Overview of Java Application Servers

Published by Tomas Zezula on

With Java EE 7 round the corner I was curious where open source application servers stand these days and what do they have on offer. So to educate myself a bit and step up from the usual Tomcat-centric routine I have created a simple overview of what I have found. Without ambition to compare the individual products, I merely summarized of what they are capable of and highlighted distinctive features.



All of the products are certified in Java EE 6 and run on Unix, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. What follows is a simple summary based on information I found on project sites and various articles on the Internet. Above all, I highly recommend detailed server comparison based on real-life experience. Proverbial frustration over configuration, yet an exciting article to read.

Glassfish promotes low memory footprint, provides  a complete implementation of Java EE 6 and obviously is integrated with mainstream IDEs – Netbeans and Eclipse. Latest release improves performance, product stability and adds new clustering features. Documentation is not easy to find but once you get there you find it all at one place.

JBoss gives the impression of bleeding-edge and offers a range of attractive productivity boosts – drastically reduced startup time, modular services for brisk deployments, minimal memory footprint etc. Appealing website, accessible documentation and a rich set of features make it a tempting choice.

Resin is intended for high-traffic sites requesting speed and scalability. Recent version brings cloud optimizations, efficient web server, caching, load balancing, top-class monitoring and profiling. That however does not come for free. With open source edition one gets at least lightweight application server, fast deployments and active community support. Resin is supported by Eclipse.

TomEE is essentially Tomcat enhanced with enterprise jars. Derived from OpenEJB, simple and lightweight. There is a nice feature matrix available for those who are interested.

Geronimo makes use of several open-source technologies and its recent version implements JEE 6 specification in its entirety. The projects supports Aries programming model and emphasizes OSGi in general.

Product Licence Size (MB) Key Features
GlassFish Open Source Edition CDDL 1.1 53
  • reliability and performance
  • fully-featured clustering
  • application versioning
JBoss AS LGPL 127
  • high-speed boot
  • low memory footprint
  • modular design (OSGi, no jar hell)
  • elegant administration
Caucho Resin GPL 25
  • optimized to run in cloud
  • distributed cache support (Memcached, JCache API)
  • detailed monitoring
Apache TomEE Apache License 2.0 27
  • integrates with all-Apache stack (OpenWebBeans, OpenEJB, OpenJPA etc.)
  • low learning curve (enhanced Tomcat)
Apache Geronimo Apache License 2.0 88
  • ease of use
  • provides fully certified server runtime
  • frequent releases (new features and bug fixes)


Categories: Java

Tomas Zezula

Hello! I'm a technology enthusiast with a knack for solving problems and a passion for making complex concepts accessible. My journey spans across software development, project management, and technical writing. I specialise in transforming rough sketches of ideas to fully launched products, all the while breaking down complex processes into understandable language. I believe a well-designed software development process is key to driving business growth. My focus as a leader and technical writer aims to bridge the tech-business divide, ensuring that intricate concepts are available and understandable to all. As a consultant, I'm eager to bring my versatile skills and extensive experience to help businesses navigate their software integration needs. Whether you're seeking bespoke software solutions, well-coordinated product launches, or easily digestible tech content, I'm here to make it happen. Ready to turn your vision into reality? Let's connect and explore the possibilities together.

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