Quarkus

Status: Production-ready, Active

Java Version: 11+ (17+ recommended)

Learning Curve: Moderate

Last Release: v3.31.3 (February 2026)

Quarkus is a Kubernetes-native Java framework tailored for GraalVM and OpenJDK HotSpot, designed for building modern cloud-native and serverless applications. Now part of the Commonhaus Foundation, it provides amazingly fast boot times and incredibly low memory footprint by performing optimization at build-time through a technique called "compile time boot." Quarkus offers live reload development with near-instant feedback, reactive and imperative programming models on the same reactive core, and deep integration with over 50 best-of-breed libraries including RESTEasy, Hibernate, Vert.x, and more. It excels at container-first deployments with sub-second startup times and minimal RSS memory usage, making it ideal for Kubernetes environments, microservices architectures, and serverless functions. The framework emphasizes developer joy through unified configuration, zero-config defaults, and streamlined code for common use cases while remaining flexible for advanced scenarios.

Code Example

import jakarta.ws.rs.*;
            import jakarta.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
            
            @Path("/hello")
            public class HelloResource {
            
                @GET
                @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
                public String hello() {
                    return "Hello, Quarkus!";
                }
                
                @POST
                @Consumes(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
                @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
                public String greet(String name) {
                    return "Hello, " + name + "!";
                }
            }
            
            // Run with: ./mvnw quarkus:dev
            // Native build: ./mvnw package -Pnative