Still the King of Enterprise Tech
Forget the buzz around Python and AI startups. Java, a programming language that turns 30 this decade, is still the engine powering the modern enterprise — and getting stronger. That’s the central takeaway from Azul’s 2026 State of Java Survey & Report, which polled over 2,000 Java professionals worldwide. The findings paint a picture of a language not just surviving, but evolving to meet the demands of cloud computing, AI integration, and tightening corporate budgets.
Java Is Everywhere — Literally
The numbers are hard to ignore. Nearly all respondents (99%) reported using Java in their organizations. Even more striking, 64% said that more than half of all their applications and workloads run on Java or the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Industries from financial services to e-commerce to global logistics are built on Java’s backbone — and that dependency isn’t loosening.
Oracle’s Pricing Is Pushing Enterprises Away
One of the report’s most dramatic findings involves Oracle, Java’s original steward. Since Oracle introduced an employee-based pricing model in 2023, enterprise frustration has escalated sharply. This year, 92% of respondents said they are concerned about Oracle Java’s licensing costs — up significantly from prior years. Only 7% said they weren’t worried at all, compared to 14% just a year ago.
Enterprises are voting with their feet. A full 81% have already migrated, are actively migrating, or plan to migrate their Oracle Java to an open-source alternative. Fears about the complexity of such migrations appear to be overblown — 84% of those who made the switch said it went as planned or was easier than expected, and 72% completed the move within a year.
Cloud Bills Are Ballooning — Java is Both the Problem and the Solution
Java workloads are expensive to run in the cloud. The report found that 43% of organizations say more than half of their total cloud compute costs are driven by JVM-based workloads. With 74% of respondents sitting on more than 20% unused cloud capacity, the waste is significant.
The response? 97% of organizations have taken steps to cut cloud costs, with adopting high-performance Java platforms emerging as one of the top strategies — used by 41% of respondents.
AI and Java: An Unexpected Partnership
Perhaps the most surprising finding is Java’s growing role in AI development. While Python dominates AI model-building and research, Java is becoming the go-to language for running AI applications in production. Usage of Java for coding AI functionality jumped from 50% in 2025 to 62% this year. Additionally, 30% of respondents said that more than half of their new application code is now generated by AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
Security Headaches Are Getting Worse
DevOps teams are under siege. The share of enterprises dealing with security vulnerabilities daily or weekly jumped from 41% to 56% in a single year. To compound the problem, 30% say more than half of their time spent on security is wasted chasing false positives.
The Bottom Line
Java isn’t a legacy relic — it’s the invisible infrastructure of modern business, quietly adapting to cloud pressures, AI demands, and licensing disruption. The 2026 State of Java report makes one thing unmistakably clear: enterprises that underinvest in their Java strategy do so at their own peril.
