
Two years after Oracle introduced its employee-based pricing for Oracle Java SE, Java users are just as concerned as they were then. In Azul’s second annual State of Java Survey & Report, 82% of Oracle Java users expressed unease with its cost model — the same percentage reported in the 2023 survey. A whopping 88% of organizations are considering joining The Great Oracle Java Migration and shifting to an alternative Java provider, a 22% increase over the 2023 result (72% considered migrating).
Azul’s 2025 State of Java Survey & Report, a study of more than 2,000 Java professionals, uncovers how enterprises are tackling Oracle Java pricing and licensing challenges.
Let’s look at some of the results in detail and examine important trends from the report.
The Great Oracle Java Migration gains momentum
Two years after Oracle introduced its employee-based pricing for Oracle Java SE, organizations continue to grapple with Oracle’s employee-based pricing model. 82% of Oracle Java users continue to express concern over its cost structure — a figure unchanged since Azul’s 2023 survey. Two years later, Oracle Java users are just as upset with Oracle’s licensing and pricing policies as when they were initially introduced.

Java 17 users feel the anxiety even more acutely
Seemingly free Java comes with cost and complexity. Oracle Java users who were enamored by the No-Fee Terms and Conditions (NTFC) license applied to the most recent versions of Java have to grapple with what comes next. Oracle ended free commercial support for Java 17 in October 2024, and participants who were still using Oracle Java 17 at the time the survey was conducted were in the last days of free support. Those participants were deciding whether to pay Oracle for continued use and support on employee-based pricing, upgrade to Java 21 to continue enjoying free support for another two years, replace Java with another programming language, or migrate to an alternative JDK distribution/provider.
88% of Oracle Java 17 users expressed concern about Oracle’s pricing model change, compared to 82% of the entire participant pool. And 55% of Oracle Java 17 users say they are very or extremely concerned, compared to 42% overall.
Compare those results with the first State of Java Survey & Report, when only 78% of Oracle Java 17 users expressed concern with Oracle Java pricing. But as pressure builds to migrate to Java 21, anxiety naturally ratchets up.
Oracle Java 17 users concerned about Oracle Java pricing
2023 | 2025 | |
---|---|---|
Concerned | 78% | 88% |
Very or extremely concerned | 45% | 55% |
Oracle Java users are taking action
Oracle Java users are turning their displeasure into action. A staggering 88% of companies using Oracle Java are now considering switching to another Java provider. This represents a dramatic 22% increase over the 2023 survey results, signaling growing dissatisfaction with Oracle’s pricing and licensing policies. Moreover, nearly half (46%) of these companies are opting to migrate to an OpenJDK release with paid support, highlighting a strong preference for cost-effective yet reliable solutions that meet their technical and business needs.

As organizations recognize the value of paid support, they are considering switching Java providers for two main reasons – cost and experience.

Most participants say they are considering switching to another Java provider because of dissatisfaction with Oracle.
Overall, 79% of Oracle Java users who are considering a shift away from Oracle Java cited Oracle as a reason. In fact, seven of the top eight responses were about Oracle, and four of them were about Oracle’s behavior and the experience of being a customer (including sales tactics, pricing uncertainty, and audits). Organizations increasingly seek cost-effective, flexible, and transparent alternatives to Oracle Java to mitigate financial and operational risks. Experience appears to matter as much as pricing. Frequently changing pricing, audit calls, and intrusions can all disrupt business.
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7 of the top 8 reasons for migrating from Oracle Java to an OpenJDK distribution were about Oracle pricing or support, or the experience of being an Oracle Java customer.
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Azul Platform Core customers typically pay 70% less than Oracle for licensing fees and support. They also have commercial support available for Java 6 and 7, which they can’t get from any other distribution, and Azul is the only Java provider besides Oracle that delivers stabilized, quarterly security builds, also called Critical Patch Updates (CPU). Enterprises traditionally prefer to use CPUs rather than applying and testing the full suite of new features and fixes that are included in the standard patch set updates, which Azul also offers, because CPUs limit exposure to security vulnerabilities.
In addition, Azul support has a 100% satisfaction rating and a perfect record in successfully migrating Oracle Java customers to Azul Platform Core. In fact, Azul Deputy CTO Simon Ritter literally wrote the book on our unique three-phase migration process, OpenJDK Migration for Dummies, developed from real-world experiences with hundreds of companies.
State of Java Survey & Report is available now
When Oracle changed its Java pricing and licensing model in January 2023, customers were understandably upset and The Great Oracle Java Migration kicked in as expected. Eighteen months later, when Java professionals took this survey, their concerns hadn’t abated at all. A very high majority of survey participants expressed unease with the cost model, and an even higher majority is considering a shift away from Oracle Java to an alternative Java provider.
This survey report shows organizations are actively seeking ways to optimize their Java deployments to drive operational efficiency and cost predictability. As Java continues to be the backbone for business-critical applications in the enterprise, we’re seeing important trends — from the growing interest in Oracle Java alternatives to cloud optimization strategies, improvements in DevOps productivity, and innovation with AI. Read Azul’s full 2025 State of Java Survey & Report today.
