Top Java Frameworks for Web Development in 2024

Java frameworks are trusted by developers around the world because of their ease of use, flexibility, versatility, and scalability. Clients prefer to use Java for building server-side web applications for multiple platforms and devices. Java has a long history in app development and offers a plethora of libraries, making it faster and easier to create and deploy apps. It streamlines the development process and stands out for its readability as well.

In this guide, we will explore the best Java frameworks for web development in 2024 and more.

Why Use Java Frameworks?

Java frameworks feature various built-in security features that protect applications from different vulnerabilities. As an object-oriented programming language, Java frameworks are platform-independent by default. The community has a vast collection of extensive online resources and tutorials, which makes it easier to grasp these frameworks.

Java frameworks come with predefined rules and ready-to-use codesets that can help design apps faster. They make the development process much more efficient and troubleshooting issues convenient. A lot of Java frameworks provide the ability to handle high workloads and support building complex web applications. From offering features such as load balancing, caching, connection pooling, etc., these frameworks are designed to meet the rising demands of evolving industries. Java development teams can save a lot of time, money, and become highly efficient by leveraging them.

Benefits of Java Framework for Web development

There are many benefits of using Java frameworks which are as follows:

1. Easy code writeup and maintenance

Code simplification is one of the biggest benefits of using Java development frameworks in 2024. There is no need to write codes from scratch and developers can use preset codes and libraries embedded in them.

2. Multiple development options

Java web development frameworks allow developers multiple development options, thus enabling them with project flexibility. Users can build responsive web applications, add custom features, and personalize user experiences. These frameworks make coding very efficient since they include built-in standards and rules that are automatically enforced with every project.

3. Great community support

These Java development frameworks feature rich documentation and extensive tutorials and resources. Users can engage in the community forums, ask questions, and get their issues resolved. The Java development community is very supportive and there are many support groups where developers from around the world can connect and interact. Java frameworks include several features that make them well-suited for both frontend and backend development.

Other benefits of using the best frameworks for Java are - security and reliability, ease of scalability, custom features, and ability to integrate them with other platforms or resources.

Most Popular Java Frameworks in 2024

When it comes to the best Java frameworks in 2024, these are the most popular ones currently trending in the industry:

1. Micronaut

Micronaut is known for its fast startup times and low memory utilization during runtime. It is one of the best Java frameworks for building microservices and ideal for serverless applications. Developers can still use Java Reflection in their applications using the latest versions.

Micronaut provides good support for multiple SQL databases and is compatible with discovery tools like Consul and Eureka too. It is trusted by top brands such as Minecraft, Target, Stainless.AI, Mojang, and many others.

Features:

• Full-stack, modular, and easily testable JVM-based framework
• Works with Groovy, Scala, and Kotlin
• Fast data-access configurations and access-oriented API
• AOT compilation and seamless API visibility

2. Spring Boot

Spring Boot offers production-ready features to Java developers and starter dependencies that simplify build configuration. It makes it easy to create standalone Spring-based applications and can create class APIs with just a few annotations. The framework supports microservices, embedded containers, and provides seamless integrations with Spring ecosystem projects like Spring Security, Spring Cloud, and Spring Data. It has a large and active community and can help write application code for controllers, services, and data models.

Features:

• Autoconfiguration
• Starter POMs
• Spring Boot CLI
• Actuator
• Spring Boot Initializer

3. Hibernate

Hibernate is an open-source Java framework with high-level Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) capabilities. It is great for building secure and scalable applications, making it rank high among the top Java frameworks for 2024. The Hibernate Galaxy offers - Hibernate ORM, Hibernate Search, Hibernate Validator, Hibernate Reactive, and others. It is more than just an ORM suite and enables developers to write applications whose data outlives their entire processes.

Features:

• Supports lazy initialization, numerous fetching strategies, and time stamping
• Optimistic locking with automatic versioning
• Excellent mapping editor, command line tools, and IDE plugins
• Database reverse engineering and Ant task
• Reactive domain model persistence
• Application-layer agnostic validation and rich metadata API

4. Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is very event-based and designs the best stream processing applications. It can handle high volumes of data and offers features such as fault tolerance, self-hosting, and integrated RBAC access. As one of the best Java frameworks for backend development, Apache Kafka allows many apps to share data flawlessly. It is also the best point-to-point API communication tool currently available in the market.

Features:

• Cloud-compatible and supports multiple integrations
• Low latency
• Distributed architecture
• Producer and consumer APIs
• Caching, asynchronous processing, compression, and partitioning
• Rich documentation and multiple vendors

5. Grails

Grails is one of the top open-source Java frameworks on our list. It allows users to create dynamic web applications and websites and uses the Groovy programming language. Grails is also a leading Java mobile application development framework and it is well-suited for innovative enterprise applications.

Features:

• Object-mapping features and excellent code reusability
• Extensive plugin library
• Optimum reloading agent
• Spring Boot foundation
• Cross-platform IDE support and flawless Java integrations

6. JavaServer Faces

If you want to design the most cutting-edge Java user interfaces, then JavaServer Faces is your best bet. It is one of the top web UI frameworks and works well with the JavaServer Pages Technology (JSP) and the Java Servlet API.

Features:

• Automatic state management
• Component-based architecture
• MVC software design principles
• Cross-browser compatible and multiple output formats
• Graceful degradation

7. Wicket

Wicket can be used to build many Java-based web applications for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. It works seamlessly with J2EE containers such as Tomcat, Geronimo, Glassfish, and JBoss EAP.

Features:

• Huge collection of templates and themes
• Configurable MVC components
• POJO-based actions
• Integration support and AJAX support

8. Testcontainers

Testcontainers is a lightweight Java framework that supports a variety of unit tests. It provides throwaway instances of common databases and Selenium web browsers that are run within Docker containers.

Developers can leverage Testcontainers built-in dynamic port mapping capabilities and it is ideal for testing full application flows in production environments.

Features:

• Seamless integration with JUnit
• Test isolation and support for message brokers like RabbitMQ and Kafka
• Automatic clean-up for containers, volumes, and networks

9. Struts

Struts is a ready-to-use validation framework that implements the MVC architecture. It seamlessly integrates with other top frameworks like Hibernate, Spring, and JDBC. Struts is one of the best Java frameworks for backend development and can be used to build UI backend applications. It is based on technologies like JSTL, JSP, XML, and others.

Features:

• Tag support and integration support
• AJAX support
• POJO-based actions
• Configurable MVC elements

10. ATG

ATG is owned by Oracle and it supports building both B2B and B2C web apps. It is perfect for ecommerce website development and is a Java-based framework that can design customized shopping experiences.

Features:

• Data Anywhere Architecture
• ATG content administration tools
• Payment integration support
• Customizable shopping campaigns

11. Vaadin

Vaadin is a great tool for cross-platform Java development. It is best suited for creating custom UI layouts and web applications that use Java swing components. Vaadin is fully open-source and doesn’t need developers to write a single line of HTML and JSS. It has been used by top brands such as Puma, Lufthansa, Ericsson, and others.

Features:

• Java-only type-safe web development
• Built-in Material and Lumo themes
• Java-API for web-based elements
• Deep linking and back button support
• Java style alternatives
• JS navigation without whole page reloading

12. Google Web Toolkit

Google Web Toolkit is becoming a hot pick among Java web software developers. It has a great open-source online community, extremely easy to integrate, and lightweight. It is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 and ideal for creating and maintaining front-end Java applications.

Features:

• RPC mechanism
• Internationalization support
• Exclusive development mode
• Customizable and integrable rich user interface components
• Cross-browser compatible
• Web UI class library

Conclusion

Staying up to date with the latest Java frameworks is crucial when it comes to streamlining the software development process. There are many choices available, but these make up the top Java development frameworks list. Developers can take advantage of exciting opportunities and be on the forefront of innovation by leveraging them.

To hire Java developers, contact Clarion Technologies today.