networked applications using polyglot.
• It is often known as the I/O threading model where a developer can write code as a single thread app using vert.x
• It helps in scaling small or medium segment hardware by handling multiple concurrencies with the help of small kernel threads.

5. Ballerina

Just to be specific, it’s not a framework but a distributed programming language that is being specifically used to code distributed applications and that also enables programmers to develop custom network apps with the help of open-source language. Besides this, Ballerina is a cloud-native programming language that eases the JVM frameworks and it also includes annotations for Kubernetes and Docker which help developers to build apps in a low coding environment. Some other features of using Ballerina are as follows:

• It enables language-integrated queries with the help of declarative processing of JSON, tabular data, and XML.
• Ballerina is highly reliable and can easily handle errors, and concurrency safety with the help of readable syntax
• It also offers textual as well as graphical syntax based on sequential diagrams.

Conclusion

Choosing the right Java framework for microservices depends on your project needs and preferences. Whether you go with Spring Boot for its simplicity and strong community, Quarkus for cloud-native apps, Micronaut for fast startup and low memory use, Eclipse Vert.x for flexibility and polyglot support, or even Ballerina for its visual and low-code approach — each option has unique strengths. These tools help break down complex apps into smaller, manageable services, making development faster, more efficient, and scalable. Just pick the one that fits best and start building smart!