Nearly 8 in 10 organizations are moving away from Oracle Java, driven by rising costs and frustration over the company’s shift to employee based pricing, according to InfoWorld. Out of 500 respondents surveyed, 15% had already completed their migration off Oracle Java, 22% had started their migration journey, and 25% were actively planning a migration. Another 17% wanted to move off Oracle Java but have not started planning yet.
These numbers come from the ITAM & SAM Survey 2025, jointly conducted by Azul and the ITAM Forum. The survey assessed responses from 500 participants who are IT Asset Management or software asset management professionals who use Java.
Why the Mass Exodus
Oracle introduced four licensing and pricing policy changes between 2020 and 2023, with the employee based pricing forcing enterprises to start looking at alternatives. The Java SE Universal Subscription now mandates that any organization using Oracle Java beyond its free use allowances must license the software for every employee, regardless of how many actually use Java.
Oracle’s definition of “employee” is expansive, encompassing not only full time and part time staff but also contractors, temporary workers, and agents involved in internal operations. As a result, even minimal Java usage within an enterprise such as a few developers or isolated applications can trigger licensing obligations for the entire workforce.
Before 2023, Java SE licenses for desktops and servers were priced at roughly $2.50 per user and $25 per processor core per month. With the Java SE Universal Subscription, rates now start at $15 per employee per month for enterprises with fewer than 1,000 employees, decreasing incrementally for larger companies.
A company with 10,000 employees now pays roughly $6 to $8 per employee per month. Even with volume discounts, the total cost is substantial. For very large organizations with tens of thousands of employees, Oracle has quoted rates as low as around $5 per employee per month at the highest tiers.
The Hidden Compliance Costs
While 29% of respondents said their enterprise faced issues around budgeting for Oracle Java licensing, 27% complained about experiencing difficulties in interpreting Oracle’s “often opaque” licensing terms. Another issue, at least for 28% of respondents, was around ensuring compliance, especially managing Java licenses across hybrid and multi cloud environments.
With Java embedded in countless enterprise applications, tracking usage across diverse infrastructures has proven difficult, especially without robust automation tools. The blanket fee has significantly increased discomfort for enterprises in the form of adding new budgets for increased costs for Java licensing, investing in new Java usage monitoring systems, conducting internal audits, and facing audits from Oracle itself.
By 2025, Oracle treats Java just like its database business, actively enforcing licenses. Enterprises are now on high alert for Java audit risk, whereas a few years ago, Java wasn’t even on the radar for software audits. Oracle’s license teams began actively contacting organizations to review Java usage. Even companies using non Oracle Java distributions received “friendly” inquiries, as Oracle wanted to ensure no Oracle JDK was in use without a license.
The Open Source Alternative Path
A separate research report from Azul based on the 2025 State of Java Survey and Report surveyed over 2,000 Java users globally. Respondents cited software quality, keeping software current, flexibility to update software, cost savings, visibility into the source code, and alignment with open standards as the primary reasons behind opting for open source alternatives to Oracle Java.
OpenJDK, Amazon Corretto, Azul Zulu, and other distributions provide production ready Java runtimes without the per employee licensing fees. These alternatives receive regular security updates and performance improvements, matching or exceeding Oracle’s commercial offerings in many cases.
Amazon Corretto is a no cost, multiplatform, production ready distribution of OpenJDK. Amazon runs Corretto internally on thousands of production services and has committed to long term support. Azul Zulu builds of OpenJDK provide certified builds with support options for enterprises that need commercial backing.
Eclipse Temurin, produced by the Adoptium Working Group, delivers high quality, TCK certified runtimes based on OpenJDK. Red Hat builds of OpenJDK provide another enterprise option, particularly for organizations already using Red Hat infrastructure.
Migration Planning That Works
Start with a thorough inventory of all Java usage in your enterprise. Identify every application, server, or environment that runs Java, and note the version and distribution it uses. This baseline reveals your exposure both in terms of licensing needs and potential areas for optimization.
Many firms discover they have far more Java in use than they thought, including legacy apps and embedded uses. You can’t manage or strategize what you haven’t discovered, so this step is critical.
Map out strategic scenarios. With your inventory in hand, consider three approaches: migrate everything to open source alternatives, maintain a hybrid strategy with Oracle Java for critical systems and alternatives elsewhere, or negotiate better Oracle licensing terms while reducing overall Java footprint.
Scenario planning helps you understand the tradeoffs. A complete migration to OpenJDK eliminates licensing costs but requires significant testing and validation. A hybrid approach balances risk and cost. Negotiating with Oracle might reduce per employee fees but locks you into their ecosystem.
Test thoroughly before production cutover. Not all Java applications behave identically across different JDK implementations. Performance characteristics can vary, particularly in garbage collection and JIT compilation. Profile applications before and after migration to verify performance matches expectations.
GraalVM for JDK 24 uses machine learning based profile inference that boosts peak performance by about 7.9% on average on microservices benchmarks. For organizations migrating to GraalVM Native Image, the 100x faster startup and reduced memory footprint make it ideal for containerized microservices.
The GraalVM Performance Advantage
GraalVM compiles Java applications to native binaries that start up 100x faster, provide peak performance with no warmup, and use less memory and CPU than applications running on a standard Java Virtual Machine. For microservices architectures where startup time matters, this is transformative.
The new generation of ML enabled inference, called GraalNN, provides context sensitive static profiling with neural networks. Oracle saw roughly 7.9% peak performance improvement on average across a wide range of microservices benchmarks including Micronaut, Spring, and Quarkus.
Native Image has used a pre trained ML model to predict execution probabilities of control flow graph branches, enabling powerful optimizations and better peak performance of native images. SkipFlow enables production of smaller binaries without increasing build time.
Version Strategy for Migration
Java 25, released September 16, 2025, is the latest Long Term Support release. Oracle promises at least eight years of Premier commercial support. For organizations migrating away from Oracle, this presents an opportunity.
You can migrate to OpenJDK builds of Java 25 and benefit from LTS stability without Oracle’s licensing fees. Community distributions like Adoptium provide Java 25 builds with predictable update schedules.
The OpenJDK community outlined ambitious plans for 2025 including improvements to the foreign function and memory API, work on ahead of time code compilation, and finalizing the structured concurrency API. These features appear in community distributions alongside Oracle’s commercial offerings.
Java 25 includes 18 new features, five of which Oracle touts as assisting with AI development. Primitive types in patterns, module import declarations, Vector API, structured concurrency, and scoped values all work identically in open source distributions.
Managing the Transition Period
During migration, implement automated patch management. Manual patching processes can’t keep pace with quarterly security releases across hundreds or thousands of Java deployments. Use Java Management Service or similar tools to automate routine actions.
Monitor application performance closely. The generational Z Garbage Collector as default in Java 25 changes GC characteristics in ways that can affect application performance. Profile memory usage and pause times to verify improvements.
Oracle’s Helidon team saw roughly 70% performance gains simply moving from JDK 21 to 25 with no code changes. This is one data point, but a compelling one. Migrations can deliver performance improvements that offset implementation costs.
Legal and Compliance Considerations
If you continue running Oracle Java after its free use terms have expired, you violate Oracle’s licensing terms. This could lead to an audit or legal action. During an audit, Oracle may demand reimbursement for the period of unlicensed use or require you to purchase subscriptions retroactively.
The financial exposure can be huge because Oracle calculates fees based on your entire employee count. You’d be running software you haven’t paid for, which is a compliance breach.
Document your migration timeline and maintain records of when systems moved from Oracle Java to alternatives. In case of audit, clear documentation of migration dates protects against retroactive licensing claims.
The Hybrid Strategy Sweet Spot
Many enterprises find that a hybrid strategy strikes the sweet spot between risk and cost. Run critical systems that absolutely require Oracle support on licensed Oracle Java. Migrate everything else to open source alternatives.
This approach reduces licensing costs by 60% to 80% while maintaining Oracle support for mission critical applications. The key is identifying which systems truly need commercial support versus which can run on community distributions.
Applications with strict SLA requirements, regulatory compliance needs, or complex dependencies might justify Oracle licensing. Standard web applications, microservices, and internal tools rarely need commercial Java support.
Training and Skill Development
Developers familiar with Oracle Java can work with OpenJDK builds without retraining. The APIs are identical. The standard library functions the same way. Code compatibility is nearly perfect for applications following Java standards.
The differences emerge in tooling, monitoring, and support processes. Teams need to understand how to access OpenJDK security bulletins, apply patches from community sources, and troubleshoot without Oracle support tickets.
Investing in training for Java Management Service, GraalVM optimization, and performance profiling pays dividends. These skills enable teams to maximize value from open source Java while maintaining production reliability.
Looking Forward
The mass migration away from Oracle Java in 2025 represents a fundamental shift in enterprise software economics. Organizations no longer accept vendor lock in and unpredictable licensing costs as inevitable.
Open source alternatives matured to the point where they match or exceed commercial offerings in quality, security, and performance. The community surrounding OpenJDK delivers innovation faster than any single vendor.
For the 80% of organizations moving away from Oracle Java, success requires careful planning, thorough testing, and commitment to the migration. The cost savings and flexibility gained justify the investment.