JBoss Alternatives: Best Options to Consider 

Choosing the right application server is critical for the success of enterprise-grade applications. While Red Hat’s JBoss is a commonly implemented solution, organizations may want to explore alternatives to their current applications servers and runtimes. Sure, migrations can be intimidating [LINK TO BLOG], but if JBoss is no longer a perfect fit for a specific application, a move can help meet specific requirements, such as cutting licensing costs or adopting cloud-native approaches, as well as unlock new opportunities or capabilities.  

If you're here, chances are you’re considering your options. In this blog, we’ll discuss what JBoss offers, why businesses look for alternatives as well as what key contenders to look for when exploring alternatives. 

What Is JBoss?  

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, also known as JBoss EAP or JBoss, is a comprehensive, open-source application server and runtime environment developed by Red Hat and compliant with Jakarta EE standards. This well-known middleware solution is equipped with the necessary tools to build, run, deploy and manage enterprise Java applications in a variety of environments. Well-integrated with Red Hat’s ecosystem, the application server provides seamless integration with other products from the vendor.  

The platform’s latest available version is JBoss EAP 8.0, which was released in February 2024. 

Note: What was initially called ‘JBoss Application Server’, or ‘JBoss AS’, is now known as ‘WildFly’. To learn more about the difference between JBoss EAP and WIldFly/JBoss AS here.

Key Features 

JBoss EAP typically offers robust features for scalability, clustering for high availability, security and cloud deployments designed to support highly transactional, enterprise-level, mission-critical applications. However, the platform can be complex to set up and manage for beginners, and it may require additional resources in terms of memory and CPU compared to other, more lightweight application servers. 

Pricing  

Although JBoss EAP source code is based on open-source, free to use WildFly project, it operates under a subscription model. Access to Red Hat’s enterprise-grade support is governed by an End-User License Agreement (EULA).  

Why Look for JBoss Alternatives?  

While JBoss EAP is a popular option in the Jakarta EE community, there are several reasons businesses may consider exploring alternatives. These include cost considerations, evolving technology and application needs as well as strategic business goals and specific enterprise requirements. Let’s have a closer look at each of these issues.  

1. Licensing and Support Costs

Access to JBoss EAP and Red Hat’s enterprise-grade support is governed by an EULA. Besides, key features and options, such as performance monitoring tools and Red Hat Single Sign On for OAuth/OpenID Connect support, are not included in the standard subscription fee. In fact, anyone interested in using them needs to purchase them separately. 

JBoss EAP’s licensing, support and technology costs can be significant, especially for smaller organizations, teams with limited Red Hat dependencies or projects with tight budgets. Organizations interested in reducing their application server and runtime expenses can benefit from more economical and budget-friendly alternatives that provide best-in-class technologies and comparable or superior support at a fraction of the price. 

2. Modern Cloud-Native Requirements

JBoss EAP can support cloud deployments and MicroProfile for microservices architectures, but it was originally designed for traditional on-premises environments. As organizations shift toward the cloud, they may find cloud-native platforms more aligned with modern needs, providing seamless microservices support, containerization, and better integration with cloud workloads and ecosystems. 

3. Advanced Features, Specialization and Enterprise Requirements

Different organizations have unique needs and may benefit from specialized features to suit specific enterprise needs, such as: 

• Enhanced performance and productivity tools for specific workloads 
• Advanced monitoring capabilities 
• Regulatory-compliant security features and configurations 

4. Community and Ecosystem Support

JBoss EAP boasts a strong community and frequent releases, but organizations may need more recurring updates for robustness and resilience, especially if operating in highly regulated industries.  

When developing, testing or experimenting with applications, instead, support may not be needed. In this case, free solutions with an active community may be ideal, especially if they can be associated with a fully supported, compatible counterpart for production environments. Moving to a such option can make a significant difference for teams looking for long-term reliability and reduced expenditure. 

Best JBoss Alternatives to Consider  

1. Payara Server Enterprise 
2. Payara Platform Community 
3. Payara Cloud

1.Payara Server Enterprise

Over the years, Payara Services’ engineers have been successfully helping multiple companies to effectively transition from JBoss to Payara Server Enterprise, optimizing migration time, resources and costs.  

“In terms of support costs Payara is 60% cheaper than JBoss. And as it is Open Source there are no licensing fees! Our engineers are extremely satisfied with Payara’s performance. They started using Payara in a small scale and as things worked quickly well they have increased their Payara usage exponentially.” 

- International Hotel Franchise 

Key Features 

• Yubikey Authentication Mechanism for convenient yet highly secure for two-factor authentication (2FA)   
• Integrated SSL Certificate Management for secure online communications 
• Built-in Notifiers to log events and disseminate notifications through various channels
• Upgrade Tool to help you move quickly and easily from an older version of Payara Server Enterprise to a newer one, so that your application can access the latest features 
• Built-in Diagnostics and Observability Tools, such as Payara InSight, to help you identify and resolve issues and bottlenecks while enhancing your application’s capabilities 

Pricing 

Payara Server Enterprise operates on a subscription basis, with pricing tailored to organizational needs. Costs are typically a fraction of JBoss EAP subscription plans. New users can benefit from a 14-day free trial.  

Pros  

• Monthly releases that include security patches, bug fixes, improvements and updates 
• Guaranteed, comprehensive technical support through direct access to expert engineers. With a median support response time of 0.4 hour for Payara Platform Enterprise customer seeking assistance, it quicker than the industry average of 7 hours 4 minutes 
• Vendor-independent technology that focus solely on application server excellence, giving you freedom to integrate with your chosen tools and frameworks without restrictive vendor lock-ins
• Extensive portfolio of tools for developer productivity and monitoring 
• Ability to have your say in Payara Platform Enterprise features that should be developed 

Considerations 

• Ideal for mission-critical applications in production environments, for teams involved solely in development, innovation and testing, a free alternative like Payara Platform Community [ANCHOR TO Payara Platform Community SECTION] is more cost-effective Designed for Jakarta EE and MicroProfile applications 

Click here for a comprehensive technical comparison between Payara Platform Enterprise and JBoss EAP. 

2. Payara Platform Community 

Payara Platform Community is a free, state-of-the-art cloud-native, open-source middleware platform for testing, innovation and development projects that supports monolithic and microservices applications based on Jakarta EE and MicroProfile in any environment: on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid. It is designed to offer developers rapid access to new features to drive innovation as well as a nurtured, vibrant user community. Based on the same source code of Payara Platform Enterprise [ANCHOR TO Payara Platform Enterprise SECTION], it is highly compatible with it to support seamless integration across application development, testing and production environments.  

Key Features 

• Rapid Release Cycle are designed for you to leverage the latest technologies and drive faster innovation 
• Access to the Latest Releases help you stay up to date with the latest versions of the development and runtime tools you’re using, so that you can benefit from maximum compatibility and accessibility to the most recent features 
• Community Support provides a platform where users can collaborate, share knowledge and access collective expertise, driving continuous innovation, troubleshooting help and best practices 
• Open-Source Nature provides free access to a Jakarta EE-compatible server that users can help shape according to their needs, having the freedom to contribute to the project 

Pricing  

Payara Platform Community edition is open-source and completely free to use as unsupported application server runtime environment. 

Pros   

• Frequent releases, up to 12 per year, incorporating innovative elements and features 
• Active community of developers and technology experts 
• Compatible with Payara Platform Enterprise for teams that need to combine free software for testing and development with a fully supported, licensed solution for production 

Considerations  

• No commercial support, not recommended for mission-critical applications in production environments 
• Limited security, reliability and stability features

3. Payara Cloud 

Payara Cloud is an all-in-one PaaS solution that simplifies cloud infrastructure management. It offers a fully managed runtime that runs and scales Jakarta EE and MicroProfile applications seamlessly while managing all the cloud infrastructure for users. It offers a flexible and powerful way to easily run software applications on the cloud through a ‘plug-and-play’ deployment framework. This is achieved by automating the deployment pipeline, which simplifies and shortens the deployments and management of software applications to the cloud, significantly reducing costs and time-to-market. 

More specifically, Payara Cloud handles server-related complexities on behalf of users, leveraging the core principles of Jakarta EE to isolate deployable applications from infrastructure intricacies.   

As a result, Payara Cloud helps businesses futureproof their operations and benefit from the cloud by revolutionizing how Java-centric software applications are deployed and managed in this space. In addition, Payara Cloud dynamically adjusts to application needs, providing automatic scaling and robust performance.  

Key Features  

• High Availability helps your application remain accessible and operational, even in the event of failures, by automatically distributing workloads across multiple instances, providing failover protection, load balancing and resilient infrastructure 
• Automatic Deployment and Scaling eliminate time-consuming manual server configurations while helping you avoid under- or over-provisioning resources
• Monitoring and Metrics provide real-time performance insights and system health monitoring, so you can track CPU usage, memory consumption, response times and more to optimize performance and detect issues early
• Centralized Logging aggregates logs from all running applications in one place, simplifying key tasks such as debugging and troubleshooting 
• User-Friendly User Interface (UI) eliminates the complexities of traditional cloud management, enabling faster adoption, deployment and management 

Pricing 

Payara Cloud offers usage-based and tiered usage pricing to support different application requirements, making it cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. New users can benefit from a 14-day free trial.  

Pros 

• Optimized for Jakarta EE and MicroProfile 
• Designed to support cloud deployments 
• Automated deployment offers a ‘plug-and-play’ experience 
• Minimal maintenance required 
• Flexible pricing options 

Considerations 

• Designed for cloud deployments, may not suit traditional on-premises deployments 
• Focused on Jakarta EE and MicroProfile, may not suit other applications 

Conclusions  

Every runtime technology available on the market is designed to support a specific niche of applications and business requirement. While JBoss EAP is a renowned and widely used application server, it may not be able to satisfy your most pressing needs or no longer align with your goals and objectives.  

Users interested in migrating to a different solution can choose from several alternatives, which can offer valuable opportunities and better align with a company’s budgets, technology stack and strategic priorities. Whether it’s to reduce costs, simplify cloud adoption, leverage cutting-edge or highly specific features, choosing the right application server can have a transformative impact on your enterprise application and overall business. 

Payara Services’ solution portfolio offer a variety of application server and runtime options to address the diverse, specific technology and business needs of organizations, providing the tools to efficiently run high-quality enterprise applications. Want to test the waters? Become part of Payara Platform Community, sign up for a free trial of Payara Server Enterprise or Payara Cloud to see how it compares to your current JBoss EAP workloads.